经济学人:种族隔离 被阻断的高速公路(1)(在线收听

   Middle East and Africa 中东与非洲

  South Africa: Highway interrupted 南非:被阻断的高速公路
  A road to nowhere may finally reach an end. 无尽之路终有尽头。
  Between the ocean and the mountain, there's the unfinished highway. 在海洋与山之间,有一条未完成的高速公路。
  It is an odd-looking landmark in a beautiful city: sections of elevated road left suspended in mid-air when construction stopped in the 1970s. 这条公路是这座美丽城市的奇特地标:在20世纪70年代,几段蜿蜒向上的道路修筑工程半途停止了。
  Four decades later, the hulking slabs of concrete still end in precipitous drops. 数十年之后,这些钢筋混凝土依然停留在这些险峻的落石之处。
  A glossy brochure of Cape Town film locations proclaims the cut-off highway “truly special”, with “great city views”. 有一本光鲜亮丽的宣传开普敦电影拍摄地的小册子在其中提到了这条尚未完工的高速公路“着实特殊”以及“往城市看视野很好”。
  It makes an edgy backdrop for TV commercials and fashion shoots, and looms over an episode of the science-fiction series “Black Mirror”. 这一切为商业电视剧,时尚镜头以及科幻剧集“黑镜”中若隐若现的场面提供了紧张刺激的背景地点。
  This may soon come to an end. 而这一切即将迎来终结。
  The unfinished highway could become part of a plan to help overcome a legacy of apartheid—while also easing traffic jams. 这条尚未完工的高速公路将成为解决种族隔离遗留问题计划之一——同时还能缓解当地的交通堵塞。
  Like other South African cities, Cape Town remains largely segregated, despite the advent of democracy in 1994. 像其他南非的城市一样,虽然早在1994年就实行了民主制度,但开普敦的种族隔离仍然很严重。
  Under apartheid, black and mixed-race people were forced to live in the worst areas, far away from the whites and from work. 由于种族隔离,黑人和混血人种的人们被迫生活在糟乱的环境里,他们远离白人、远离工作。
  Today they are free to live where they choose, but mostly cannot afford to live in the old “white” areas. 如今他们可以自由地选择居住在什么地方,但他们大部分人依然住不起原“白人”居住地。
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/jjxrfyb/zh/413287.html