假如讓你獨自一人花上數(shù)十年蓋座樓，你會怎么想?“瘋了!”恐怕會是你最先想到的字眼。但你能想象嗎?有的人的確這樣做了，而且他們獨自打造的建筑還都成了著名的景觀。但他們卻并非建筑專家，有的甚至根本都不懂建筑。

How many people does it take to envision1)， design and build a typical building? Architects， builders， carpenters， laborers are often just the beginning of a long list of co-creators. Well， these bizarre2) exceptions were each primarily the work of a single eccentric3) individual and in many cases took decades (or even lifetimes) to construct. Despite having this essential factor in common the ultimate built4) outcomes range significantly in style， execution， materiality5) and purpose.

構(gòu)思、設計和建造一座普通的建筑需要多少人?設計師、建筑師、木匠和工人僅僅是長長的建造者名單的開始。不過，下面這些異乎尋常的意外之作幾乎每座都主要是一個奇人的個人杰作，其中很多的建造都耗時幾十年(甚至是這些奇人的一生)。盡管有這一重要共性，這些有著極端造型的成果的風格、做工、用料和目的卻大相徑庭。

Palace Idéal， France 法國的“理想宮”

法克特·舍瓦爾白天是一位文質(zhì)彬彬的郵差，晚上則是一位靈感迸發(fā)的偽設計師和建筑師。他那號稱“理想宮”的奇異建筑杰作耗時數(shù)十年，到20世紀初才建成。舍瓦爾并沒有受過正規(guī)的設計或建筑培訓，他日復一日，邊學邊建，干了上萬天才建成“理想宮”。此前，幾乎無人知曉他的杰作，而如今那里卻是法國最著名的景點之一。

Facteur Cheval was a mild-mannered mailman by day and a wildly inspired pseudo6)-architect and builder by night. His strange architectural masterpiece， the so-called Palais Idéal took him decades to construct and was finished in the early 1900s. Cheval had no formal design or construction training and learned as he went， day by day， for over 10，000 days with few people aware of his creation until it was completed. It is now one of the most famous scenic sports in France.

Wooden Skyscraper， Russia 俄羅斯的“強盜房”

Nikolai Sutyagin， a former gangster， started this amazing wooden skyscraper as a simple two-story structure， and then he just kept building. The building now stands 13 stories (144 feet) tall and is under threat of demolition7) out of safety concerns by authorities. Taking what he learned (and earned) as the owner of a small construction company he built this masterpiece. While in jail for supposedly imprisoning a worker in part of the building， his business went to pieces8). Now the strange wooden skyscraper is all Sutyagin has left.

曾經(jīng)當過強盜的尼古拉·蘇佳金起初只是想修建一棟簡單的兩層建筑，而之后他的不停擴建最終成就了這座讓人嘆為觀止的木質(zhì)摩天大樓。這一建筑現(xiàn)在高達13層(144英尺)，因為安全原因面臨被當局拆除的危險。他用經(jīng)營小建筑公司學礱降慕和賺到的錢)修筑了這一杰作。后來他因為涉嫌將一名工人關(guān)押在該建筑中的某個地方而入獄，他的生意也因此一蹶不振?，F(xiàn)在蘇佳金就只剩下這一奇怪的木質(zhì)高樓了。

Watts Towers， Los Angeles 洛杉磯的華茲塔

Simon Rodia was an Italian immigrant who moved all around the United States before settling in Los Angeles. What started out as a few random art projects became a vast and semi-abstract architectural masterpiece known as the Watts Towers， complete with a gazebo9)， fountain， bird baths and other assorted10) structures reaching up to 100 feet in height. These were comprised of shells， scrap metal， pottery shards11)， rocks， glass and pretty much any other random material Simon could find. For the main structural elements he employed steel， cement， mortar12) and wire mesh13) and assembled all of his creations without the assistance of scaffolding14).

