VOA慢速英语:Inside the Clinton Foundation 克林顿基金会
(1)
This is the VOA Special English Development Report. President(总统) Bill Clinton left office in January of two thousand one. Since then, he has been leading a private foundation(个人基金会)active on a number of world issues(议题). These include H.I.V/AIDS, health security and climate change. Other projects involve poverty(贫穷)reduction, leadership development and working toward racial(种族间的), ethnic and religious understanding. The Clinton Foundation forms partnerships(合作)with individuals, organizations(组织) and governments. For the past two years, in New York, the former president has held a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative(主动).
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Each invited(受邀请)guest must make a promise(许诺) to work toward one of the foundation's goals. The idea is that the foundation will then observe(观察) the progress made toward the commitment(承担义务) over the next year. The second Clinton Global Initiative meeting took place for three days in September. At the end, the foundation announced (宣告)commitments worth more than seven thousand million dollars. These included(包含) a three thousand million dollar commitment by Richard Branson to fight(对抗) global warming. Mister Branson is chief executive officer of Britain's Virgin Group(处女团体).
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The Clinton Foundation says more than one thousand leaders(领导者) of business, government and nongovernmental organizations(有组织的) attended this year. They were joined by almost fifty current and former heads of state(国家的). Last year, more than two thousand million dollars worth of commitments were made. One of the major(主要) programs that Mister Clinton has launched is an H.I.V./AIDS campaign. For example, he has negotiated lower prices(低价) for H.I.V. tests and AIDS drugs in developing countries. On the issue of climate change(气候变化), the Clinton Foundation has a program for large cities to work together to buy energy-saving(储值能源产品) products. The goal is to reduce the amount of pollution(污染) released into the atmosphere. The cities also receive technical assistance from experts.
