There’s only one story in Nanjing’s international community these days. And that would the second British Ball, for which hundreds turned out at the weekend in their 1920s glad rags to look the part, eat, drink and dance the night away, while raising funds for two incredible causes.
Originally scheduled for earlier this year, the delay to the date of the Ball as a result of COVID only served to heighten the anticipation. But this past Saturday, 17 September, the day finally arrived.
舞会原定于今年早些时候举行，但由于新冠疫情而推迟了舞会日期，这只会加剧人们的期待。但上周六，9 月 17 日，这一天终于到来了。
With the theme of Downton Abbey, Ball attendees at the Ritz Carlton, Nanjing, first got stuck into some champagne (well most of them, did), while mingling, networking and generally admiring each other’s outfits. A supreme, social-media-worthy dinner followed, before seven-piece Black Diamond took to the stage, brought in from Shanghai just for the occasion.
以《唐顿庄园》为主题，南京丽思卡尔顿酒店的舞会出席者首先喝了一些香槟（大多数人都这么做了），同时交流、建立联系并普遍欣赏彼此的着装。随后举行了一场值得社交媒体关注的盛大晚宴，随后从上海专为此次活动特意带来的七件黑钻石乐队登上舞台。
There were those who grooved, and those who gambled. Not for money, but as a way of raising more essential funds for the Ball’s beneficiaries, while attempting to pile their chips ever higher on the blue baize of the casino tables.
有沉迷的人，也有赌博的人。不是为了钱，而是作为为舞会的受益人筹集更多基本资金的一种方式，同时试图将他们的筹码堆在赌场桌子的蓝色台布上更高的位置。
Erinda Demeti is Director of Admissions and Marketing for The British School of Guangzhou and Nord Anglia International School of Guangzhou. Demeti, who set up the British Ball last year on behalf of The British School of Nanjing, her then employer, spoke with The Nanjinger and describes the British ball as a fun event for a noble goal.
艾琳达·德梅蒂 (Erinda Demeti) 是广州英国学校和广州诺德安达国际学校的招生和营销总监。德梅蒂去年代表她当时的雇主南京英国学校创办了英国舞会，她在接受《南京人》采访时表示，英国舞会是一项为了崇高目标而举办的有趣活动。
“It was not easy running the project remotely from Guangzhou, but my motivation and dedication has been always 100 percent. I wanted to create majestic decor, in which guests could be taken back to the old days in the Downton Abbey mansion, with long tables, candles and flowers, a vintage photo booth corner, and of course offer music and games for them to feel relaxed and not think how much are they spending!”, said Demeti.
“在广州远程运行这个项目并不容易，但我的动力和奉献精神始终是百分百的。我想创造出宏伟的装饰，让客人仿佛回到了唐顿庄园豪宅的旧时光，长桌子、蜡烛和鲜花、老式照相亭角落，当然还提供音乐和游戏，让他们感到放松，而不用想他们花了多少钱！”德梅蒂说。
The money they were spending was in the end to total ¥240,000, an impressive figure that shall be split equally between local charities, Hopeful Hearts and the Rainbow Centre.
他们最终花费的资金总计为 24 万日元，这是一个令人印象深刻的数字，将由当地慈善机构、希望之心和彩虹中心平分。
Hopeful Hearts assists with funding life-saving operations for local children, often abandoned because of their condition, or because they come from a farming community and/or low-income families. Fully 96 percent of all money raised goes directly to paying for heart operations. Two more Hopeful Hearts’ teams operate in Guangzhou and Chengdu.
希望之心 (Hopeful Hearts) 协助资助当地儿童的救生行动，这些儿童经常因自身状况或来自农业社区和/或低收入家庭而被遗弃。筹集到的资金中 96% 直接用于支付心脏手术费用。另外两支希望之心团队在广州和成都开展工作。
Set up in 2014, the Rainbow Centre provides palliative care and hospice care for critically-ill children, to make a bit of difference in the quality of their lives. Some children have afflictions that are simply incurable, others perhaps only months to live.
彩虹中心成立于 2014 年，为危重儿童提供姑息治疗和临终关怀，以改善他们的生活质量。有些孩子患有无法治愈的疾病，有些孩子可能只剩下几个月的生命。
Thanks to the generosity of those attending this year’s British Ball, many more desperately-in-need children in Nanjing now have a shot at a life, or something that resembles one.
感谢参加今年英国舞会的人们的慷慨解囊，南京更多急需的儿童现在有机会过上新的生活，或者类似的生活。
