未来的城市Cities of the future

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是爱丽丝。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼尔。
Have you ever played SimCity, Neil – the city-building computer game?
你有没有玩过模拟城市那个游戏？就是城市建设电子游戏。
Yes, but I wasn’t very good at it.I didn’t build enough houses, which created a lot of homeless Sims– those are the characters in the game.And then I didn’t deal effectively with a flood…
玩过，但是不太擅长。没有建足够的房子，容纳无家可归的人。游戏里的角色叫做Sim。然后我也未能有效处置洪水。
Really? Well, I suppose managing a city is quite a challenge– which is the subject of today’s show: cities of the future– an important subject as so many of us now live in urban areas.I want to start with our quiz question: What is the percentage of the world’s population that will be living in cities in 2050? We’re dealing with approximates here.Is it…a) 10%?b) 50%?Or c) 70%?
真的吗？我觉得管理一座城市真的是个挑战，这也是今天节目的主题，城市的未来这个话题很重要，因为大多数人都居住在城市。首先来看今天的问题：2050年世界将有多少人口居住在城市？我们只是说大概的数量。a) 10%?b) 50%?c) 70%?
I think that it’s a) 10%.
我觉得是a) 10%。
Well, we’ll find out if you’re right or wrong later on in the show.Now, you’ve encountered a couple of issues that might face urban planners when designing a city, Neil – housing and dealing with a flood. Can you think of any others?
好的，节目的最后我们再看你回答的是否正确。你遇到的那些问题，也许也是城市规划者规划城市时遇到的问题，如住房和洪水处理。你觉得还有其他的问题吗？
Yes. Having decent cycle lanes.Good transport networks are very important.
有。合理的自行车道。良好的交通网络是非常重要的。
Yes indeed, and if people could get around easily on foot, or by bike, or by public transport, roads would be less congested – or overcrowded – and less polluted.That sounds rather utopian to me though.
确实如此，如果人们能够方便得步行、骑自行车或乘坐公共交通，道路就不会那么拥挤，污染也会减少。但对我来说，这听上去太乌托邦了。
A utopia is an imaginary place where everything is perfect.But Copenhagen is pretty utopian, Alice - the air is clean, there are bike lanes everywhere.
乌托邦是指幻想中的地方，那里所有事物都很完美。但是哥本哈根就很理想国。那里空气清新，到处都有自行车道。
That sounds fantastic, but what about somewhere like Beijing with its constant smog – or air pollution – hanging over the city? A lot of people ride bikes there too. So which city is going to be the model for the future?
听上去很棒，但其他地方，如北京，经常有雾霾笼罩城市。那里也有很多人骑自行车。所以哪座城市能成为未来城市的模范呢？
Maybe like the future Los Angeles in the movie Blade Runner– you know, glittering high-rises, gigantic neon billboards, flying cars…
也许像电影《银翼杀手》中未来的洛杉矶——闪闪发光的高楼大厦，巨大的霓虹灯，气垫汽车……
Well, today’s Los Angeles has terrible urban sprawl and traffic problems.
如今的洛杉矶具有城市扩张，交通问题。
Urban sprawl is the way a city spreads into undeveloped land around it, often without planning permission.
城市扩张是指未经计划审批，城市向未开发的土地扩张。
Dr Janice Pearlman can explain why this happens. She is the founder and president of the Megacities Project non-profit organization in Rio de Janeiroand knows a lot about urban sprawl in Brazilian cities.
Janice Pearlman 可以解释为什么这种情况会发生。她是里约热内卢非盈利组织大都市计划的创始人和会长，很了解巴西城市扩张的状况。
People are coming massively into the cities which have no housing that’s affordable to them.So they can’t rent and they can’t buy, and they end up building their own communities and houses on unoccupied land.And these communities are becoming in some places the majority not the minority and they’re off the gridso they’re not often serviced by either the social services but also many of them don’t have water, sanitation and electricity.
人们大规模涌入城市，但他们又负担不起城市的住房。所以他们没法租房也没法买房，只能在未开发的土地上建造自己的社区和房屋。这些社区成为某些城市的多数人口，而非小范围特例，他们脱离了城市，所以经常不能享受到社会服务，很多人没有水、卫生设备和电力。
People migrate – or move – from the countryside to the city to get better opportunities, but end up with nowhere to live.
