美国国家公共电台 NPR President Trump 'Wrong' To Call London Embassy Area An 'Off Location,' Residents Say

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

President Trump¹ has canceled a planned visit to the United Kingdom to open the new U.S. Embassy there. He says it costs too much. He also says the new embassy is in an off location in contrast to London's prestigious² Mayfair district where the old embassy was. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from the new embassy's neighborhood.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: John Scobie, a local realtor, is giving me a tour of Nine Elms. That's where the $1 billion U.S. Embassy will open next week. It lies along the south bank of the River Thames, upstream from Big Ben.

JONATHAN SCOBIE: The whole site here was originally designed to be based around the American Embassy. And we have beautiful, beautiful apartments right on the edge of the River Thames starting from anywhere from about 500,000 or 600,000 for a one-bed going up to multiples of millions.

LANGFITT: And there's more.

SCOBIE: You've got the Battersea Power Station development, which is arguably one of the biggest developments in the world at the minute. It's going to - estimated to cost about 8 billion. In 2020, you'll be able to see two new Tube lines opening.

LANGFITT: The old power station, a red brick colossus, sat empty for decades. It's now slated⁴ to house Apple's U.K. headquarters and luxury apartments. That's a big leap for Nine Elms, which was once famous as London's wholesale⁵ market for fruit and vegetables. Today it's dotted with cranes. Scobie's a big fan of President Trump and his blunt style, but he thinks his assessment⁶ of this area is off-base.

SCOBIE: If he gave me the opportunity, I'm sure I'd be able to sell him a couple of penthouses down here. And I'm surprised he hasn't bought his own plot of land down here 'cause all the other developers have done it.

LANGFITT: Residents in the neighborhood took Trump's tweet in stride.

SAINA BEHNEJAD: I don't think anyone here's really that offended. We just find it very amusing.

LANGFITT: Saina Behnejad is a 25-year-old magazine editor and a fan of the new embassy, a glass and steel cube that shimmers⁷ in the sunlight.

BEHNEJAD: This building's amazing. I don't know what fault you can find with it. It's just massive. I've never seen an embassy this big before (laughter). So I think he probably doesn't know anything about London at all.

LANGFITT: Not everyone, though, is sold on Nine Elms. U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union has helped drive down luxury real estate prices in London. Last year, Bloomberg reported falling values in Nine Elms drove developers to sell units at a discount. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, London.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

5 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 shimmers   

n.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的名词复数 )v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The hot pavement sent up shimmers. 晒热的道路浮起热气晃动的景象。 来自辞典例句
• Sunlight shimmers on the waters of the bay. 阳光在海湾的水面上闪烁。 来自辞典例句