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High streets

商業(yè)街

Strange town

陌生的城市

Why some streets in London stay resolutely thesame

為何倫敦仍執(zhí)拗地保持部分街道不變樣

KENTISH TOWN ROAD is a humdrum high street innorth London. It contains pawnbrokers, pound shops, hairdressers and some long-in-the-tooth hardware stores. Unlike Camden Town to the south, full of bars and tattoo parlours, orHampstead to the west, with its bistros and boutique clothing shops, little seems to havechanged on the street for the past three decades. “It's never quite got going,” admits GaryMcLaren, a local bookseller. Yet the lack of change is odd—and hints at some of the strangenessof London.

肯特鎮(zhèn)路(KENTISH TOWN ROAD)是倫敦北部的一條頗顯乏味的街道。這這條街上有當(dāng)鋪、一磅店(像中國(guó)的一元店)、理發(fā)店和一些古老的五金店。不似南部盡是酒吧和紋身店的卡登姆鎮(zhèn)和西部滿是夜總會(huì)與精品服飾店的漢普斯蒂德，30年來(lái)肯特鎮(zhèn)路似乎并無(wú)改變。當(dāng)?shù)氐囊晃粫?shū)店老板Gary McLaren 坦誠(chéng)，“它從未真正改變。”但是欠缺改變是如此之怪異—而且這暗示了倫敦的些許陌生感。

Kentish Town has excellent transport links to central London, and plenty of residents preparedto pay good money for that. Off the high street stretch rows of pretty Victorian terracedhouses, which sell for as much as 2m ($3m) apiece. Between 2007 and 2014 property prices inthe postcode area surrounding the main Tube and railway station more than doubled. An influxof French parents, drawn by a school that opened in 2011, is pushing prices even higher. YetKentish Town's shops and cafes are almost invariably untrendy and in some cases mouldering.A hair salon, a butcher and a sportswear shop have each been owned by the same men formore than a quarter of a century. Why?

肯特鎮(zhèn)通向倫敦市中心交通便利，還擁有眾多愿意支付交通費(fèi)的居民。距主干街不遠(yuǎn)，目之所及盡是鋪陳開(kāi)來(lái)的一排排維多利亞式排屋，這些房子售價(jià)每棟房屋200萬(wàn)歐元(合300萬(wàn)美金)。在2007至2014年間，在主要的地鐵站和火車站附近的房?jī)r(jià)都翻了一倍不止。一所于2011年開(kāi)放的學(xué)校吸引了大批法國(guó)父母，這些法國(guó)父母的涌入也促使房?jī)r(jià)的再升高。然而肯特鎮(zhèn)的商店和咖啡館幾乎一直都是那個(gè)價(jià)，有時(shí)候價(jià)格還會(huì)下跌。一間發(fā)廊、一間肉鋪和一間運(yùn)動(dòng)服裝店，同一店主可以擁有這其中一間店鋪超過(guò)25年。這是為什么?

One explanation is that, in common with other parts of London, Kentish Town has lots ofsocial housing as well as costly Victorian terraces. Camden Council, the local authority, isbuilding even more in the borough. This helps cheaper shops survive, suggests Tony Traversof the London School of Economics: council tenants are less likely to drive and so rely more onlocal outlets. And the sheer volume of car and lorry traffic on the busy high street, which is amain road into the city, might deter shoppers from visiting and swanky businesses fromsetting up in the area.

一種解釋是，與倫敦的其他地區(qū)一樣，肯特鎮(zhèn)有許多的社會(huì)住房(指由住房協(xié)會(huì)和地方市政會(huì)提供的廉租房或廉價(jià)房)和高價(jià)的維多利亞式排屋。倫敦卡姆登地方議會(huì)(地方當(dāng)局)甚至在自治市(享有自治特權(quán)的市鎮(zhèn))建造更多這樣的房屋。倫敦經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院的Tony Travers表示，這樣有助于更廉價(jià)的店鋪存活下來(lái)：那些社會(huì)租房的租戶的購(gòu)買力收效甚微，所以更多的還是依賴于當(dāng)?shù)厣啼仭Ｔ诜泵Φ闹鞲山?通向市中心的主街)上，汽車總量和貨車流量很可能遏制了顧客對(duì)商店的光顧，也阻止了一流企業(yè)在此處的設(shè)立開(kāi)辦。

Demography plays a part, too. Fully 72% of the population of Kentish Town is white, includinga good number of Irish residents—higher than the proportion in London as a whole, at 60%.Unlike the high streets around Peckham and Brixton in south London, which cater for Africanshoppers who may travel far to reach them, few specialist shops draw people to Kentish Town. “We're not a destination high street,” sighs one local trader.

