敢為天下先的天津生態新城

www.bbc.com

It takes less than an hour on the new high-speed train line to travel the 150 kilometres (93 miles) southeast from Beijing to Tanggu, the dirty coastal port town of nearby Tianjin – the worlds fifth biggest port. Here, you can see signs of the past and present: fine colonial architecture built by European settlers a century ago nestle among the gleaming modern high-rises（高樓）. But for a glimpse of the future, I am driving a few minutes up the coast from Tanggu to see a city so new that most of it is still being built.

Few things can be certain about the future, as philosophers wiser than I have pointed out, but one trend that is likely to continue is urbanisation（城市化）.

Nowhere will this be felt more keenly than in China, home to more than 1.3 billion people. Urbanisation has been one of the most important factors in Chinas phenomenal economic growth and rapid industrialisation over the past three decades, providing essential labour and new consumers.

This rapid rise in urbanisation brings with it tremendous challenges – people need housing, infrastructure, water, food and jobs, as well as rising pollution and social inequality issues.

Visit any city in the country – there are over 650 of them – and you will soon be negotiating a route around a noisy, dusty construction site, beneath towering cranes. Much of this construction is taking place in existing cities, converting low-rise to high-rise to pack more people into the unlimited vertical space. But in the place that I am visiting, planners have started from scratch.

China, like several other countries, is exploring the creation of sustainable urban areas, or 「ecocities」 as they are known.

As I approach the city under an ever-present pall of filthy air, across a wasteland of contaminated soil and water, I have my reservations about the Eco-citys success.

The clean-up took the best part of three years, and included the development of a newly patented technology that removes the heavy metals from a central reservoir – soon to be a boating lake. One-fifth of the energy used here will be emission-free – from solar, wind and, as I discover on a visit to the almost finished international school, from ground-source heat pumps, which use the temperature difference in the ground for energy.

Walking up stairs in the school, I trigger another innovation into action: Dutch-owned Philips is trying out its new sound- and motion-sensitive lights, which default to off（默認為關閉狀態） unless the switch hears or feels someone approach. Buildings will have smart controls, automatically raising and lowering window blinds to regulate light and temperature, for example.

In March, the first 60 families moved into the citys residential buildings, all of which are designed to a minimum green buildings standard, including water-saving sanitary fittings, insulated walls and double-glazed windows, as well as a south-facing orientation to optimise passive heat. Such techniques may be standard in some countries, but in China they are rare.

Also rare here is the emphasis on liveability. Parks and green spaces are planned around the city, and reed beds have been created to attract birdlife and help clean the water.

It certainly feels like a more pleasant place to live than the traffic choked, polluted cities further inland, even at this incomplete stage. And unlike the majority of planned ecocities, this one will actually be finished and already has residents.

One fifth of the housing will be subsidised for low-wage workers and their families. "We want to avoid the idea that this is a haven for rich people or second-homers from Beijing," says Ho. "Being green isnt a luxury, its an affordable necessity. This city should be a practical, replicable, scalable model for elsewhere in China and the world."

助讀辭彙：

nestle：

to settle into a position that feels comfortable，warm，and safe，or lay a part of the body in such a position

安置，坐落

gleaming：

shiny, clean, and looking very healthy or new

看起來很健康或很新

keenly：

very strongly

敏銳地，強烈地

home to：

……的棲息之地，產地，……的所在地

essential：

most basic and necessary

必不可少的

tremendous：

extremely large，powerful，or great

極大的

negotiate：

to manage to get past or deal with something that constitutes a hazard or obstacle

穿越

convert：

to change soemthing from one character, form, or function to another, or be changed in character, form or function

改造, 轉變

pack：

to fill something, especially a limited space, tightly

裝填, 填塞

start from scratch：

從頭開始，白手起家（此處指設計者從一開始就將城市化的可持續發展納入考慮範圍）

sustainable：

exploiting natural resources without destroying the ecological balance of an area, capable of continuing for a long time at the same level

可持續的，不破壞生態平衡的

pall：

something such as smoke, dust, or cloud that covers an area and makes it darker

塵煙，濃密的雲煙

reservation：

doubts that prevent wholehearted agreement to or approval of something

保留意見，疑惑

emission：

a substance, especially a gas, that goes into the air

排放，排放物

trigger：

to set something off, bring something about, or make something happen

觸發，引起

blind：

a device that is pulled down to shut out the light from a window

捲簾

residential：

a residential area is one in which most of the buildings are houses；used as a place to live for the long term

適合居住的；住宅的

sanitary：

relating to public health, especially general hygiene and the removal of human waste through the sewage system

公共衛生的

insulate：

to prevent or reduce the passage of heat, electricity, or sound into, from, or through something, especially by surrounding it with some material

隔離，隔熱，隔音

glaze：

to put a clear or colored coating on a ceramic object and fire it in a kiln, in order to fix the coloration, make it watertight, or give it a shiny appearance

給…上釉；使光滑

reed：

[Plant]a tall slender plant with jointed stalks that grows in marshes and other wet areas; a reed stalk

蘆葦，蘆葦桿

subsidise：

to contribute money to somebody or something, especially to give a government grant to a private company, organization, or charity to help it to continue to function

資助；補助；給…發津貼

haven：

a place sought for rest, shelter, or protection

避難所，避風港

在經濟發展的過程中，我們走了很多彎路。

但，我們敢於正視錯誤，勇於改正。

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