1.I’m going to read a few strips.
我马上会朗读的一些连环漫画。
2.These are, most of these are from a monthly page I do in and architecture and design magazine called Metropolis.
它们中的很多 都选自我每月刊登在 一本关于建筑设计杂志上的小故事。 那本杂志叫《摩登都市》。
3.And the first story is called The Faulty Switch.
第一个故事叫做 《开关的小瑕疵》
4.Another beautifully designed new building ruined by the sound of a common wall light switch.
又一个设计精良的新建筑 被一个再平常不过的电灯开关的启动声给毁了。
5.It’s fine during the day when the main rooms are flooded with sunlight.
白天的时候一切都很美好， 阳光洒满了你的房间。
6.But at dusk everything changes.
但当黄昏降临 一切都变了。
7.The architect spent hundreds of hours designing the burnished brass switchplates for his new office tower.
建筑师愿意花很多时间 为新的办公大楼 设计这些抛光的铜制开关板
8.And then left it to a contractor to install these 79 cent switches behind them.
然后让承包商 在这些精致的开关板后装上79美分的开关
9.We know instinctively where to reach when we enter a dark room.
我们本能地知道，当我们走进这间黑屋子时， 该按哪里打开开关。
10.We automatically throw the little nub of plastic upward.
接着，我们就自然而然地把那小小的按钮向上一摁
11.But the sound we are greeted with, as the room is bathed in the simulated glow of late-afternoon light, recalls to mind a dirty men’s room
但是，当房间溢满 如傍晚阳光般昏暗的光线的时候 那迎接我们的一声响 却让人想起了 一间希腊咖啡店后面
12.in the rear of a Greek coffee shop.
那不甚整洁的男洗手间。
13.(Laughter) This sound colors our first impression of any room.
（笑声） 这声响让我们对任何一间房的印象都那样先入为主，
14.It can’t be helped.
改都改不了。
15.But where does this sound, commonly described as a click, come from?
但是这我们称之为“咯嗒”的声响 到底从何而来呢？
16.Is is simply the byproduct of a crude mechanical action?
它仅仅是 一个粗糙机械制作的副产品？
17.Or is it an imitation of one half a set of sounds we make to express disappointment?
或者对我们 抒发不满的一种声音的一半 所进行的模仿？
18.The often dedental’ consonant of no Indo-European language.
我们不满的时候经常用它 在印欧语系中可找不到词源。
19.Or is it the amplified sound of a synapse firing in the brain of a cockroach?
还是，那其实是蟑螂大脑中 触突闪现火花那一刹那 所产生的声响的放大？
20.In the 1950’s they tried their best to muffle this sound with mercury switches, and silent knob controls.
在二十世纪五十年代，科学家们曾尽力 用汞制的开关 和静音的按钮 来消除这声响。
21.But today these improvements seem somehow inauthentic.
但在今天开来，这些改进 倒显得不地道
22.The click is the modern triumphal clarion proceeding us through life, announcing our entry into every lightless room.
这“咯嗒”声 其实是现代社会 胜利的号角。 让我们的生活向前迈进， 宣告我们向每一个无光的暗房进军
23.The sound made flicking a wall-switch off, is of a completely different nature.
而我们把墙上开关关上的那一声响 内涵就完全不同了
24.It has a deep melancholy ring.
它蕴含着深深地抑郁声调。
25.Children don’t like it.
孩子们不喜欢它。
26.It’s why they leave lights on around the house.
所以总爱让房间亮着。
27.Adults find it comforting.
大人们却能聊以慰藉。
28.But wouldn’t it be an easy matter to wire a wall switch so that it triggers the muted horn of a steam ship?
但把墙上的开关接通电源 不是很容易的事儿吗？ 这样就能够启动蒸汽船静默的汽笛？
29.Or the recorded crowing of a rooster?
或唤醒公鸡清晨的报晓？
30.Or the distant peel of thunder?
还是爆破远方的一声惊雷？
31.Thomas Edison went through thousands of unlikely substances before he came upon the right one for the filament of his electric lightbulb.
爱迪生也是在尝试过 成千上万不同的物质之后 才找到了真正适合做灯丝的物质， 从而完成了他的电灯发明。
32.Why have we settled so quickly for the sound of its switch?
为什么我们要如此迅速地屈就于 那开关不完美的“咯嗒”声响呢？
33.That’s the end of that.
这个故事讲完了。
34.(Applause) The next story is called In Praise of the Taxpayer.
（掌声） 下一个故事叫作 《纳税人的荣耀》。
35.That so many of the city’s most venerable taxpayers have survived yet another commercial building boom, is cause for celebration.
