With over 10,000 libraries opened worldwide and 7.4 million books already distributed to children in its 10 years, (46)Room to Read—a nonprofit that promotes global literacy— aspires to curb the staggering figure of 759 million illiterate adults living in emerging nations.
"If every charity was run with more of a business focus, the world would be a better place,", says John Wood, a former senior executive at Microsoft before founding Room to Read in 2000. "We’ve created what I consider to be a hybrid organization——the best of charity merged with the best of business."
The organization’s goal is to raise $30 million in 2010. In 2009, Room to Read raised $28.3 million in cash and stock—well above its $23 million goal and a 28% increase over its 2008 contributions.
Technology is key for the company to achieve its goals. The Salesforce.com Foundation has donated Salesforce CRM licenses to help Room to Read build their Global Solutions Database (GSD). (47)The GSD pay close attention to Room to Read’s implementation timeline, the number of students and teachers being supported, and the percentage of community contribution. This technology helps the company report figures to its donors.
(48)"Technology has been an invaluable tool that’s allowed us to reach out to our current investors as well as introduce ourselves to new supporters," explains Wood. "Twitter has opened the door to an entirely new base of supporters for us—now almost 430,000 p—and we like being able to reach out to them on a real-time basis about our latest news or stories they may find interesting." Room to Read was Twitter’s first corporate social innovation sponsor.
(49)The not-for-profit also aims to implant effective education programs in the developing world through its School Room program, along with improving literacy equality among the genders. Two-thirds of all illiterate adults are female. Already, over 9,000 female students are enjoying scholarships thanks to the Girls’ Education program.
Wood says Room to Read’s importance has only grown in light of the world’s struggling economy: "If there has been an upside to the financial crisis, it’s that people are being more careful than ever before about how they invest, and this applies also to their charitable investments," he explains. (50)"I think the markets are efficient, in the sense that a lot of business leaders see in Room to Read an organization that is run like a business and they therefore continue to invest in us."
(46)Room to Read—a nonprofit that promotes global literacy— aspires to curb the staggering figure of 759 million illiterate adults living in emerging nations.
参考答案：
新兴国家现有7.59亿成人文盲，数量惊人。作为促进全球文化教育普及的非营利性组织，“阅读空间”力求抑制这一数字的进一步扩大。
解析：
[原文再现] Room to Read—a nonprofit that promotes global literacy—aspires to curb the staggering figure of 759 million illiterate adults living in emerging nations.
[结构分析] 本句的主干结构为Room to Read...aspires to curb the staggering figure of...。该句之前的部分是由with引导的介词结构，充当全句的状语。破折号之间的部分为主语Room to Read的同位语，对其进行解释说明，该同位语中包含一个由that引导的定语从句，修饰a nonprofit。句末现在分词结构living in...作adults的后置定语。
[译点分析]
(1)a nonprofit...literacy: 主语同位语，可按中文习惯直接译出，置于主语前，也可保留破折号，维持英文语序；其中定语从句that promotes global literacy结构简单，可直接译为前置定语“促进全球文化教育普及的”。
(2)aspires to curb...nations: 短语aspire to do意为“渴望做……；有志于做……”，与其后的curb合译为“致力于控制……；力求控制……”；staggering为现在分词结构作定语，意为“令人吃惊的；惊人的”；句末的现在分词结构living in emerging nations则为illiterate adults的后置定语，该部分由于修饰宾语figure的定语较长，也表达多重意义，故可将其拆分，译为独立的句了：新兴国家现有7.59亿成人文盲，数量惊人。
