英富豪倾家为癌症妻子做慈善 痊愈后却被甩

英语自学网

　　He is not the first multimillionaire to quit the world of commerce and vow
to give his entire fortune to charity.
        　　拥有千万财产的布莱恩·伯尼并不是世界上第一个把所有财富都拿来做慈善的富人。
       

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        　　But few can have put their money where their mouth is with such conviction
as Brian Burnie.
        　　但很少人能像伯尼这样对慈善事业有如此巨大的热情。
        　　Once the owner of a £16million mansion, the 70-year-old now lives off his
pension in a small flat and drives a battered Ford Fiesta.
        　　今年70岁的伯尼，曾经拥有价值1600万英镑的豪宅，如今他住在一所小公寓里，开着一辆破旧的福特车，靠退休金生活。
        　　The former recruitment firm boss pledged to dedicate his life to helping
women with breast cancer after his wife was diagnosed with the disease.
        　　在伯尼的妻子被诊断出乳腺癌后，这位前招聘公司的总裁就立誓要将毕生精力都投入到帮助罹患乳腺癌妇女的事业中。
        　　But it emerged yesterday that the couple divorced after Shirley, his wife
of almost 30 years, grew fed up with his addiction to parting with everything
the family had worked for.
        　　但是今年9月20日，人们发现这对结婚三十多年的夫妻已经离婚了，原因是他的妻子雪莉受够了多年来伯尼对慈善事业上瘾般的热忱。
            
            

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        　　‘I didn’t intend to have to beat cancer and then spend the rest of my life
living in a house like this and doing everything for everyone else,’ said Mrs
Burnie, 66, who made a full recovery. ‘I’m sick of bloody charity and the hard
work – we all are. I didn’t want to give everything away. We needed a home and
an income and we have three children. I wanted security for us and our
family.’
        　　从癌症中痊愈的雪莉今年66岁，对于离婚一事她表示，“我从没想过在战胜癌症之后，余生会住在这样的小房子里，为别人的事业奋斗。我非常厌倦辛苦万分又永无止境的慈善工作，我的孩子们也一样。我不想捐出所有的财物，我们需要一栋房子和一份收入，我们有三个孩子要养活。我希望我们的家庭有保障。”
        　　Born in a Newcastle bedsit, Mr Burnie grew up in a home without an indoor
toilet and began working life as a grocery delivery boy aged 15.
        　　伯尼出生在纽卡斯尔市一个并不富裕的家庭，从15岁起他就开始在一家食杂店担任送货员。
        　　After building successful businesses in construction and recruitment, he
turned his ten-acre Northumberland estate into a £16million luxury hotel and
spa.
        　　当伯尼的事业在建筑和招聘领域获得成功后，他利用自己在诺森伯兰郡的10英亩(约60亩)土地建成了一个价值1600万英镑的豪华旅馆。
        　　But following his wife’s diagnosis a decade ago, Mr Burnie began to focus
on charity. It was not a total surprise – at their wedding in 1981, he insisted
they ask for donations to charity instead of presents.
        　　但是10年前当雪莉被诊断罹患乳腺癌后，伯尼开始将注意力转移到慈善事业上。这对伯尼来说并不突兀，因为早在1981年他们的婚礼上，伯尼就坚持宾客们的礼物红包等应该发到慈善机构而非新人们手里。
        　　In 2009, he sold the hotel and used all the proceeds to fund a fleet of
cars ferrying rural patients to hospital – as part of his charity, Daft As A
Brush.
        　　2009年，伯尼卖掉豪华旅馆，并将卖得的所有钱都用于建立一支车队，专门负责将居住在乡村的病人们送往城里的医院。而这仅仅是伯尼慈善事业的一小部分。
        　　Announcing they needed somewhere more ‘modern and easy to look after’, he
shocked friends and former employees by moving his family to a tiny rented
terraced house opposite a council estate in nearby Morpeth, insisting: ‘I’ve no
interest in bricks and mortar.’
        　　伯尼认为，他们需要住在更加“现代化”和“容易打理”的地方，于是他做出了一个令朋友和员工们震惊的决定：举家迁往莫佩思附近的一所狭小的出租房。
        　　But there were signs his outwardly loyal wife was unhappy with the drastic
change in lifestyle when he was persuaded to move them to a pretty stone house
backing on to farmland.
        　　当时伯尼对家人说他们要搬到一个背对农田的漂亮的石头房子里了，那个时候表面上一向支持丈夫决定的雪莉对这次重大的变化就已经显露出一些不满的迹象了。
        　　Mrs Burnie hoped her husband’s retirement would allow them to spend more
time together, but she said the ‘madness’ of devoting his life to helping others
meant he was working 12 hours a day and barely seeing his family.
        　　雪莉希望伯尼退休后能多和家人在一起，但伯尼的“疯狂”却导致他一天里有12小时在为慈善事业工作，几乎根本见不到家人。
        　　‘It took over his life, becoming more important than anything else to him,’
she added yesterday.
        　　“慈善完全占据了他的生活，变得比其他任何事情都重要。”雪莉说。
        　　‘I had enough money to set them up for life, but I think that would be
wrong,’ he said. ‘Your children have to make their own way.
        　　伯尼说：“我原本有足够的钱来安置他们的生活，但我觉得这种做法可能不对，孩子们应该自食其力。”
        　　Asked if he kept anything for himself he replies: ‘Nothing. I live off my
pension – even that goes to the charity when I die.’
        　　9月21日晚，伯尼在英国某电视节目中做客。当被问及是否给自己留有部分财富时，伯尼的回答是否定的。“我没给自己留下任何财富。我靠退休金生活，如果我离世的话，剩下的退休金也将全部捐给慈善机构。”