节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-01-28
难易度:Medium
关键字:worthy, participation, concentrate, commit, monthly report, donor
(Music).
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
And my name is Kaylah.
Well, Kaylah, did you get your question answered yesterday?
Well, you know, just a little bit.
But I am still confused on how to choose the right charity to give to.
Ah. Did you make sure the charity is registered?
I did. But there are a few more questions I have.
Well, what kinds of questions?
Well, how do you make sure the money actually gets to the people who need it?
Hmm. That's an important question.
But I know that as we continue our article today, you will find more answers.
Well, then let's get started.
OK. Join us, friends, on the top of page 49 in your Studio Classroom magazine on
How to Choose a Charity You Can Trust.
How to Choose a Charity You Can Trust.
Contact the charity.
Call or e-mail the charity.
Ask for copies of its most recent monthly or quarterly report.
Find out what the charity is working on and how effective its efforts have been.
Charities that are not open about these things should not be considered worthy
of your trust.
Become a partner.
Finding a charity that manages its finances well is important.
Finding one that also encourages active participation is even better.
A charity that allows donors to visit the people it supports or offers volunteer
opportunities is best.
By doing so, the charity shows that it is seeking partners and not merely
donors.
Hi, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
We have been talking about charities, and how we can give to them but how to
choose them wisely.
We... Ryan, we keep talking about charities as an organization that we can give
to.
Can you explain why they're called that and maybe what the word "charity" means?
Well, yeah, I will explain what the word "charity" means.
As a noun, it means to give or to help people.
And so when an organization actually starts helping people and gathering money
from other people, then they are able to help those in need.
Right. That means we are giving and sharing.
So a charity is just who we go through.
It's an organization, a company.
Exactly. Now before yesterday we were talking about some guidelines on how you
can trust charities.
And the first one is you need to investigate the charity, learn a little bit
about them.
That's right.
We can check government websites to make sure that they are registered.
Or we can check non-government websites like Charity Navigator to find them, to
get their opinions about them and to see who is rated well.
OK. Now our next tip is to contact the charity.
I just think this makes sense, Ryan.
Yeah. I'm surprised that more people don't actually do this.
You would think that if you're going to give your money to an organization that
you would want to contact them first,
find out exactly how they would use your money.
Now you can call or e-mail the charity.
This is very easy to do.
You do not have to go to the business.
Maybe you live in a different country or a different city and you want to give,
you can call and check on them.
Yeah. And don't just call and find out if they are nice people, you want to ask
for copies of the charity's most recent monthly or quarterly report.
Now that is a wise thing to do - to ask for copies of the most recent "monthly
report." Now a monthly thing is something that happens once a month.
So in a year, there will be 12.
Right. There will be 12 reports.
And a "report" is something that gives a description of something.
If you're talking about a company's report, it gives a description of the money
that they have been using or spending.
But it's not just monthly, Kaylah, it's also quarterly.
Now "quarterly," we need to do just a little bit of math here.
If you do something quarterly, that means you divide it into four equal parts.
So a year is 12 months, you divide that into four equal parts, and there are
three months in each section.
So they would put out this report every three months.
Yeah. So usually if something is done quarterly, then you could say it's done
every season since there are four seasons.
So you need to check on their reports, and they will either have monthly or
quarterly that you can check.
Right. You want to find out what the charity is working on and how effective its
efforts have been.
That's... it's great to know what they're working on.
But more importantly, you need to know if they're being effective or not.
Are they making a difference, or are they just saying they are making a
difference?
Right, Kaylah. This is a really good point.
You want to make sure your charity is doing what they say they're trying to do
and actually doing it properly.
Unfortunately, there are times when they are not doing it well, so make sure you
take time to call and check on this.
Right. And hopefully they would have that information for you.
But charities that are not open about those things should not be considered
worthy of your trust.
If they cannot be honest with their finances, you don't need to trust them.
They are not worthy of your trust.
Exactly. Now the word "worthy" means deserving of something good.
That's right. You want them to deserve you.
Well, here's another way: Become a partner.
All right. Now finding a charity that manages its finances well is important.
Finding one that also encourages active participation is even better.
Right. "Participation" means to be involved in something.
So you want to find one that is very involved.
A charity that allows "donors" - that are the people who give money - to visit
the people it supports or offers volunteers opportunities is best.
That's right. Now by doing so, the charity shows that it is seeking partners and
not merely donors.
Well, join us after the break as we continue to discuss some guidelines on
choosing a good charity.
First, let's visit the Chat Room.
Yeah, this bookshelf looks really neat now.
That must have taken you a lot of efforts.
Thanks, Ken.
It did take a lot of effort, but it was worth it.
Why did you see a lot of effort?
Shouldn't it be plural, efforts, since you arranged many books?
No. But I can understand why this point is confusing.
Hey, let's go to Doris for an answer.
OK.
Many times we use the word "effort" to describe an amount of work done or an
amount of energy we use to accomplish something.
Graduating from school takes a lot of effort.
When we use "effort" in this way, it is treated as an uncountable noun, and it
stays singular.
At other times we use "efforts," plural, to refer to a person's attempts to do
something.
For instance, the reporter's efforts to reach the politician were unsuccessful.
OK. That helps.
So the focus of this word can either be on how much energy you spend to finish a
job or on the number of your attempts to finish it.
That's right, Ken.
Hey, I've heard the word "effortless" before.
Does that mean a person is lazy and doesn't work hard enough?
No, it doesn't refer to the person.
It describes the task they do or the way they do it.
"Effortless" can mean that a task requires little effort.
It can also refer to the way a person does something, especially when they make
something difficult seem easy.
Hmm. Can you give me some examples?
Sure.
You could talk about a dancer's effortless moves or a baseball team's effortless
win.
OK. Let me see if I have this right:
Improving my English will take a lot of effort.
And I have made several efforts to write my own book.
Those are both great examples, Ken.
In fact, you're starting to make good English look effortless.
Oh, I still have a long way to go.
Hey, one last question.
I read an article last week about the war effort.
Is this a different use of the same word?
You're right.
Sometimes we use "effort" to refer to all the work done to complete a specific
goal or project, like the war effort or a company's rebuilding effort.
Great. Thanks for your effort, Bryan.