In our office at the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in Washington, nine feet of bookshelves are dedicated to the 44 loose-leaf binders holding summaries of hundreds of agreements reached between negotiators representing the US and the People’s Republic of China. In alphabetical order they range from Agriculture to Visas. The largest binder is Trade, with agreements stretching back to 1979. The smallest is Tourism with a reciprocal agreement allowing tourism offices to be opened in each country.
在我們美中經濟與安全評估委員會(US-China Economic and Security Review Commission)位於華盛頓的辦公室裏,9英尺高的書架上擺放著44個活頁夾,裏面儲存著美國和中華人民共和國雙方談判代表歷年來簽署的成百上千份協議的概要。按字母順序,從「農業」排列到「簽證」。最爲碩大的活頁夾是「貿易」,裏面最早的是1979年的協議。最小的活頁夾是「旅遊」,只有一項允許雙方旅遊組織在對方國家成立代表處的互惠協議。