人们从乡村迁移到城市原本是想得到更好的机会，但最终却无处可去。
So they build their own housing on unoccupied land. These shanty towns – poor communities where the houses are built out of cheap materials like corrugated iron and plastic sheeting – are often off the grid…
所以他们在未开发的土地上建造自己的房子。这些棚户区，即穷人们用廉价的材料，如波纹铁皮片和塑料板建造的房子，构成的社区经常脱离了城市，
Which means they don’t have an electricity or water supply – or access to healthcare and education.And these communities are growing, so the problem is getting bigger. So are there any solutions, Alice?
这意味着他们无法得到电力和水供应，无法接触到卫生医疗和教育。这些群体在不断增长，因此问题也愈发严重。这有解决的办法吗？
Well, it’s all about improving the infrastructure.That’s the basic facilities a town or city needs, for example: communication, transport, water, and electricity.But this shouldn’t only mean improving housing conditions,but also promoting education and employment among the inhabitants, and building better communities.
都是围绕提高基础设施。也就是一个城镇或城市需要的基础设施，如通信、交通、水和电力。但不应该知识提高住房环境，还要提高这些居民的教育和工作水平，然后建造更良好的社区。
That sounds like a real headache for the urban planners.
这真的是让城市规划者头疼的问题啊。
You’re right there. And one thing urban planners are talking about at the moment is creating ’smart cities’.John Rossant, founder and chairman of the non-profit organisation New Cities Foundation, explains what it is.
没错。城市规划者如今常常提及的是创建“智慧城市”。John Rossant是非营利组织新城市基金会的创始人和主席，他会解释什么是智慧城市。
I think, you know, generally it’s accepted that cloud computing, ubiquitous internet, robust 5G networks etc, will transform our cities, whether they’re in the global south or the developed world.And, you know, technology is really a game changer, I think, in urbanisation.
如今人们已经承认，云计算、无处不在的互联网、强劲的5G网络将会改变我们的城市，不管是在南半球还是发达国家。科技在城市化中处于力挽狂澜的角色。
John Rossant there. What’s ubiquitous, Alice?
上述是John Rossant的观点。什么是 ubiquitous？
It means available everywhere. So, the idea behind smart cities is to use technology to collect large amounts of data about how a city is performing.
是指无处不在。所以智慧城市的观点在于利用科技收集城市运行的大量数据。
And that will be a game changer – significantly affecting the way our cities function.Hope for the future, Alice?
科技会成为规则制定者，极大地影响着我们城市运作的方式。这是未来城市的希望？
Fingers crossed.Now, I think it’s time for the answer to today’s quiz question, Neil.I asked: What is the percentage of the world’s population that will be living in cities in 2050? And remember I said we are dealing with approximates here? Is it… a) 10%? b) 50%? Or c) 70%?
让我们一起祈祷。我觉得是时候公布问题的答案了。我问你：2050年世界有多少人口会居住在城市？还记得我说的是估计的数字吧。a) 10%? b) 50%? 还是 c) 70%?
And I said a) 10%.
我选的是a) 10%。
Yes, and you underestimated there, Neil.The right answer is actually c) 70%. This, according to a report by the United Nations.Today 54% of the world’s population lives in urban areas.
好吧，你太低估这个数字了。正确答案是c) 70%。这是依据联合国的一份报告。如今全世界已有54%的人口居住在城市。
A lot really!
真的很多啊！
Yeah.
没错。
Well, I know we’re running out of time, so let me repeat the words we learned today. They were:
我知道我们节目的时间快到了，让我来回忆一下今天学到的单词。它们是：
congested
拥挤的
utopia
乌托邦
smog
雾霾
urban sprawl
城市扩张
migrate
迁移
shanty towns
棚户区
off the grid
脱离城市
infrastructure
基础设施
ubiquitous
无处不在的
game changer
规则制定者
Well, that’s the end of this edition of 6 Minute English. Join us again soon!Meanwhile, visit our website: bbclearningenglish.com, where you’ll find guides to grammar, exercises, videos and articles to read and improve your English.
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。我们下次再会！同时可以登录我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com查看语法、练习、视频和文章，提高英文能力。
Bye.
再见！