西蒙·羅迪亞是一位意大利移民，在定居洛杉磯前他曾在美國的很多地方生活過。他起初只是隨意嘗試幾個藝術(shù)項目，結(jié)果后來發(fā)展成為一個被稱作“華茲塔”的龐大、半抽象的建筑杰作。華茲塔里有塔樓、噴泉、鳥浴盆和其他各式建筑，最高處達100英尺。西蒙用貝殼、廢金屬、陶片、石頭、玻璃和其他所有他能找到的材料建造了這些東西。他用鋼鐵、水泥、灰漿和鐵絲網(wǎng)來構(gòu)造主體部分，并且沒有使用腳手架就將所有這些部件組裝到了一起。

Don Justo's Self-built Cathedral， Spain 西班牙的“一個人的教堂”

Justo Gallego Martinez was a Spanish monk who was forced to leave his order15) after taking ill. His radically individualistic cathedral was built without permission from the local government， let alone the Catholic Church. At over 100 feet high he has managed this remarkable accomplishment with some assistance from nephews and with incomes from his farmland as well as private donations. He also accepts donated and recycled building materials.

胡斯托·加列戈·馬丁內(nèi)斯是一名因病被迫辭去圣職的西班牙修道士。他修筑的個性十足的教堂沒有經(jīng)過當?shù)卣呐鷾?，更甭提得到天主教會的許可了。他在侄子們的幫助下，用自己經(jīng)營農(nóng)場的收入以及私人捐款，完成了這一超過100英尺高的非凡杰作。他還接受捐助的和回收的建筑材料。

Foreverton， Wisconsin 威斯康星州的廢金屬建筑雕塑

Tom Avery is responsible for the world's largest scrap-metal architectural sculpture known as Foreverton. Weighing in at over 300 tons， this amazing structure climbs 50 feet in the air and reaches 60 to 120 feet in either direction. Once the owner of a salvage16) business， Avery began turning his talents to this bizarre architectural pursuit over two decades ago and (supposedly) believes a spaceship contained within will launch him eventually into supernatural17) world beyond our own and bring him into contact with the Divine18).

湯姆·埃弗里建造了世界上最大的名為“Foreverton”的廢金屬建筑雕塑。這一令人驚嘆的雕塑總重量超過300噸，高50英尺，向每個方向延伸達60~120英尺。埃弗里曾經(jīng)營過一個廢品回收公司。二十多年前，他開始潛心修筑這一奇特的建筑雕塑群。(據(jù)稱)他相信其中的一艘太空船將把他最終送入超自然世界，讓他見到上帝。

Vocabulary

1.envision [In5vIVEn] vt. 想象，展望

2.bizarre [bI5zB:(r)] adj. 奇形怪狀的;異乎尋常的;怪誕的

3.eccentric [Ik5sentrIk] adj. (人、行為、舉止等)古怪的，怪僻的;異乎尋常的

4.built [bIlt] adj. 有……構(gòu)造(或造型)的

5.materiality [mE7tIErI5AlEtI] n. 物質(zhì)

6.pseudo [5psju:dEu] adj. 偽的，假的;冒充的

7.demolition

[7demE5lIFEn] n. 拆毀;毀壞

8.go to pieces: 瓦解;身體垮掉

9.gazebo [^E5zi:bEu] n. (俯瞰景色的)涼亭;陽臺;眺臺;觀景樓;塔樓

10.assorted [E5sC:tId] adj. 各種各樣的;幾種混雜在一起的

11.shard [FB:d] n. (尤指陶器的)碎片，碎塊

12.mortar [5mC:tE(r)] n. (砌磚等用的)砂漿，灰漿，膠泥

13.mesh [meF] n. 網(wǎng);網(wǎng)狀物;網(wǎng)狀結(jié)構(gòu)

14.scaffolding [5skAfEldIN] n. 【建】腳手架;腳手架組

15.order [5C:dE(r)] n. [~s] 圣職;牧師職;授圣職禮

16.salvage [5sAlvIdV] n. 廢物的收集(或利用)

17.supernatural [7sju:pE5nAtFErEl] adj. 超自然的

18.divine [dI5vaIn] n. 常用作the Divine，神;上帝