VOA慢速英語：俄羅斯投入150億美元舉辦世界杯會有什么回報?

What Will Russia’s $15 Billion Investment in the World Cup Buy?

俄羅斯投入150億美元舉辦世界杯會有什么回報?

The FIFA World Cup soccer championship in Russia is the most costly ever held.

在俄羅斯舉行的國際足聯(lián)世界杯足球賽是有史以來最昂貴的一屆。

Officials say the total cost will be $15 billion.

有關官員表示，總費用將會達到150億美元。

Close to $3 billion has been spent on 12 new or improved stadiums. At least $8 billion has been spent on infrastructure, including new roads, railroads and airports.

其中將近30億美元被用于新建或升級體育場館，還有至少80億美元被用于基礎設施，包括新建道路、鐵路和機場。

Now, experts question whether there will be a good return for the Russian taxpayer.

現(xiàn)在，專家們質(zhì)疑俄羅斯納稅人是否會得到很好的回報。

Professor Leonid Grigoryev is an economist at the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation. He offers an unusual answer. He compares the World Cup to a wedding dress.

列奧尼德·格里戈耶夫(Leonid Grigoryev)教授是俄羅斯聯(lián)邦政府分析中心的一名經(jīng)濟學家。他給出了一個不同尋常的答案。他將世界杯比作了婚紗。

"On one hand, it's necessary. It makes everybody happy," Grigoryev told VOA. "The exact economic efficiency definitely cannot be defined in American quarterly financial reports. It's a long-term story. We still hope to become not only a hockey country, but a football country."

格里戈耶夫表示：“一方面它是必要的，它讓每個人都開心。但它確切的經(jīng)濟效益肯定是美國式季度財務報告中無法體現(xiàn)出來的。它的影響是長遠的。我們?nèi)匀幌Ｍ粌H要成為一個冰球國度，也要成為一個足球國度。”

Brazil held the last World Cup in 2014 at an estimated cost of $11 billion. Four years later, the difference is clear to Brazilian football fans in Moscow.

巴西2014年舉辦了上一屆世界杯，預計花費了110億美元。4年之后，對莫斯科的巴西球迷來說，差異是很明顯的。

"Comparing Brazil with Russia, the infrastructure here is much better than ours," Marcio Pessoa told VOA, as he walked through Red Square.

馬西奧·佩索(Marcio Pessoa)在穿過紅場時對美國之音表示：“如果拿巴西與俄羅斯相比，這里的基礎設施比我們的強多了。”

Russia's $15 billion investment is aimed at improving the country's image, even as it faces sanctions. International restrictions were put in place over Russia's activities in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

俄羅斯這150億美元投資旨在改善該國形象，即使它正面臨制裁。俄羅斯在烏克蘭的活動以及2014年吞并克里米亞招致了國際制裁。

Dmitry Oreshkin is a political expert. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to govern as though the sanctions are not important. "'Despite sanctions, we conduct such a gorgeous World Cup. Despite sanctions we go ahead with the war in Syria'...until the very moment that they start feeling that for all this pleasure, they are paying [for something]," said Oreshkin.

德米特里·奧列什金(Dmitry Oreshkin)是一位政治專家。他說，俄羅斯總統(tǒng)普京試圖讓這些制裁顯得不那么重要。“’盡管面臨制裁，我們還是舉辦了如此宏偉的世界杯。盡管面臨制裁，我們還是投入了敘利亞戰(zhàn)爭。‘直到某個階段他們開始感覺到，所有這些興奮，他們都要付出代價。”

The first to feel the financial difficulty are likely to be the middle-aged people looking forward to retirement.

首先感到財務困難的可能是期望退休的中年人。

On opening day of the World Cup last week, the government announced an increase in the pension age, from 60 to 65 for men, and a much bigger jump for women, from 55 to 63.

在上周世界杯開幕當天，俄羅斯政府宣布提高退休年齡，男性從60歲提高到65歲，女性從55歲提高到63歲。

Eva lives in Moscow. The 62-year-old told VOA that most Russians were not surprised.

伊娃住在莫斯科。62歲的她告訴美國之音，大多數(shù)俄羅斯人并不感到驚訝。

She said she believed that officials thought that the championship would ease the effect of the news.

她說，她覺得官員們認為世界杯比賽會降低這一新聞的影響。

Eva described a joke that people were telling about the increase in the retirement ago.

伊娃講述了人們以前說到退休年齡提高的一個笑話。

"‘Yesterday, I had four years until pension age. Today, I have nine years. And they still keep telling us that you can't get your youth back!'" she said.

她：“‘昨天，我還有4年退休。到了今天，我還有9年退休。他們還一直對我們說，青春一去不復返。"

Russia said the World Cup is partly a gift for its young people. There is talk of unforgettable memories and new buildings. The World Cup ends on July 15, but its value will be measured in the coming years.

俄羅斯表示，世界杯在一定程度上是給年輕人的禮物，他們得到了難忘的記憶以及新的設施。世界杯將于7月15日結(jié)束，但是它的價值會在未來幾年得到衡量。

I'm Susan Shand.

蘇珊·珊德報道。