2015年经济学人 梦中的吊车 中世纪以来最大的建造活动

Oxford¹

Dreaming cranes

It is the biggest construction boom since the Middle Ages

IN HIS book “Notes from a Small Island”, Bill Bryson, an American author, took exception to some of Oxford's 20th-century architecture.

It is, he wrote, as though the city had said to itself, “We've been putting up handsome buildings since 1264; let's have an ugly one for a change.”

Much of Oxford is beautiful. A quarter of the university is listed. Some buildings date back to 1424.

But in the 1960s planners added ugly shopping centres, offices and even college buildings that drain the beauty from the city centre.

Now a building programme is under way that aims to avoid such errors, and even reverse a few.

Some of the construction is driven by the need to upgrade facilities in order to keep Oxford globally competitive.

In 2014 it was ranked Britain's top research university, yet some departments are still housed in converted Victorian houses.

Post-war buildings in the Science Area have been demolished². Their replacements³ will encourage inter-disciplinary work.

There is a push, too, for links with business, as pioneered by Oxford's old rival, Cambridge, where builders have also been busy.

One new hub outside Oxford city centre, the BioEscalator, promotes commercial research in life sciences alongside academia;

another, the Innovation Accelerator, focuses on advanced engineering.

Other buildings are being renovated⁴. On March 21st the Weston Library (formerly the New Bodleian) opened to the public.

In September a shiny new China Centre opened in the grounds of St Hugh's College. Construction is about to begin on the Beecroft physics building.

The boldest newcomer, located next to the new Mathematical Institute, will be the Blavatnik School of Government (pictured),

a glass-and-metal spaceship designed by the architects responsible for the “bird's nest” Olympic stadium in Beijing.

Private funding has been crucial, the names on the buildings reflecting those following in the footsteps of Balliol,

Bodley and Wadham—from Ukrainian businessmen to British financiers. The university plans to spend another 1.8 billion (2.7 billion) over the next decade,

says William James, the pro-vice chancellor⁵ for planning. He hints at bigger projects to come.

Oxford City Council is building, too, redeveloping Oxpens, a down-at-heel area near the railway station, into homes and offices.

It has demolished the monstrous⁶ Westgate car park to make way for a 500 million shopping centre.

The railway station is getting a 200m refit, with plans for a “continental boulevard” outside to greet some of the 9.5m tourists who arrive in Oxford each year.

A second railway station is under construction in the north of the city. Separately, an old branch line that links to the Mini factory in Cowley should open for passengers by 2020.

Yet if all this makes Oxford more attractive, it will accentuate⁷ another problem. Many people want to live or study there. Commuting⁸ to London is rising. Hedge funds are setting up in the city centre.

The number of graduate students has doubled (to 10,000) since 2001.

And yet the green belt around the city does not permit Oxford to expand, driving house prices higher than anywhere in the country, proportional to income.

Local opposition⁹ to a development of badly needed graduate student accommodation near Port Meadow, a beauty spot, has led to the biggest town-gown bust-up in years.

Oxford has many articulate, conservation-minded residents. It is surrounded by pretty countryside and hemmed¹⁰ in by decades-old planning regulations.

Its building boom is impressive. But growth will always be uncomfortable.

1 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。

2 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

3 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

4 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

5 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

6 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

7 accentuate   

v.着重，强调

参考例句：

• She has beautiful eyes, so we should accentuate them in the makeup.她眼睛很美丽，我们在化妆时应该突出她的眼睛。
• Mrs Obamas speeches rarely accentuate the positive.奥巴马夫人的演讲很少强调美国积极的一面。

8 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 hemmed   

缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围

参考例句：

• He hemmed and hawed but wouldn't say anything definite. 他总是哼儿哈儿的，就是不说句痛快话。
• The soldiers were hemmed in on all sides. 士兵们被四面包围了。