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文章導(dǎo)讀: 本文選自《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》5月4日文章。北京時(shí)間5月4日凌晨,世界頂級(jí)富豪比爾蓋茨與妻子梅琳達(dá)蓋茨同時(shí)在推特上發(fā)表聲明,宣布結(jié)束27年的婚姻,理由是“we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives(我們不再認(rèn)為我們可以在人生的下一階段作為夫妻共同成長(zhǎng))”。 
很久之前,比爾·蓋茨在接受媒體采訪時(shí),主持人問:“請(qǐng)問到現(xiàn)在為止,你認(rèn)為你做的最好的決定是什么?”比爾蓋茨說:“我有幸遇見梅琳達(dá),讓我能在人生旅程中有她陪伴,所以我認(rèn)為選擇對(duì)的人結(jié)婚是至關(guān)重要的?!彼倪@段話讓我們對(duì)婚姻有美好的憧憬,原來(lái)頂級(jí)富豪的追求也可以如此樸素美好。 今早的離婚聲明除了讓我們感到震驚惋惜外,人們更津津樂道的是他們千億美元的資產(chǎn)分割問題。 《華盛頓郵報(bào)》對(duì)這對(duì)夫妻的離婚聲明做了簡(jiǎn)單闡述,但即便如此,文章閱讀量也迅速登上第一: 
《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》也第一時(shí)間對(duì)此事作出報(bào)道,關(guān)注兩人共同的事業(yè),和曾經(jīng)出現(xiàn)的關(guān)系破裂的點(diǎn)滴跡象:

《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》則關(guān)注二人的財(cái)產(chǎn)分割問題,從他們相識(shí)到結(jié)婚到共創(chuàng)蓋茨基金會(huì)到離婚,回顧這段婚姻始末:

而《金融時(shí)報(bào)》從二人的事業(yè)、財(cái)產(chǎn)分割等角度報(bào)道了二人的離婚:

