2020年经济学人 美国梦--上帝与网格(2)（在线收听）

The form of the suburb encourages conformity and repetition.

城郊的形式鼓励着遵从和重复。

Most streets adhere to a grid, running north-south and eastwest, which is linked to a grid that extends across southern California and indeed much of America.

大多数街道都遵循一个纵贯南北和东西的网格，这个网格连接着一个横跨南加州和美国大部分地区的网格。

Navigation is straightforward.

导航十分的直截了当。

The ambulance that carries Mr Waldie and his dead father to the hospital turns left out of his road, then left onto a boulevard, then right.

那辆送沃尔迪先生和他死去的父亲去医院的救护车在路上左转，然后左转进入一条林荫大道，然后右转。

Those who live there do not find this stifling.

住在那里的人并不觉得这令人窒息。

“The grid limited our choices, exactly as urban planners said it would. But the limits weren’t paralysing.”

“正如城市规划者所说的那样，网格限制了我们的选择。但只是限制并没有瘫痪。”

Yet, as in many locked-down homes, the impression of quiet and order is surface deep.

然而，和许多上锁的房子一样，人们对安静和秩序的印象是表面的。

The community relies on deep aquifers, but the rocks could also transmit terrible seismic shocks to the surface.

该社区依赖于深层含水层，但岩石也可能向地表传递可怕的地震波。

During the second world war the nearby aircraft factory was disguised to look like a suburb: had the enemy bombers come, Lakewood could have been accidentally wiped out.

第二次世界大战期间，附近的飞机制造厂伪装成一个郊区：如果敌人的轰炸机来了，莱克伍德可能会被意外地消灭。

The buyer of one house discovers that the previous owner had excavated a large airraid shelter underneath his garage.

一栋房子的买家发现先前的主人在车库下面挖了一个大防空洞。

Above all, residents feel the presence of God.

最重要的是，居民感受到上帝的存在。

The developers boasted of Lakewood’s many churches, and funded a synagogue after the ban on Jews was lifted.

开发商夸耀莱克伍德有许多教堂，并在犹太人禁令解除后资助了一个犹太教堂。

Mr Waldie’s father, who had briefly joined a religious order, knows the Catholic liturgy so well that he teaches newly ordained priests.

沃尔迪的父亲曾短暂地加入了一个宗教组织，他对天主教的礼拜仪式非常了解，所以他教新任命的牧师。

As a boy, Mr Waldie carried the crucifix in his church on Good Friday, wiping lipstick off Jesus’s feet.

作为一个男孩，沃尔迪先生在耶稣受难日的时候在教堂里带着十字架，为耶稣擦干脚。

In the book of Revelation, the city of God is perfectly square.

在启示录中，上帝之城是完美的广场。