劍橋雅思 17 閱讀原文翻譯 T3P3—Building the Skyline

本篇文章共分 9 段，書評者依照所評書籍的章節，逐章介紹並評論其內容。基調在讚賞書籍的深度、廣度與有趣易讀，但對其中的某些部分則有較中性的評價。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

1. 《構建天際線》的內容與結構

   Katharine L. Shester reviews a book by Jason Barr about the development of New York City

   In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr takes the reader through a detailed history of New York City. The book combines geology, history, economics, and a lot of data to explain why business clusters developed where they did and how the early decisions of workers and firms shaped the skyline we see today. Building the Skyline is organized into two distinct parts. The first is primarily historical and addresses New York’s settlement and growth from 1609 to 1900; the second deals primarily with the 20th century and is a compilation of chapters commenting on different aspects of New York’s urban development. The tone and organization of the book changes somewhat between the first and second parts, as the latter chapters incorporate aspects of Barr’s related research papers.

   Katharine L. Shester 評論 Jason Barr 關於紐約市發展的一本書

   在《構建天際線》一書中，傑森-巴爾帶領讀者瞭解了紐約市的詳細歷史。這本書結合了地質學、歷史、經濟學和大量的資料，解釋了為什麼商業集群會在某地發展，以及早期工人和公司的決定如何塑造了我們今天看到的天際線。《構建天際線》分為兩個不同的部分。第一部分主要是歷史部分，涉及紐約從 1609 年到 1900 年的開拓和發展；第二部分主要涉及 20 世紀，是對紐約城市發展的不同面向進行評論的章節彙編。該書的基調和組織在第一和第二部分之間有些變化，因為後面的章節納入了巴爾的相關研究論文的內容。

2. 細說從頭

   Barr begins chapter one by taking the reader on a ‘helicopter time-machine’ ride – giving a fascinating account of how the New York landscape in 1609 might have looked from the sky. He then moves on to a subterranean walking tour of the city, indicating the location of rock and water below the subsoil, before taking the reader back to the surface. His love of the city comes through as he describes various fun facts about the location of the New York residence of early 19th-century vice-president Aaron Burr as well as a number of legends about the city.

   巴爾在第一章開始就帶領讀者乘坐 “直升機時空機器”—對 1609 年的紐約景觀從空中可能看到的情況進行了精彩的描述。然後，他轉向城市的地下步行之旅，指出地下的岩石和水流的位置，然後帶讀者回到地面。他對這座城市的熱愛溢於言表，他描述了關於 19 世紀初副總統亞倫-伯爾在紐約的住所位置的各種趣事，以及關於這座城市的一些傳說。

3. 內戰前後之土地利用

   Chapters two and three take the reader up to the Civil War (1861-1865), with chapter two focusing on the early development of land and the implementation of a grid system in 1811. Chapter three focuses on land use before the Civil War. Both chapters are informative and well researched and set the stage for the economic analysis that comes later in the book. I would have liked Barr to expand upon his claim that existing tenements* prevented skyscrapers in certain neighborhoods because ‘likely no skyscraper developer was interested in performing the necessary “slum clearance”‘. Later in the book, Barr makes the claim that the depth of bedrock** was not a limiting factor for developers, as foundation costs were a small fraction of the cost of development. At first glance, it is not obvious why slum clearance would be limiting, while more expensive foundations would not.

   第二章和第三章將讀者帶到了內戰 (1861-1865)，第二章主要介紹了土地的早期開發和 1811 年網格系統的實施。第三章重點介紹了內戰前的土地使用情況。這兩章內容豐富，研究透徹，為本書後面的經濟分析奠定了基礎。我希望巴爾能進一步闡述他的主張，即現有的租戶阻礙了某些街區的摩天大樓，因為 “可能沒有摩天大樓開發商對進行必要的 `貧民窟清理’ 感興趣”。在書的後面，巴爾聲稱基岩的深度對開發商來說不是一個限制因素，因為地基成本只是開發成本的一小部分。乍一看還無法看出，為什麼貧民窟清理會成為限制因素，而更昂貴的地基則不會。

4. 移民與街區

   Chapter four focuses on immigration and the location of neighborhoods and tenements in the late 19th century. Barr identifies four primary immigrant enclaves and analyzes their locations in terms of the amenities available in the area. Most of these enclaves were located on the least valuable land, between the industries located on the waterfront and the wealthy neighborhoods bordering Central Park.

   第四章聚焦在討論 19 世紀末的移民以及街區和租戶的位置。巴爾確定了四個主要的移民飛地，並從該地區現有設施的角度分析了它們的位置。這些飛地大多位於最不值錢的土地上，在位於濱水區的工業和中央公園邊上的富裕社區之間。

5. 摩天大樓伊始

   Part two of the book begins with a discussion of the economics of skyscraper height. In chapter five, Barr distinguishes between engineering height, economic height, and developer height – where engineering height is the tallest building that can be safely made at a given time, economic height is the height that is most efficient from society’s point of view, and developer height is the actual height chosen by the developer, who is attempting to maximize return on investment.