本文對(duì)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》這篇文章進(jìn)行精讀,幫助大家了解蓋茨夫婦離婚始末,以及離婚對(duì)二人資產(chǎn)的影響。如果本文對(duì)你有所幫助,歡迎點(diǎn)贊轉(zhuǎn)發(fā),非常感謝! 
選文精講 Bill and Melinda Gates to End Marriage 比爾蓋茨和梅琳達(dá)離婚The Microsoft co-founder and his wife, who is co-chair of their philanthropic foundation, have been married 27 years這位微軟聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人和他的妻子——也是二人慈善基金會(huì)的聯(lián)合主席,結(jié)婚27年了Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, who is co-chair of their philanthropic foundation, are ending their 27-year marriage, according to a statement posted on both their verified Twitter accounts.微軟公司(Microsoft Corp.)聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人比爾·蓋茨和他的妻子梅琳達(dá)·蓋茨(也是二人慈善基金會(huì)的聯(lián)合主席)將結(jié)束他們27年的婚姻,二人在他們官方認(rèn)證的推特賬號(hào)上發(fā)布了此聲明。“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” said the statement, which was signed by both people.這份由兩人共同簽署的聲明稱:“我們?cè)诮?jīng)過一番深思熟慮和努力后,決定結(jié)束婚姻關(guān)系?!?/span>The couple have three children together and jointly formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which oversees the charitable ventures to which the billionaire philanthropist couple have devoted their fortune.這對(duì)億萬(wàn)富翁慈善家夫婦育有三個(gè)孩子,并共同成立了梅琳達(dá)-蓋茨基金會(huì)來(lái)管理他們的慈善事業(yè),這對(duì)夫婦也將他們的財(cái)產(chǎn)捐贈(zèng)給了該基金會(huì)。“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives,” they said.他們說:“我們?nèi)匀粚?duì)這一使命有著共同的信念,我們將繼續(xù)在基金會(huì)一起工作,但我們不再認(rèn)為我們能在人生的下一階段共同成長(zhǎng)?!?/span>Mr. Gates, 65, last year announced he was stepping down from the boards of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Microsoft, the software company he founded in 1975 with childhood friend Paul Allen.65歲的比爾蓋茨去年宣布將辭去伯克希爾哈撒韋公司和微軟的董事職務(wù),微軟是蓋茨與兒時(shí)好友保羅·艾倫于1975年創(chuàng)立的軟件公司。Mr. Gates built Microsoft into one of the most dominant forces in the then still emerging business of personal computing. In 2000, he handed the role of CEO to longtime colleague Steve Ballmer. He scaled back involvement in day-to-day operations of Microsoft in 2008, focusing more on the foundation’s work. He remained active at the Redmond, Wash.,-based company as its chairman until 2014, when Satya Nadella became CEO and Mr. Gates became a regular board member.- day-to-day operation: 日常業(yè)務(wù)
比爾蓋茨在個(gè)人電腦行業(yè)還處于新興階段時(shí),就將微軟打造成了最具主導(dǎo)力量的公司之一。2000年,他將CEO一職交給了長(zhǎng)期共事的同事史蒂夫·鮑爾默。2008年,他減少了對(duì)微軟日常運(yùn)營(yíng)的參與,更多地專注于基金會(huì)的工作。他在位于華盛頓州雷德蒙德的公司仍然很活躍,擔(dān)任該公司的董事長(zhǎng),直到2014年,薩蒂亞·納德拉成為首席執(zhí)行長(zhǎng),比爾蓋茨成為常規(guī)董事會(huì)成員。Mr. Gates’s personal stake in Microsoft is worth around $26 billion, according to FactSet.據(jù)FactSet的數(shù)據(jù),比爾蓋茨在微軟的個(gè)人股份價(jià)值約260億美元。At the foundation, Ms. Gates, born Melinda French, has played a high-profile public role on par with that of her husband. She has represented the organization both in remote places and political power centers.- high-profile:高調(diào)的、知名的
在蓋茨基金會(huì),梅琳達(dá)蓋茨(原名梅琳達(dá)·弗蘭奇)與丈夫一樣,扮演了一個(gè)高調(diào)的公眾角色。無(wú)論在偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)還是政治權(quán)力中心,她都曾代表該基金會(huì)。The foundation says it aims to fight poverty, disease and inequity and gives away billions of dollars annually in direct grants. It has committed more than $1.75 billion to back the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including efforts to produce 100 million doses of vaccines for poorer countries.- give away: 贈(zèng)送、捐贈(zèng)
該基金會(huì)表示,它的目標(biāo)是與貧困、疾病和不平等作斗爭(zhēng),每年以直接贈(zèng)款的形式捐贈(zèng)數(shù)十億美元。它已承諾提供超過17.5億美元,用于支持全球應(yīng)對(duì)新冠大流行,包括努力為較貧窮國(guó)家生產(chǎn)1億劑疫苗。Forbes said the organization is the world’s largest private charitable foundation.福布斯稱,該組織是世界上最大的私人慈善基金會(huì)。Ms. Gates also created Pivotal Ventures in 2015, an investment company, independent of the foundation, working on advancing social progress in the U.S.梅琳達(dá)還于2015年創(chuàng)立了Pivotal Ventures,這是一家獨(dú)立于蓋茨基金會(huì)的投資公司,致力于推動(dòng)美國(guó)的社會(huì)進(jìn)步Mr. Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 kick-started the so-called Giving Pledge to encourage U.S. tycoons to start making donations earlier in their lives, while they can still be involved in choosing how to spend it. The Giving Pledge has expanded with more than 200 people committing to the initiative from 25 countries.- kick-start:迅速啟動(dòng)、開啟項(xiàng)目
2010年,蓋茨和沃倫·巴菲特啟動(dòng)了所謂的“捐贈(zèng)誓言”(Giving Pledge)活動(dòng),以鼓勵(lì)美國(guó)大亨們?cè)谒麄兡軌騾⑴c選擇如何使用這筆錢的時(shí)候,盡早開始捐款。“捐贈(zèng)承諾”已經(jīng)擴(kuò)大到來(lái)自25個(gè)國(guó)家的200多人承諾參與。Mr. Gates is listed by Forbes as the world’s fourth wealthiest person—with a net worth of $130.5 billion—after Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, French luxury-goods tycoon Bernard Arnault and his family, and Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk.在《福布斯》的全球富豪榜上,比爾蓋茨位列第四,凈資產(chǎn)達(dá)1,305億美元,排在亞馬遜創(chuàng)始人貝佐斯、法國(guó)奢侈品大亨阿爾諾及其家族和特斯拉首席執(zhí)行官埃隆·馬斯克之后。Most of the Gates family’s wealth is held by a personal investment firm called Cascade Investment LLC.蓋茨家族的大部分財(cái)富都由一家名為Cascade investment LLC的個(gè)人投資公司持有。Mr. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie Scott, divorced in 2019 after being married for 25 years, during which Mr. Bezos built one of the world’s most valuable companies.貝佐斯和妻子麥肯齊·斯科特在結(jié)婚25年后于2019年離婚,在這段婚姻期間,貝佐斯創(chuàng)建了世界上最有價(jià)值的公司之一。Ms. Scott, who has devoted much of her time to philanthropic efforts, recently remarried. She said in a Medium post late last year that she had given away more than $4 billion of her fortune.斯科特女士最近再婚了,她把大部分時(shí)間都花在了慈善事業(yè)上。去年年底,她在Medium網(wǎng)站的一篇文章中說,她已經(jīng)捐出了40多億美元的財(cái)產(chǎn)。Ms. Gates, aged 56, grew up in Dallas and earned a master’s in business administration at Duke University before joining Microsoft, where she worked on developing multimedia products, according to the foundation’s website. Four months after starting at Microsoft, she met the then-CEO at a dinner during a business trip to New York. He asked her on a date when they ran into each other again in the Microsoft parking lot.梅琳達(dá)蓋茨現(xiàn)年56歲,在達(dá)拉斯長(zhǎng)大,在加入微軟之前獲得了杜克大學(xué)工商管理碩士學(xué)位,在微軟從事多媒體產(chǎn)品開發(fā)。在微軟工作四個(gè)月后,她在去紐約出差的一次晚宴上遇到了時(shí)任微軟首席執(zhí)行官的比爾蓋茨。當(dāng)他們?cè)谖④浀耐\噲?chǎng)再次相遇時(shí),他向她提出了約會(huì)。She could be in line for half of the couple’s wealth, if they divorce in a so-called community-property state such as Washington, where Microsoft is based, or California, where they own property. The couple last year paid $43 million for an oceanfront home near San Diego in one of the largest deals recorded in the area.- be in line for: 很可能得到、有得到…的機(jī)會(huì)
- community-property:夫妻共有財(cái)產(chǎn)
如果兩人在號(hào)稱“夫妻共同財(cái)產(chǎn)”的州離婚,比如微軟總部所在地華盛頓州或兩人擁有房產(chǎn)的加利福尼亞州,那么梅琳達(dá)將有望獲得兩人一半的財(cái)產(chǎn)。去年,這對(duì)夫婦以4300萬(wàn)美元的價(jià)格在圣地亞哥附近購(gòu)買了一處海濱住宅,這是該地區(qū)有史以來(lái)最大的交易之一。
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