A great idea is never enough. You need money to turn your idea into a reality.
光有好的想法是远远不够的，你还需要资金将你的想法变成现实。
Your family and friends may give you money for your idea. But you are going to need more people to invest, unless you have very rich friends and family.
你的亲朋好友可能会给你的想法提供资金。但是你将会需要更多人来投资，除非你的亲朋好友非常富有。
Crowdfunding is a popular way to raise money using the Internet.
众筹是利用互联网筹集资金的一种常用办法。
Businesses can use crowdfunding to start projects or products. Backers, who donate money, support those products. Sometimes they get the earliest model for a discount.
企业可以利用众筹来启动项目或产品。资助者捐钱来支持这些产品。有时候他们能够打折购买最早期的产品。
Not all crowdfunding is used to raise money for profit. Many people and groups use crowdfunding to help the needy.
并非所有的众筹项目都是以盈利为目的来筹集资金。很多人和团体利用众筹来帮助有需要的人。
This week, President Obama called on tech and crowdfunding companies to help raise money for Syrian refugees. Kickstarter and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees responded by starting a Kickstarter project to raise money to help the Syrian refugees.
本周，奥巴马总统呼吁高科技和众筹公司帮助为叙利亚难民筹集资金。Kickstarter（众筹网站）和联合国难民事务高级专员对此做出反应，启动了一个Kickstarter项目筹集资金来帮助叙利亚难民。
Also, not all crowdfunding projects are successful. The crowdfunding site Kickstarter only funds projects that meet their goal.
此外，并非所有的众筹项目都能成功。众筹网站Kickstarter只会为实现筹资目标的项目提供资金。
According to Time magazine, Kickstarter has had over 200,000 projects. About half of those projects didn't meet their goals, so they were not funded.
根据《时代》杂志报道，Kickstarter上已经有超过20万个项目，其中一半左右的项目未能实现其筹资目标，所以这些项目没有得到资助。
Some crowdfunding projects don't get funded for good reasons. The magazine Digital Trends listed "The 10 most hilariously awful Kickstarter projects of all time."
一些众筹项目没有得到资助很有道理。《数字化趋势》杂志列出了历史十大最滑稽糟糕的Kickstarter项目。
Only some crowdfunding projects are funded. According to Kickstarter, about 36 percent of its projects reach their goal and are funded.
只有部分众筹项目得到了资助。根据Kickstarter所说的，大约36%的项目实现了他们的筹资目标并且得到了资助。
Some projects earn much more money than anyone expected.
一些项目比任何人预期的都要获得更多资金。
Here are the five crowdfunding projects that have raised the most money to date:
以下是迄今为止筹集资金最多的五个众筹项目：
5. Coolest Cooler
第五名：Coolest Cooler（冷藏箱）
Crowdfunding site: Kickstarter
众筹网站：Kickstarter
Promised ship date: February 2015
Actual ship date: July 2015
预计发货时间：2015年2月
实际发货时间：2015年7月
Goal: $50,000
Raised: $13,285,226
筹资目标：5万美元
已筹集：$13,285,226
The Coolest Cooler raised over $13 million dollars from 62,642 backers for an insulated box that keeps your food and drinks cold. But the Coolest Cooler does more than keep things cold.
Coolest Cooler从62642名资助者那里筹集到超过1300万美元用于一个保持食物和饮料低温的隔热箱。但是Coolest Cooler不仅能让物品保持低温。
The Coolest Cooler has been called "the Swiss Army knife" of coolers. The cooler has a charger, light, speaker and much more.
Coolest Cooler被称为冷藏箱中的瑞士军刀，这个冷藏箱有充电器、灯、喇叭等等。
This video shows more about the Coolest Cooler:
以下视频展示了Coolest Cooler的更多细节（视频省略）。
4. Ethereum
第四名：Ethereum
Crowdfunding sites: Bitcoin and the company website
众筹网站：Bitcoin网站及公司网站
Raised: $18 million
已筹集：1800万美元
Launch Date: July 30, 2015
发布日期：2015年7月30日
According to the Ethereum website, "Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third -party interference. Ethereum is how the Internet was supposed to work."
根据Ethereum所言，“Ethereum是一个运行智能合同的分散平台，能够完美运行已编程程序，不会有停机、审查、欺诈或第三方干扰的可能性。Ethereum就是互联网原本被期望的运作方式。
Businesses can use Ethereum to communicate over the Internet. It gives them a record of their communications.
企业可以利用Ethereum在互联网上通信。Ethereum会给他们提供一份通信记录。
Ethereum applications can include exchanging money on the Internet. It also includes message programs.
Ethereum程序可以包括互联网上的资金交换，还能包括信息程序。
This article in Tech Crunch explains how the Ethereum product is different from Bitcoin.