这个城市里，很多受人尊崇的纳税人 又逃过了一次拆旧楼建新的商业大楼浪潮的劫难。 他们为此庆祝。
36.These one or two story structures, designed to yield only enough income to cover the taxes on the land on which they stand, were not meant to be permanent buildings.
设计这些一两层的建筑 也只期望它们获得的收入 能付得起 土地租金就行了， 并不把它们当做这长久的建筑。
37.Yet for one reason or another they have confounded the efforts of developers to be combined into lots suitable for high-rise construction.
然而由于种种原因 这些低层建筑常常困扰开发商 让他们不知道该如何把这些零星的点组合成 一块适合高层建筑的地皮。
38.Although they make no claim to architectural beauty, they are, in their perfect temporariness, a delightful alternative to the large-scale structures
虽然不能说这些小楼房有什么建筑设计的美感 但是，在它们这短暂存在的这段时间里， 的确是钢筋水泥高楼林立的城市中 一道亮丽的风景线，
39.that might someday take their place.
尽管最终要被取代。
40.The most perfect examples occupy corner lots.
最突出的例子 就是拐角处的小楼盘
41.They offer a pleasant respite from the high-density development around them.
它们是被迅猛发展的高楼包围着的 一片惬意的栖息地。
42.A break of light and air, an architectural biding of time.
这些小楼房为这高密度的水泥森林提供缕缕阳光和清新空气 它们在和时间赛跑。
43.So buried in signage are these structures, that it often takes a moment to distinguish the modern specially constructed taxpayer from its neighbor.
这些小楼房 就这样被淹没在形形色色的商标之中， 以至于，要把它们的应纳税款和那些 附近的特别设计的大楼房 区分开来 还得花些时间。
44.The small commercial building from an earlier century whose upper floors have been sealed, and whose groundfloor space now functions as a taxpayer.
这是栋上世纪的 小型商业建筑。 他们的上面几层已经被查封了。 但是一楼 还营业着，并且缴着税
45.The few surfaces not covered by signs are often clad in a distinctive dark green-gray, striated aluminum siding.
这仅存的没有被商标遮盖的建筑 一般都被包裹在有特色的 阴暗铝灰条纹的铝制外壁板之中。
46.Take-out sandwich shops, film processing drop-offs, peep-shows and necktie stores.
比如三明治快餐小店， 卖劣质影碟的小贩， 卖西洋镜和领带的小买卖。
47.Now these provisional structures have, in some cases, remained standing for the better part of a human lifetime.
现在这些临时的建筑 在一些地方 仍然屹立不倒， 展现着人们生活另一种美好的时光。
48.The temporary building is a triumph of modern industrial organization.
这些暂住“居民” 也是现代工业化中的胜利者。
49.A healthy sublimation of the urge to build.
它们也是对建楼欲望的 一种升华。
50.And proof that not every architectural idea need be set in stone.
还向人们证明了， 不是每一个建筑 都是一成不变、无法更改的。
51.That’s the end.
这个故事也讲完了。
52.(Laughter) And the next story is called, On the Human Lap.
（笑声） 下一个故事叫做：《在人类的膝盖上》
53.For the ancient Egyptians the lap was a platform upon which to place the earthly possessions of the dead — 30 cubits from foot to knee.
对于古代埃及人来说 膝盖是一个平台， 用来放置 死去的人生前尘世的财产。 这个平台的长度就是从脚到膝盖上。
54.It was not until the 14th century that an Italian painter recognized the lap as a Grecian temple, upholstered in flesh and cloth.
直到14世纪 一位意大利画家第一次 把这种膝盖上的平台 视为古希腊人的神庙， 只不过这座神庙是用肉体和衣服布置起来的。
55.Over the next 200 years we see the infant Christ go from a sitting to a standing position, on the Virgin’s lap.
在之后的200年里， 我们看到婴儿基督 在圣母的膝盖上， 从坐姿变成站姿。
56.And then back again.
然后又回到坐姿。
57.Every child recapitulates this ascension, straddling one or both legs, sitting sideways, or leaning against the body.
每一个孩子都是如此， 跨立在一条或两条腿上 或者倾斜地坐着， 又或者倚着上身。
58.From there to the modern ventriloquist’s dummy, is but a brief moment in history.
从这个到现代的口技者的木偶， 不是一段简短的历史。
59.You were late for school again this morning.
今天早上你上学又迟到了。
60.The ventriloquist must first make us believe that a small boy is sitting on his lap.
