老虎基金会
The Tiger Foundation

The Tiger Foundation was founded by Marco Romero out of a promise made to his daughter, Tanya. The Romero family had been traveling in China and discovered a kiosk containing various animal parts for sale. One of them was a tiger paw.

*kiosk：亭子。Marco Romero创建“老虎基金会”是源于他对女儿的一个承诺。Romero一家在中国旅行时曾看到卖动物身体各部分的亭子，其中就有虎爪（tiger paw）。

Tanya was born in 1986, the Year of the Tiger and had developed a special affinity to the animal. She was especially disturbed by the display and asked her father if she could do something about it. As a devoted father, Marco told Tanya that he would do something to try to help save the tiger. After two years of questioning (as only a child can do), Marco began to organize a group of friends and business associates from Canada, Australia and Indonesia into what eventually became The Tiger Foundation.

*affinity：喜好，本性倾向。比如：He has a special affinity for booze（酒）。（他嗜杯中物。）另如，当你深受别人吸引时，可以说：I feel a strong affinity to/for her!
*devoted：投入的，深爱的。正是出于对女儿的爱，Marco答应要做一些事来保护老虎。
*associate：伙伴，同事，合伙人。这个词要注意与“association”（协会，联盟）区别。

The foundation was conceived with the objective of saving tigers from imminent extinction by bringing together a network of people as well as corporate and government organizations that care about the survival of the few thousand tigers that still live on our planet. At the essence of its goal lies the belief that by focussing on a few simple, well-conceived and effective programs, it will make a meaningful and effective contribution to tiger conservation. To do so it has sought the guidance of some of the world's leading tiger experts. In consultation with its advisors, The Tiger Foundation has formulated several initial projects aimed at saving tigers from extinction. It is now launching a worldwide fundraising initiative to finance its strategic plan. The Tiger Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit society in British Columbia, Canada on September 4th 1996.

*conceive：构思，设想。比如当你见到一个绝色美女而惊为天人时，可以说：Until I saw you I'd never conceived that such beauty existed!（我没见你之前从没想到有这样美的人！）
*imminent：即将来临的，逼近的。这个基金正是为了挽救濒临灭种（extinction）的老虎而设。
*sought：“seek”（寻找，寻求）的过去式和过去分词。
*formulate：设计，规划。比如：formulate a policy（制定政策）。
*fundraising： 这个词由fund（资金、基金）+ raising（提高、筹集）组成，合起来就是“资金筹集（工作）；募捐（活动）”的意思。