BEIJING — After a night of wining and dining with 50 of China’s richest people, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates told the journalists on Thursday that the biggest difference between eating with Chinese tycoons(企业界大亨) and Western ones was the food.
“I was amazed last night, really, at how similar the questions and discussions and all that were to
those in the dinners we had in the U.S.,” said Mr. Buffett.
Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates, two o
f the best known Westerners here, announced in September, 2010 that they planned to invite 50 wealthy Chinese tycoons to dinner in Beijing to encourage philanthropy(慈善事业) among China’s new rich.
On Thursday, the two men pronounced the dinner a great success, saying that two-thirds of those invited had shown up, and that more than half of them had offered their own ideas on how Chinese philanthropy should work.
The guest list wasn’t made public, but the Chinese news media reported that it included Jet Li, the movie star; Niu Gensheng, the founder of a Chinese dairy business; and Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, who control the SOHO China real estate(房地产) empire.
As with four earlier dinners held in the United States, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates said, no one at the Beijing event was asked to donate money or to promise to engage in charity. “Bill and I won’t be calling anybody. What happens in China will depend on what the Chinese people feel about a project of this sort,” said Mr. Buffett.
China is widely reported to be second only to the United States in the number of dollar billionaires. Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett said the nation was unique because its wealthy class had arisen almost wholly in the past 30 years, so the philanthropic practices established among European and American dynasties are new here, and open to change.
The two said the dinner wasn’t a long planned matter, but an offshoot of a trip that Mr. Buffett had already scheduled to Guangdong and Hunan Provinces, where BYD Company, a maker of clean-energy automobiles, has factories. Mr. Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, holds a 10% stake(股金) in the company.
But Mr. Gates suggested that their philan
thropic trip wasn’t yet over. “We may do an event in India,” he said.
小题1:What is the text mainly about?
A．A brief analysis of future phil
anthropy.
B．The development of Chinese philanthropy.
C．An introduction on Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates’ trip in China.
D．A charity dinner held in Beijing by Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates.小题2:According to the first two paragraphs, Mr Buffett really wanted to say that ________.
A．the dinner was quite a success
B．the food in the dinner was very delicious
C．Chinese tycoons are similar to Western ones
D．it was pleasing to discuss with Chinese tycoons小题3:We can learn from the text that __________.
A．China has the largest number of dollar billionaires in Asia
B．many people have promised to donate money at dinner
C．Beijing will be the last stop of their philanthropic trip
D．the Chinese news media published the co
mplete guest list of the dinner小题4:The underlined words “an offshoot” in Paragraph 8 can probably be replaced by “________”.
A．a report
B．an addition
C．a beginning
D．an end
