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美国前官员:参与上海世博会关乎美中贸易

  American business interests in China could suffer if the U.S. fails to find $61 million to build a pavilion at next year’s Shanghai World Expo, said a former U.S. trade official who is spearheading fund-raising efforts.
  一位前美国贸易官员说,如果不能筹集到用于建设明年上海世界博览会(Shanghai World Expo)美国馆所需要的6,100万美元,美国在中国的商业利益将受到影响。这位人士将牵头组织筹资活动。
  ’I think there will be an undercurrent of ill will generated if the United States does not participate,’ Franklin Lavin, chairman of the USA Pavilion steering committee said in an interview.
  世博会美国馆组织委员会主席雷文凯(Franklin Lavin)在接受采访时称,我认为,如果美国不能参加,将导致人们对美国产生潜在的恶感。 
  Lavin, a former Commerce Department official involved in international trade, said he couldn’t predict specifically what fallout might occur if the U.S. fails to raise the money needed to build a structure for the Shanghai Expo, but that it would be widely regarded in China as ’an insult.’
  雷文凯曾担任美国商务部(Commerce Department)负责国际贸易事务的官员。他说,他不能具体预测如果美国筹措不到世博会场馆所需建设资金会产生怎样的后果,但这种情况在中国将被普遍视为“一种侮辱”。
  The U.S. is relying completely on private-sector funding to build a pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, due to open in May next year. But companies have been slow to pony up money, which Lavin attributed to factors ranging from the global economic downturn to sponsorship at the Beijing Olympics just last year.
  美国在2010年上海世博会使用的场馆完全依赖私人领域出资建设。但企业界对出钱的事一直不积极。雷文凯认为,这里有几方面的原因,比如全球经济低迷、去年的北京奥运会上有过赞助等等。上海世博会将于明年5月开幕。
  In the only donations offered so far, Dell Inc. has agreed to put $1 million into the project, while 3M Co. has offered $250,000, though the pledges announced in recent weeks also include a non-cash portion.
  目前接到的仅有的捐款来自戴尔公司(Dell Inc.)和3M公司。戴尔同意出资100万美元,3M已拿出25万美元,不过,近几周公布的捐助承诺还包括现金之外的内容。
  Lavin said he has been involved in ’active discussion’ with more than a dozen companies, which could be worth as much as $40 million, and he put chances of success in the overall funding effort at 80%.
  雷文凯说,他正在与十多家公司进行“积极的商谈”,有可能从他们那里筹集到至多4,000万美元。他预计,筹集到所需全部资金的成功率在80%。
  In order to begin construction of the pavilion, he said money might be borrowed.
  他说,要开始动工建造场馆,可能需要借钱。