真的还是假的?英国西南部新建的核电站将成为地球上最昂贵的物体。这里说的是计划建在萨默塞特郡的欣克利角核电站——但是，我们建过任何如此昂贵之物吗?

"Hinkley is set to be the most expensive object on Earth… best guesses say Hinkley could pass ￡24bn ($35bn)," said the environmental charity Greenpeace last month as it launched a petition against the project. Even if you stick with the expense of construction alone, though, the price is still high - the main contractor, EDF, puts it at ￡18bn ($26bn).

上个月，环保慈善组织“绿色和平”发起了一场反对该工程的请愿活动，称“欣克利核电站将成为地球上最昂贵之物……最准确的估值是它会超过240亿英镑(350亿美元)”。即使只计算建筑本身的花销，也是相当昂贵的——主建筑EDF花费为180亿英镑(260亿美元)。

For that sum you could build a small forest of Burj Khalifas - the world's tallest building, in Dubai, cost apiffling ￡1bn ($1.5bn). You could also knock up more than 70 miles of particle accelerator. The 17-mile-long Large Hadron Collider, built under the border between France and Switzerland to unlock the secrets of the universe, cost a mere ￡4bn ($5.8bn).

用这笔钱，你可以建一座由诸多哈利法塔组成的小丛林——哈林法塔是世界上最高的建筑物，建于迪拜，成本仅为微不足道的10亿英镑(15亿美元)。你还可以马马虎虎建一台超过70英里的粒子加速器。建于法瑞边境、用于揭开宇宙奥秘的17英里长大型强子对撞机仅仅花费了40亿英镑(58亿美元)。

The most expensive bridge ever constructed is the eastern replacement span of the Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco, designed to withstand the strongest earthquake seismologists would expect within the next 1,500 years. That cost about ￡4.5bn ($6.5bn).

史上最昂贵桥梁是位于旧金山的奥克兰海湾大桥东段新桥。地震专家预测该地将在1500年内遭遇一次最强烈的地震，而该桥的设计可以抗震，花费约为45亿英镑(65亿美元)。