12-6 东京

Tokyo

 

A state of the art financial marketplace, a metropolis¹¹ of exquisite² politenesses, a city that is monstrously³ large yet has astonishing beauty in its details these are a few of the myriad⁴² ways to describe Tokyo, and all contain more than a grain³ of truth.

 

Of all major cities in the world, Tokyo, with its ultramodern speed and its smattering⁴ of old Japanese haunts⁵, is perhaps the hardest to understand, to feel comfortable in, and to see in any single perspective. To begin with, consider the sheer, outrageous⁵ size of it. Tokyo incorporates 23 wards⁷⁶, 26 smaller cities, 7 towns, and 8 villages altogether sprawling⁷ 88 kilometers (55 miles) from east to west and 24 kilometers (15 miles) from north to south. The wards alone enclose an area of 590 square kilometers (228 square miles), which in turn house some 11.9 million people. More than 3 million of these residents pass through Shinjuku Eki, one of the major hubs⁸ in the transportation network, every day.

 

It's staggering to think what the population density⁹ would be if Tokyo went up as well as out. Mile after mile, houses rise only one or two stories, their low uniformity broken here and there by the sore thumb of an apartment building. Space, that most precious of commodities, is so scarce that pedestrians⁹ have to weave in and around utility poles as they walk along the narrow sidewalks. Begin with that observation, and you discover that the very fabric¹⁰ of life in this city is woven of countless¹¹, unfathomable¹⁰ contradictions.

 

Tokyo is the most impermanent of cities, constantly tearing itself down and building anew. Whole blocks disappear overnight. The next day a framework of girders is already rising on the empty lot. It's virtually impossible now to put up a single? family house in the eight central wards of the city; a plot of land alone costs more than the average person will earn in several lifetimes. Home owners live in the suburbs, usually an hour or more by train from their jobs. Only developers can afford land closer in -- for office buildings, condominiums¹¹, and commercial complexes.

 

More than anything else, though, Tokyo is a magnet¹². Money -- enormous amounts of it -- is of course the great attractor, and it is always looking for new ways of turning itself over. The great collapse¹² of 1992 left Japan's banks sitting on trillions of dollars of bad debt, and the economy has yet to recover, but the Japanese remain among the world's foremost consumers -- not merely of things but of culture and leisure. Everything shows up here, sooner or later: van Gogh's Sunflowers, the Berlin Philharmonic, Chinese pandas, Mexican food. Even the Coney Island carousel¹³¹³ is here -- lovingly restored down to the last gilded¹⁴ curlicue¹⁴ on the last prancing¹⁵¹⁵ unicorn¹⁶¹⁶, back in action at an amusement park called Toshima-en.

 

Now the magnet, this exciting, exasperating¹⁷, movable feast of a city, is drawing you.

 

注释：

1. metropolis [mi5trRpElis] n. 大城市，大都会

2. myriad [5miriEd] a. 无数的

3. grain [grein] n. 一点儿，些微

4. smattering [5smAtEriN] n. 少数，寥寥几个，些许

5. haunt [hC:nt] n. 常去的地方

6. ward⁶ [wC:d] n. （城镇、行政堂区等以下的）行政区，选区，区

7. sprawl⁸ [sprC:l] vi. （城市等）无计划地扩展（或延伸）

8. hub [hQb] n. （兴趣、活动等的）中心

9. pedestrian [pi5destriEn] n. 步行者，行人

10. unfathomable [7Qn5fATEmEbl] a. 莫测高深的，不可理解的

11. condominium [7kCndE5miniEm] n. [美] = condo [kEn5dEu] [美口] 分套购置的公寓

12. magnet [5mA^nit] n. 有吸引力的人（或物）

13. carousel [7kArE5sel] n. [美] 旋转木马

14. curlicue [5k:likju:] n. （书法、图案等的）花饰，旋曲

15. prancing [5prB:nsiN] a. 腾跃的，腾跳的

16. unicorn [5ju:nikC:n] n. （传说中头和身似马、后腿似牡鹿、尾似狮、前额中部有一螺旋状独角的）独角兽

 

东京

 

一个高度发达的金融市场，一个高雅的礼仪之都，一个规模庞大但细微之处又美丽得令人惊叹的城市——有无数方式可以描述东京，而且各有各的道理。

　　东京，既有超现代的发展速度，又有少数老年日本人的流连之所，也许是世界大都市中，最让人琢磨不透、最不容易给人舒适感、最难从单一角度审视的城市。首先就是它令人震惊的规模：东京下辖23个区、26个小城市、7个镇、8个村，东西长88公里（55英里），南北宽24公里（15英里），仅城区就占地590平方公里（288平方英里），居住人口1190万，每天，居民中的300多万人要经过东京的交通网络的主要枢纽之一——新宿地铁站。

　　如果东京向上和向外发展，它的人口密度将是惊人的。在数英里长的地区里，建筑物都只有一层或两层高，在这一大片低层建筑中，不时极不合适地出现一座高层公寓楼。空间，东京最贵的商品，已变得如此稀缺以至行人在狭窄的人行道上不得不在电线杆间穿行。从上述观察开始，您会发现这个城市的生活结构交织着无数高深莫测的矛盾。

　　东京是一个最富变化的城市，它总在不停地拆，不停地重建。有时整个街区一夜之间就不见了，第二天在空地上已搭起了钢筋框架。现在想在8个中心城区内盖座独门独户的住宅简直是不可能的。仅一小块地就要花普通百姓几辈子的收入。人们到郊区安家，上班通常要乘一小时或更长时间的火车。只有房地产开发商才有实力在市里购地，盖写字楼、公寓楼和商业大厦。

　　尽管如此，东京仍是个具有吸引力的城市。金钱，大量的金钱当然就是巨大的吸引力，而且总是在寻求新的周转途径。1992年“泡沫经济”的破灭给日本银行造成了数万亿美元的坏帐，日本经济还在恢复之中，但日本人仍是世界上名列前茅的消费者，不仅在物质方面，而且在文化和休闲方面。所有东西早晚都会在这里露面，比如梵高的《向日葵》、柏林爱乐乐团、中国的大熊猫、墨西哥的美食，甚至连科尼岛的旋转木马——整修完好的腾跃的独角兽上还有镀金花饰，也重新在丰岛园游乐场内运行。

现在，这个既激动人心又令人恼火的时变时新的都市正在吸引着你。

 

 

1 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

2 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

3 monstrously   

参考例句：

• There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. 布里斯托尔有那么一帮人为此恨透了布兰德利。
• You are monstrously audacious, how dare you misappropriate public funds? 你真是狗胆包天，公家的钱也敢挪用？

4 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

5 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

6 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

7 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

8 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

9 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

10 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

11 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 carousel   

n.旋转式行李输送带

参考例句：

• Riding on a carousel makes you feel dizzy.乘旋转木马使你头晕。
• We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel.我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。

14 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

15 prancing   

v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lead singer was prancing around with the microphone. 首席歌手手执麦克风，神气地走来走去。
• The King lifted Gretel on to his prancing horse and they rode to his palace. 国王把格雷特尔扶上腾跃着的马，他们骑马向天宫走去。 来自辞典例句

16 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

17 exasperating   

adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Our team's failure is very exasperating. 我们队失败了，真是气死人。
• It is really exasperating that he has not turned up when the train is about to leave. 火车快开了， 他还不来，实在急人。