人口結(jié)構(gòu)也是很大一部分原因。肯特鎮(zhèn)有近72%的人都是白人，其中大部分是愛(ài)爾蘭居民(比倫敦的愛(ài)爾蘭總?cè)丝谶�要多)—這比倫敦總?cè)丝诘?0%還多。不像倫敦南部的佩卡姆和布里斯頓附近的街道那樣，為了迎合那些專門(mén)為來(lái)到這些這里的非洲顧客而設(shè)立的商店，這里幾乎沒(méi)有獨(dú)特的店鋪?zhàn)阋晕�引人們�?lái)到肯特鎮(zhèn)。肯特的一位商人感嘆，“我們的街道并不是顧客的目的地。”

NIMBYs have not always helped. Lots of civic groups are active in the area, campaigning againstlate licences and the like, says Dan Carrier of the Camden New Journal, a newspaper. A localbusiness association is also good at complaining. Partly because of this, a big supermarket hasnot yet opened on the high street—though Lidl, a discounter, will set up shop this year. “Wequite like that it is rough around the edges,” says Michael Williams, a writer and local.

鄰避效應(yīng)(not in my back yard，指居民或當(dāng)?shù)貑挝灰驌?dān)心建設(shè)項(xiàng)目帶來(lái)諸多負(fù)面影響，從而激發(fā)人們的嫌惡情結(jié)，滋生“不要建在我家后院”的心理，及采取的強(qiáng)烈和堅(jiān)決的、有時(shí)高度情緒化的集體反對(duì)甚至抗?fàn)幮袨椤?并不一直都起作用。該地區(qū)的許多公民組織是很活躍的，他們常反對(duì)老舊的許可證這類事物，來(lái)自卡姆登新日?qǐng)?bào)(Camden New Journal)的Dan Carrier說(shuō)道。當(dāng)?shù)氐囊粋�(gè)工商協(xié)會(huì)也很擅長(zhǎng)這種控訴。在一定程度上出于這種原因，一家大型超市都未能在這條街上開(kāi)張—即使是將在今年開(kāi)業(yè)Lidl(一間德國(guó)的連鎖超級(jí)市場(chǎng)，在全球擁有超過(guò)8000間分店。)當(dāng)?shù)刈骷襇ichael Williams說(shuō)，“我們的確喜歡在邊緣徘徊，不入大流。”

Paradoxically, soaring house prices in the area might be another brake on change. Wealthyfamily buyers mean that some houses once split into flats have been turned back into homes,says Mr Carrier. The result is fewer shoppers on the high street. Wealthy residents are morelikely to get their groceries online or drive to bigger stores. And most will go out to the WestEnd rather than a local restaurant.

相反的是，該地區(qū)飛漲的房?jī)r(jià)可能是改變的另一個(gè)阻礙。Carrier表示，那些富裕家庭的買主意味著曾被隔成公寓的房屋已被變回原來(lái)的大房子。結(jié)果便是街道上越來(lái)越少的顧客。富裕的居民更可能在線購(gòu)物或是開(kāi)車去大商店。而且其中的大多數(shù)人會(huì)去倫敦西區(qū)(the West End)而不是當(dāng)?shù)氐牟蛷d。

Such “counter-currents” will prevent Kentish Town from gentrifying fully, suggests GillianTindall, a local historian. And they affect many other streets in London, too. Lupus Street inPimlico serves a large council block on one side and white stucco houses on the other.Caledonian Road in Islington, close to rapidly-changing King's Cross, is still full of kebab shops.London is a global city, but it is also a collection of villages, cranky and resistant to change.

當(dāng)?shù)氐囊晃粴v史學(xué)家Gillian Tindall表示，這般“逆流現(xiàn)象”將完全阻止肯特鎮(zhèn)的區(qū)域貴族化。而且他們還影響了倫敦的很多其他街道。例如皮姆利科的Lupus街，一邊提供社會(huì)住房，另一邊就有高檔的白色粉刷住宅。伊斯靈頓的古蘇格蘭路(Caledonian Road，臨近不斷改變的國(guó)王十字火車站)仍舊滿是烤肉店。倫敦是一個(gè)全球化城市，但是它也是一個(gè)村落的集合而且它古怪又固執(zhí)的拒絕改變。

【重點(diǎn)解析】

1.seem to 好像;似乎;好像是

例句:Their concern seems to be unwarranted.

他們的擔(dān)心似乎是沒(méi)有必要的。

2.more than 超過(guò)

例句:Their replies were no more than grunts ofacknowledgement.

他們所謂的回答不過(guò)是表示承認(rèn)的咕噥罷了。

3.as well as 既…又…; 除…之外

例句:Billiards is played by women as well as by men.

彈子戲男女都玩。

4.likely to 很可能

例句:The fires are likely to permanently deforest the land.

這些火災(zāi)很可能會(huì)徹底毀掉這片土地上的森林。