TED演讲:昔日纽约(4)(在线收听

 The few surfaces not covered by signs are often clad in a distinctive, dark green-gray, striated aluminum siding. 这仅存的没有被商标遮盖的建筑,一般都被包裹在有特色的阴暗铝灰条纹的铝制外壁板之中。

Take-out sandwich shops,film processing drop-offs, peep-shows and necktie stores. 比如三明治快餐小店,卖劣质影碟的小贩,卖西洋镜和领带的小买卖。
Now these provisional structures have,in some cases,remained standing for the better part of a human lifetime. 现在这些临时的建筑,在一些地方仍然屹立不倒,展现着人们生活另一种美好的时光。
The temporary building is a triumph of modern industrial organization,a healthy sublimation of the urge to build, 这些暂住“居民” 也是现代工业化中的胜利者。它们也是对建楼欲望的一种升华。
and proof that not every architectural idea need be set in stone. That's the end. 还向人们证明了,不是每一个建筑都是一成不变、无法更改的。这个故事也讲完了。
And the next story is called, "On the Human Lap." 下一个故事叫做:《在人类的膝盖上》
For the ancient Egyptians the lap was a platform upon which to place the earthly possessions of the dead,30 cubits from foot to knee. 对于古代埃及人来说膝盖是一个平台,用来放置死去的人生前尘世的财产。这个平台的长度就是从脚到膝盖上。
It was not until the 14th century that an Italian painter recognized the lap as a Grecian temple, upholstered in flesh and cloth. 直到14世纪一位意大利画家第一次把这种膝盖上的平台视为古希腊人的神庙,只不过这座神庙是用肉体和衣服布置起来的。
Over the next 200 years we see the infant Christ go from a sitting to a standing position on the Virgin's lap,and then back again. 在之后的200年里,我们看到婴儿基督在圣母的膝盖上,从坐姿变成站姿,然后又回到坐姿。
Every child recapitulates this ascension, straddling one or both legs, sitting sideways,or leaning against the body. 每一个孩子都是如此,跨立在一条或两条腿上,或者倾斜地坐着,又或者倚着上身。
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/TEDyj/syp/452447.html