劉建霞

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(jì)作品，有32個(gè)國家233個(gè)作品參選，最后丹麥建筑師約恩·烏松的設(shè)計(jì)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's true. It is quite an 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 and ingenuity.? ?George：From the engineering standpoint， 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 years overdue and cost 14 times more than the original budget.

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 to translate an 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(shí)是的。想想它始建時(shí)的情形，這的確是一項(xiàng)杰出的成就。

丹尼斯：你指什么呢？是指工程剛剛開始的時(shí)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(shí)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(gè)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(xiàng)工程耗資巨大，但它當(dāng)然是一項(xiàng)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(gè)世界建筑奇跡，這個(gè)結(jié)果是好的。

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

丹尼斯：是嗎？我還不知道有這樣一段歷史。

喬治：這項(xiàng)工程始建于1959年，當(dāng)時(shí)計(jì)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(huì)這樣呢？超支這么嚴(yán)重總得有個(gè)合適的理由呀？

喬治：實(shí)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(shí)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(gè)原因以及一些政治因素，使得當(dāng)時(shí)的設(shè)計(jì)師烏松于1966年辭職。

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……