   本書第二部分開始討論摩天大樓高度的經濟學問題。在第五章中，巴爾區分了工程高度、經濟高度和開發商高度—其中工程高度是指在特定時間可以安全建造的最高建築，經濟高度是指從社會角度來看最有效的高度，而開發商高度是指開發商選擇的實際高度，他試圖使投資回報最大化。

6. 技術分析與突破

   Chapter five also has an interesting discussion of the technological advances that led to the construction of skyscrapers. For example, the introduction of iron and steel skeletal frames made thick, load-bearing walls unnecessary, expanding the usable square footage of buildings and increasing the use of windows and availability of natural light. Chapter six then presents data on building height throughout the 20th century and uses regression analysis to ‘predict’ building construction. While less technical than the research paper on which the chapter is based, it is probably more technical than would be preferred by a general audience.

   第五章還對促進摩天大樓建設的技術進步進行了有趣的討論。例如，鐵和鋼骨結構的引入使得厚重的承重牆變得沒有必要，擴大了建築物的可用面積，增加了窗戶的使用和自然光的可用性。第六章接著介紹了整個 20 世紀的建築高度資料，並使用回歸分析來 “預測” 建築物的興建。雖然與本章所依據的研究論文相比，它的技術性不強，但仍可能比一般讀者所喜歡的技術性來得更強。

7. 基岩詳論

   Chapter seven tackles the ‘bedrock myth’, the assumption that the absence of bedrock close to the surface between Downtown and Midtown New York is the reason for skyscrapers not being built between the two urban centers. Rather, Barr argues that while deeper bedrock does increase foundation costs, these costs were neither prohibitively high nor were they large compared to the overall cost of building a skyscraper. What I enjoyed the most about this chapter was Barr’s discussion of how foundations are actually built. He describes the use of caissons, which enable workers to dig down for considerable distances, often below the water table, until they reach bedrock. Barr’s thorough technological history discusses not only how caissons work, but also the dangers involved. While this chapter references empirical research papers, it is a relatively easy read.

   第七章討論了 “基岩神話”，即認為紐約市中心和中城之間沒有接近地表的基岩是這兩個都會中心之間沒有建造摩天大樓的原因。相反，巴爾認為，雖然較深的基岩確實增加了地基成本，但這些成本既沒有高到令人望而卻步，與建造摩天大樓的總體成本相比也不高。這一章中我最喜歡的是巴爾對地基實際建造方式的討論。他描述了沉箱的使用，它使工人能夠向下挖掘相當長的距離，通常低於地下水位， 直到他們到達基岩。巴爾詳盡的技術史不僅討論了沉箱的工作原理， 而且還討論了其中的危險性。雖然這一章參考了實證研究論文，但是閱讀起來相對簡單。

8. 紐約中城

   Chapters eight and nine focus on the birth of Midtown and the building boom of the 1920s. Chapter eight contains lengthy discussions of urban economic theory that may serve as a distraction to readers primarily interested in New York. However, they would be well-suited for undergraduates learning about the economics of cities. In the next chapter, Barr considers two of the primary explanations for the building boom of the 1920s – the first being exuberance, and the second being financing. He uses data to assess the viability of these two explanations and finds that supply and demand factors explain much of the development of the 1920s; though it enabled the boom, cheap credit was not, he argues, the primary cause.

   第八章和第九章主要介紹了中城的誕生和 1920年代的建築熱潮。第八章包含了對城市經濟理論的冗長討論，這對於主要是對紐約感興趣的讀者來說，可能會分散掉注意力。然而，這些內容很適合學習城市經濟學的大學生。在下一章中，巴爾考慮了對 1920 年代建築熱潮的兩個主要解釋—第一個是繁榮，第二個是融資。他使用資料來評估這兩種解釋的可行性，並發現供給和需求因素解釋了 1920 年代的大部分發展；不過他認為繁榮才是主要原因，而廉價的貸款則否。

9. 土地價值與未來發展

   In the final chapter (chapter 10), Barr discusses another of his empirical papers that estimates Manhattan land values from the mid-19th century to the present day. The data work that went into these estimations is particularly impressive. Toward the end of the chapter, Barr assesses ‘whether skyscrapers are a cause or an effect of high land values’. He finds that changes in land values predict future building height, but the reverse is not true. The book ends with an epilogue, in which Barr discusses the impact of climate change on the city and makes policy suggestions for New York going forward.

   在最後一章（第 10 章），巴爾討論了他的另一篇實證論文，對曼哈頓從 19 世紀中期至今的土地價值進行了估算。這些估計中的資料作業尤其令人印象深刻。在本章的最後，巴爾評估了 “摩天大樓是高土地價值的原因還是結果”。他發現，土地價值的變化預測了未來的建築高度，但反過來卻不是如此。本書以後記結束，在後記中，巴爾討論了氣候變化對城市的影響，並為紐約的未來發展提出了政策建議。