TED演讲:特殊环境里的不同寻常的房子(7)

 Today, they live in this area, 今天，他们生活在这片区域，

approximately 50,000 to 70,000 people, 大约5万到7万人， 

who live in this community of self-built multi-story houses where up to three generations live in one structure. 住在自己建的多层房屋的社区里三代同堂。

While these apartments that they built for themselves appear to lack any planning or formal grid¹, 虽然这些他们建给自己的公寓看上去缺少规划或者正规的架构,

each family specializing in a certain form of recycling means that the ground floor of each apartment is reserved for garbage-related activities and the upper floor is dedicated² to living space. 但每家都擅长收一种特殊的回收方式,这意味着每个公寓的底层被预留给进行垃圾处理相关的工作,上层是用于居住的空间。

I find it incredible to see how these piles and piles of garbage are invisible to the people who live there, 我很不可思议地看到,这些成堆成堆的垃圾是如何能被住在这里的人们所忽视,

like this very distinguished³ man who is posing while all this garbage is sort of streaming out behind him, 像这个正在端坐的有威望的长者,他的后面却仿佛有大量垃圾要溢出，

or like these two young men who are sitting and chatting amongst these tons of garbage. 或者像这两位年轻人正坐着聊天在他们之间却有着成吨的垃圾。

While to most of us, living amongst these piles and piles of garbage may seem totally uninhabitable, 虽然对我们大部分人，生活在这些成堆成堆的垃圾中间可能似乎无法适应，

to those in the Zabbaleen, this is just a different type of normal. 但对那些生活在扎巴林的人来说，这只是一种与众不同的平常。

In all these places I've talked about today, 在所有我今天说到的地方，

what I do find fascinating is that there's really no such thing as normal, 我发现最有意思的是没有一种叫寻常的东西，

and it proves that people are able to adapt to any kind of situation. 这证明人们有能力适应各种生存环境。

Throughout the day, it's quite common to come across a small party taking place in the streets, just like this engagement party. 一天中，遇到一个正在街上进行的小型派对是非常正常的。就像这个订婚的派对。

In this tradition, the bride-to-be displays all of their belongings⁴, 在这种传统中，准新娘展示出她们要带给未来新丈夫的，

which they soon bring to their new husband. 所有个人物品。

A gathering⁵ like this one offers such a juxtaposition⁶ where all the new stuff is displayed and all the garbage is used as props⁷ to display all their new home accessories. 像这样的物品的堆放展示出一种东西放在一起的情形，所有新的物品被展示出来，而所有的垃圾被用作展示他们新家所有小装饰的道具。

1 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

4 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 juxtaposition   

n.毗邻，并置，并列

参考例句：

• The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling.这两句话连在一起使人听了震惊。
• It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting colors.这是并列对比色的结果。

7 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。