中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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According to the White House, the increase in earnings was due to the sales of Mr Obama's books.(Agencies) |
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President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle earned $5.5 million (￡3.5 million) in 2009, more than twice their income in 2008, despite the economic recession. Mr Obama has managed to develop a political career far more lucrative than those of his predecessors. After the first year of his first term, President George W. Bush earned $894,800 and in his last year $936,111. In his final year in office, President Bill Clinton netted just $417,467. The Obamas' tax return, released by the White House on Thursday - the day all Americans have to file their tax returns - showed that the Obamas earned $5.5 million last year and paid nearly $1.8 million (￡1.16 million) in federal income tax. In 2008, the Obamas made just under $2.5 million. The White House said that the increase was due to increased sales of Mr Obama's books. Mr Obama's books "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" were on sale in 2008, but his winning the White House appears to have boosted sales considerably. Mr Obama, whose "principal business or profession" was listed in his tax return as "author", and the First Lady gave $329,000 (￡213,000) to charities. That included $50,000 (￡32,000) each to CARE and the United Negro College Fund. The President also donated his $1.4 million (￡900,000) Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 different charities. The president's official annual salary is $400,000 (￡258,000), which was raised from half that amount in 2001. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
盡管過去的一年經濟不景氣，但美國總統貝拉克?奧巴馬和夫人米歇爾一年的收入仍高達550萬美元（350萬英鎊），為2008年的兩倍多。 奧巴馬政治生涯的“錢途”遠超過他的前任們。 前總統小布什在其首屆任期的第一年共賺得894800美元，在任最后一年的收入為936111美元。 而前總統比爾?克林頓執政最后一年的收入僅為417467美元。 根據本周四美國“納稅日”當天白宮公布的納稅申報單顯示，奧巴馬夫婦去年的總收入達550萬美元，向聯邦政府繳納個人所得稅近180萬美元（116萬英鎊）。 2008年，奧巴馬夫婦的收入不到250萬美元。白宮方面表示，他們收入的增加主要是因為奧巴馬兩本書的大賣。 奧巴馬的新書《我父親的夢想》和《無畏的希望》于2008年上架銷售，但他當選總統似乎大大推動了兩本書的銷量。 在奧巴馬納稅申報單的“主營業務或職業”這一項，填寫的內容是“作者”。奧巴馬夫婦去年共向慈善機構捐款32.9萬美元（21.3萬英鎊）。 其中包括向美國援外組織和黑人學院聯合基金會各捐的5萬美元（3.2萬英鎊）。 奧巴馬還將其所獲得的140萬美元（90萬英鎊）的諾貝爾和平獎獎金捐給了10家慈善機構。奧巴馬的年工資為40萬美元（25.8萬英鎊），2001年以前，這一數字為目前的一半。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: lucrative：profitable; moneymaking; remunerative（賺大錢的；獲利多的） tax return：the tax form used to file income taxes to the IRS（納稅申報單） |
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