VOA标准英语2011--Supersizing the American Dream Home

Supersizing the American Dream Home

This is a story about something called "McMansions," the backlash to McMansions, and the backlash to the backlash about McMansions.
McMansions are homes - new and very big homes. The name is borrowed from the "super-sized" drinks and French fries and sandwiches at McDonald's fast-food restaurants. Build a McMansion, and you've super-sized the American Dream of home ownership.
They're built by people who want all sorts of amenities¹ and can afford them: lots of bedrooms, a spacious² lawn, a three- or four-car garage, maybe even a swimming pool. Throw in a library and a mega-kitchen fit for a king's chef and the result is a home of gargantuan³ proportions.
That's fine and dandy if you have a rolling country field on which to erect⁴ this monster. But squeeze one onto a modest lot in an older community, and you've created, in the eyes of your neighbors, an eyesore that's absurdly out of scale with its surroundings.
For them, a McMansion is not a dream. It's a nightmare.
Citizens who are upset by the super-sized houses going up in their neighborhood have four choices: move, win the lottery⁵ and build their own McMansion, get used to the monolith next door or, if it's not too late, get the city council to pass a regulation to limit the size of new houses in their area.
Increasingly, that last solution seems to be working. Communities across the country are passing stricter building restrictions⁶ to keep out what some have sneeringly⁷ called "starter castles."
So what's the backlash to the backlash? In zoning hearings, courtrooms, and online blogs, we're hearing a lot of sentiments such as this, in response to an MSN Business story online: "It is really no one's business what I decide to build upon my own land or property if I follow the building codes," the writer snorted. "This is the United States of America, and if I want to build a large or small home, it is my right."

1 amenities   

n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快

参考例句：

• The campsite is close to all local amenities. 营地紧靠当地所有的便利设施。
• Parks and a theatre are just some of the town's local amenities. 公园和戏院只是市镇娱乐设施的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

3 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

4 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

5 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 sneeringly   

嘲笑地，轻蔑地

参考例句：

• Guan and Zhang had nothing more to say, But they walked away sneeringly. 关羽、张飞无话，冷笑着走了。