口技者必须首先让我们相信， 在他膝盖上坐着的是一个小男孩儿。
61.The illusion of speech follows incidentally.
然后自然而然的带出台词。
62.What have you got to say for yourself Jimmy?
你为自己有什么想要说的吗，吉米？
63.As adults we admire the lap from a nostalgic distance.
作为成年人，我们羡慕那膝盖 因为我们怀旧。
64.We have fading memories of that provisional temple, erected each time an adult sat down.
我们的记忆在慢慢消退， 有关那个短暂的神庙的记忆， 那座在每一个坐下的成年人膝上立起的神庙。
65.On a crowded bus there was always a lap to sit on.
拥挤的公交车上，总有可以坐上去的膝盖。
66.It is children and teenage girls who are most keenly aware of its architectural beauty.
孩子和青春期的少女们 能最敏锐的察觉到 建筑结构的美。
67.They understand the structural integrity of a deep avuncular lap, as compared to the shaky arangement of a neurotic niece in high heels.
他们能明白建筑结构的整体性– 我指的是父辈的膝盖， 相对于你那神经质的外甥女 和她的高跟鞋之间摇摇晃晃的关系来说。
68.The relationship between the lap and its owner is direct and intimate.
膝盖和它的拥有者之间的关系 直接而亲密。
69.I envision a 36 story 450 unit residential high-rise — a reason to consider the mental health of any architect before granting an important commission.
我想象了一幢36层高， 有450个房间的住宅大楼 用来检验建筑师的心理健康， 在还没有给他 一大笔佣金之前。
70.The bathrooms and kitchens will, of course, have no windows.
洗手间和厨房 当然是没有窗户的。
71.The lap of luxury is an architectural construct of childhood, which we seek in vain, as adults, to employ.
膝盖上的奢侈生活 只是一个童年的构想， 我们在寻觅的过程中总是无功而返， 就像成年人雇佣人的时候一样。
72.That’s the end.
故事讲完了。
73.(Laughter) The next story is called “The Haverpiece Collection”
（笑声） 下一个故事叫做《哈弗皮斯的收藏》。
74.A nondescript warehouse, visible for a moment from the northbound lanes of the Prykushko’ expressway, serves as the temporary resting place
这是一个难以描述的仓库， 这会儿是你能看见它， 在Prykushko高速公路向北的车道上， 被用作一个临时的休息所，
75.for the Haverpiece collection of European dried fruit.
为了哈弗皮斯(Haverpiece)的收藏而设 ——欧洲水果干。
76.The profound convolutions on the surface of a dried cherry.
那些樱桃干表面 深深的卷曲；
77.The foreboding sheen of an extra-large date.
以及巨大枣子表面给人不祥预感的光泽。
78.Do you remember wandering as a child through those dark wooden storefront galleries?
还记得吗，当你还是个孩子的时候， 游荡在那些暗暗的 木屋美术馆店面？
79.Where everything was displayed in poorly labeled roach-proof bins.
那里的所有东西都展示在 有着难看标签的蟑螂罐里
80.Pears dried in the form of genital organs.
梨子干有着 生殖器一样的形状。
81.Apricot halves like the ears of cherubim.
杏瓣儿 就像智天使的耳朵。
82.In 1962 the unsold stock was purchased by Maurice Haverpiece, a wealthy prune juice bottler, and consolidated to form the core collection.
1962年，未出售的存货 被莫里斯.哈弗皮斯所购买 他是一个富有的瓶装青梅汁制造商， 这些存货经过整理组成了核心的收藏。
83.As an art form it lies somewhere between still-life painting, and plumbing.
作为一种艺术形式，这个收藏被放在 静物写生和探测之间。
84.Upon his death in 1967, a quarter of the items were sold off for compote, to a high-class hotel restaurant.
直到他1967年去世， 这些藏品的四分之一已经作为拼盘 向高档酒店抛售一空。
85.(Laughter) Unsuspecting guests were served stewed turn-of-the-century Turkish figs for breakfast.
（笑声） 信任酒店的顾客 早饭吃的是 21世纪的土耳其无花果。
86.(Laughter) The rest of the collection remains here, stored in plain brown paper bags until funds can be raised to build a permanent museum
（笑声） 剩余部分的收藏一直留在了这里， 在筹到足够资金 见一个永久性博物馆 和学习中心之前，
87.and study center.
它们都被存放在普通的棕色纸袋里。
88.A shoe made of apricot leather for the daughter of a czar.
一只为沙皇女儿 制作的杏仁皮的鞋子。
89.That’s the end. Thank you.
最后一个故事讲完了。谢谢大家。
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