为什么我们不能接受死亡？

因为恐惧，因为疼痛——或许是所有这些负面的观感，让我们难以接受死亡。近日盛大创始人陈天桥和雒芊芊向加州理工学院捐赠1.15亿美元用于大脑研究，目的是帮助人类接受死亡。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

institute协会；学院['ɪnstɪtjuːt]

mortality死亡率；必死性[mɔː'tælɪtɪ]

philanthropy慈善；慈善事业[fɪ'lænθrəpɪ]

endowed赋予；捐赠[[in'dau]]

perception洞察力；获取[pə'sepʃ(ə)n]

neuroscience神经系统科学['njuːrəʊsaɪəns]

Chinese donors fund studies into acceptance of death（501 words）

By Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore

A billionaire couple who pioneered internet games in China are donating $115m to the California Institute of Technology for brain research in an effort to help humans accept mortality.

The gift by Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo,founders of Shanda — which began life as an online games developer before transforming into an investment group with stakes in Lending Club and Legg Mason — underlines the increasingly prominent role played by mainland Chinese entrepreneurs in global philanthropy.

“How can we cure death? That is the key of our philanthropy vision,”Mr Chen told the Financial Times. Understanding how the brain and mind worked would enable people to master emotions such as pain and fear.

“Why can’t we accept death?”he said.“Because of fear,because of pain — all the negative perception.”

The gift,which includes endowed funds,will create a neuroscience institute at Caltech named after the couple. They say it is intended for pure research,the direction of which will be decided by the university.

This will include building a $200m biosciences facility at the university in Pasadena,California. Caltech is contributing resources to the project.

Thomas Rosenbaum,Caltech president,said the university and the couple shared a vision of translating scientific insights into the brain into a“deeper understanding of how human beings perceive and interact with the world”.

The initiative is the latest high-profile donation to elite US universities by a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs.

Chinese Ivy League graduates such as Neil Shen of Sequoia China have been generous donors to their alma maters. Zhang Xin,the real estate mogul,and Pan Shiyi,her husband,signed a $15m gift agreement with Harvard in 2014.

In May,Charles Chen Yidan,Tencent co-founder,launched a $7.6m annual award aimed at recognising outstanding research in education.

Mr Chen,43,and his wife,40,founded their business together in 1999 and have a fortune of $3.43bn,according to the Hurun Report’s annual China Rich List.

Nasdaq-listed Shanda Interactive became the largest Chinese games company by market capitalisation in 2004,later spinning off its games unit Shanda Games in a separate US initial public offering that raised $1.04bn — the biggest US public offering for a Chinese internet business at the time.

Shanda Group sold its stake in Shanda Games in 2014. The privately owned Singapore-based investment group has about $8bn in net assets under management,according to Mr Chen’s LinkedIn profile.

As well as its substantial stakes in US public companies,Shanda Group is an investor in ElMindA,an Israeli start-up specialising in medical technology analysing brain function,and SpaceVR,a US start-up that aims to offer virtual reality space tourism.

The couple plans to hire a chief scientist for Shanda Group to help direct future charitable giving and say the philanthropic support for brain research dovetails with an investment interest in technology that interfaces between computers and people.

“Our philanthropy is to find out the secret of the brain,but our technology is to leverage our brain,”Mr Chen said.

1.What is relationship between Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo?

A. husband and wife

B. cousins

C. sister and brother

D. teacher and student

答案(1)

2.What kind of company is Shanda after transforming?

A. online games developer

B. charity organization

C. investment group

D. medical corporation

答案(2)

3.Who will decide the use of their gift,including endowed funds?

A. Shanda Games

B. the couple

C. white House

D. the neuroscience institute named after the couple

答案(3)

4.When did the couple found their business together?

A. 1992

B. 1999

C. 2004

D. 2014

答案(4)

(1) 答案：A.husband and wife

解释：盛大创始人陈天桥和雒芊芊是夫妻。

(2) 答案：C.investment group

解释：盛大最初是一家网络游戏开发商，后来转型为一家投资集团，持有Lending Club和美盛(Legg Mason)股份。

(3) 答案：

解释：包括捐赠资金的这份礼物将在加州理工学院创建一个以这对夫妇命名的神经科学研究所。他们表示，解释：该所将开展纯研究，具体方向将由校方决定。

(4) 答案：B.1999

解释：现年43岁的陈天桥和40岁的妻子在1999年创业。在纳斯达克(Nasdaq)上市的盛大互动(Shanda Interactive)在2004年成为中国市值最大的游戏公司。