《科技博客（Tech Crunch）》的这篇文章解释了Ethereum产品同Bitcoin的不同。
3. Pebble Time
第三名：Pebble Time
Crowdfunding site: Kickstarter
众筹网站：Kickstarter
Goal: $500,000
Raised: $20,338,986
筹资目标：50万美元
已筹集：$20,338,986
Promised ship date: May 2015
Actual ship date: June 2015
预计发货时间：2015年5月
实际发货时间：2015年6月
Pebble funded its first watch using Kickstarter. Pebble went back to Kickstarter to fund its Pebble Time watch with a color screen in February 2015.
Pebble利用Kickstarter为它的第一款手表筹集了资金。2015年2月，Pebble再次回到Kickstarter为它拥有彩色屏幕的的Pebble Time手表筹集资金。
Pebble Time raised over $1 million in less than an hour and $8.5 million by the end of the first 24 hours of the project.
Pebble Time手表在不到1个小时的时间内筹集到一百万美元，在项目最初24个小时内筹集到850万美元。
Pebble Time raised over $20 million and is the most successful Kickstarter project so far.
Pebble Time手表筹集到超过两千万美元，这是截至目前最为成功的Kickstarter项目。
This watch works with both iPhone and Android, and has a one-week battery life.
这款手表同时适用于iPhone和Andriod手机，待机时间长达一个星期。
Learn more about Pebble Time in this video:
通过这则视频更多地了解Pebble Time（视频省略）。
2. Elio Motors
第二名：Elio Motors（埃利奥汽车公司）
Crowdfunding sites: StartEngine and the company website
众筹网站：StartEngine网站及公司网站
Raised: $37 million to date
已筹集：截至目前3700万美元
Promised ship date: 4th quarter 2016
预计发货时间：2016年第4季度
Elio Motors has a goal of raising funds for a new type of car.
埃利奥汽车公司筹集资金用于一款新型汽车。
The Elio car gets 84 miles per gallon (35.7 km per liter) on the highway. The driver sits in the front seat and the passenger sits in the back seat.
这种埃利奥汽车在高速公路上油耗为84英里每加仑，即35.7公里每升。驾驶员坐在前排座位，乘客坐在后排座位。
The car has a base price of $6,800.
该车基本价格为6800美元。
The company is still taking deposits for its three-wheeled, two-passenger car. So far over 46,000 cars have been reserved.
该公司仍在预售这种载客两人的三轮汽车。截至目前已经有4.6万辆汽车被预定。
You can learn more about the Elio Motors vehicle in this video:
你可以通过这则视频更多地了解埃利奥汽车公司（视频省略）。
This article in Tech Crunch explains how the motor company used the fundraising method to produce the new car.
《科技博客（Tech Crunch）》的这篇文章可以解释这家汽车公司如何利用筹资方式生产这种新车。
1. Star Citizen
第一名：Star Citizen（星际公民）
Crowdfunding sites: Kickstarter and Company website
筹集网站：Kickstarter以及公司网站
Goal: $500,000
筹资目标：50万美元
Raised: $90 million to date
已筹集：截至目前9000万美元
Promised ship date: November 2014
Actual ship date: Unknown
预计发货时间：2014年11月
实际发货时间：未知
Star Citizen is a multi-player Internet video game set in outer space.
星际公民是一款背景设定于外太空的多玩家网络游戏。
This crowdfunding project started on Kickstarter in 2012 with a goal of $500,000. Star Citizen raised over $2 million on Kickstarter.
该众筹项目于2012年在Kickstarter上启动，筹资目标为50万美元。星际公民在Kickstarter上筹集到超过2百万美元。
The company also uses its own website for crowdfunding and has raised over $90 million in total to date.
该公司还利用自身的网站筹集资金，截至目前一共已经筹集到9千万美元。
This CNBC article explains why the game designer of Star Citizen started a campaign outside of Kickstarter
CNBC的这篇文章解释了为什么星际公民的游戏设计师在Kickstarter以外启动众筹活动。
This video gives you a preview of Star Citizen:
这则视频让你预览到星际公民（视频省略）。
Star Citizen has had troubles even though it raised a record amount of money.
虽然星际公民筹集到创纪录的资金，它却有了麻烦。
Some are wondering what the company has done with all the money it raised. An unhappy backer has threatened a lawsuit against the company.
有人想要搞清楚这家公司利用筹集到的资金已经做了些什么。一些不爽的资助者已经威胁对该公司提起诉讼。
Your Thoughts
你的看法
Have you ever backed a crowdfunding project? Are you surprised by the success of these crowdfunding projects? Have you ever wanted to crowdfund an idea? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page!
你是否支持过众筹项目？你是否惊讶于这些众筹项目的成功？你有没有曾想过对一个想法进行众筹？在下面的评论区分享你的看法。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)