2014年经济学人 添砖加瓦 政府促进房地产建设的步伐跌跌撞撞

New homes

Building blocks

The government makes a lame¹ attempt to boost house-building

AS GEORGE OSBORNE prepared to deliver his autumn statement, on December 2nd, Danny Alexander, his Liberal Democrat² deputy at the Treasury³, announced a slew⁴ of investments in infrastructure⁵. These included a much-needed 15 billion (24 billion) for roads, as well as 2.3 billion for flood defences. Mr Alexander tried to make much of the coalition's plans on housing, too, trumpeting⁶ 13,000 new homes to be built at Bicester, a town in Oxfordshire, which would then be designated as a garden city. The government will need to do much more, however, to solve Britain's housing problem.

On average, 140,000 homes have been built in each of the past four years, far fewer than the 240,000 new houses needed annually⁸. With supply constrained⁹, house prices continue to rise, by 19% in London over the past year. There is an estimated deficit¹⁰ of as many as 1m houses.

Bicester is in the arc north and west of London's green belt that is ideal territory for more house-building: it is good for commuters to the capital and other hubs of employment such as Oxford⁷ and Cambridge. It is the arc where, after the second world war, the government built several garden cities—new towns that combined employment with a pleasant place to live. Bicester has good transport links and plenty of brownfield land (most of the new homes will be on land now owned by the defence ministry). It also has an MP who supports more construction.

Yet the Bicester houses are “not even a drop in the ocean,” says Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics. The politicians are just going through the motions, he says. “This is political window dressing¹¹.” And that is assuming the homes even get built. Construction at the other recent attempt to fashion a new garden city—in Ebbsfleet, south-east of London—has barely begun.

Locals in Bicester are not pleased, either, raising familiar concerns about crowded schools, bad traffic and stretched health care. “We don't even have a proper hospital,” says Claire, a hairdresser. “How are we going to support 13,000 more homes?”

Meanwhile, Mr Alexander suggested another solution to the lack of housing: the first government involvement in house-building in a generation. He announced a pilot scheme near Cambridge to build 10,000 new homes, warning developers, “If you don't build, we will.”

The answer is simpler, says Mr Cheshire: the government should amend¹² planning regulations to allow construction on the green belt. “Nothing short of radical” solutions will solve the problem, he says. But the benefits of such changes take a long time to filter through. The drawbacks for NIMBYs are apparent immediately, especially just ahead of an election.

1 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 trumpeting   

大声说出或宣告（trumpet的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• She is always trumpeting her son. 她总是吹嘘她儿子。
• The wind is trumpeting, a bugle calling to charge! 风在掌号。冲锋号！ 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

9 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

10 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

11 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。