背景介紹

悉尼歌劇院是悉尼市的標(biāo)志性建筑，也是世界著名的表演藝術(shù)中心。歌劇院于1973年落成，建筑風(fēng)格獨(dú)具特色，2007年被聯(lián)合國教科文組織評為世界文化遺產(chǎn)。歌劇院的外形猶如即將乘風(fēng)出海的白色風(fēng)帆，與周圍海景融為一體。悉尼歌劇院從1955年起向全世界公開征求設(shè)計作品，有32個國家233個作品參選，最后丹麥建筑師約恩·烏松的設(shè)計中選。從1959年3月開始建造，1973年10月竣工。悉尼歌劇院可以舉辦交響樂、室內(nèi)樂、歌劇、舞蹈、合唱、流行樂、爵士樂等多種演出。

情景對話

Dennis:It's quite amazing when you think about it;the Sydney Opera House is celebrating its 46th birthday this year.

George:Yes,that'strue.Itisquitean achievement,considering the way it started out.

Dennis:What do you mean?Are you talking about the beginning of the project?

George:Yes,that's what I was referring to.But all that has been washed out of the history books now,and the politics,the corruption and the massive cost overruns are all but forgotten.

Dennis:But you've got to admire the engineering feat that has gone into the construction.It was a marvel（奇跡） of innovation andingenuity.

George:From the engineeringstandpoint,it has certainly been an outstanding project in many ways,irrespective of the cost.

Dennis:Well,Sydney and Australia have finished up with one of the architectural wonders of the world so,that's a pretty good result.

George:Yeah,I suppose we should get some benefit from a project that was 10 yearsoverdueand cost 14 times more than the originalbudget.

Dennis:Is that right?I had no idea there was that sort of history involved.

George:The original project started in 1959,and was scheduled to be finished in time for Australia Day in 1963;and at a cost of 7 million dollars.

Dennis:So what was the final result?

George:The Opera House was finally finished in 1973,but at a cost of 102 million dollars.That is nearly a billion dollars in today's money.

Dennis:How did that happen?There must be a pretty good reason to justify those sorts of overruns?

George:Actually,it was a combination of things,with the politics involved,but mainly it was trying totranslatean architectural concept into a practical engineering solution.

Dennis:You mean building the unique shells that make the Opera House so distinctive?

George:That is exactly what the problem was,and in part,plus the politics,is what led to Utzon's resignation in 1966.

譯文助讀

丹尼斯：想想真令人驚訝呀，今年是悉尼歌劇院建成46周年慶了。

喬治：是呀，確實是的。想想它始建時的情形，這的確是一項杰出的成就。

丹尼斯：你指什么呢？是指工程剛剛開始的時候嗎？

喬治：是的。不過那些事都沒有被載入現(xiàn)在的史書中，當(dāng)時的政治環(huán)境、腐敗現(xiàn)象以及大量的超標(biāo)開銷幾乎都被人們忘記了。

丹尼斯：不過你不得不欣賞它的建筑成就啊。它是一個富有獨(dú)創(chuàng)性的奇跡。

喬治：從建筑工程的角度來說，雖然這項工程耗資巨大，但它當(dāng)然是一項卓越的工程，有許多可圈可點(diǎn)之處。

丹尼斯：嗯，悉尼和澳大利亞完成了一個世界建筑奇跡，這個結(jié)果是好的。

喬治：是呀，我想，這項工程超期10年才完成，實際開銷超出最初預(yù)算14倍，我們得好好享用這個成果。

丹尼斯：是嗎？我還不知道有這樣一段歷史。

喬治：這項工程始建于1959年，當(dāng)時計劃在1963年澳大利亞國慶節(jié)完工，預(yù)算是700萬美元。

丹尼斯：那最終結(jié)果呢？

喬治：悉尼歌劇院到1973年才最終竣工，總耗資達(dá)1.02億美元。那些錢要是放在現(xiàn)在相當(dāng)于近10億美元了。

丹尼斯：怎么會這樣呢？超支這么嚴(yán)重總得有個合適的理由呀？

喬治：實際上，這是很多因素綜合作用的結(jié)果，政治因素也被卷入其中，主要是試圖將建筑概念轉(zhuǎn)化為實際工程的解決方案耗資巨大。

丹尼斯：你是指建造悉尼歌劇院那獨(dú)特的殼形屋頂嗎？

喬治：問題就在那里。正是由于這個原因以及一些政治因素，使得當(dāng)時的設(shè)計師烏松于1966年辭職。

Language Study

1.ingenuity n.獨(dú)創(chuàng)力

2.standpoint n.立場；觀點(diǎn)

3.overdue n.早該完成的

4.budget n.預(yù)算

5.lead to導(dǎo)致

6.translate...into...把……轉(zhuǎn)化為……