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2016考研英語(yǔ)閱讀熱點(diǎn)：紐約最大的蘋(píng)果

考研英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：可可英語(yǔ) 2015-07-11　

New York’s biggest Apple

Over the next few months a striking piece of symbolism will take place around the mightyGeneral Motors building on Fifth Avenue in New York. Apple, the tech group, plans to move outof the basement where it has operated a flagship store-cum-tourist attraction for the pastdecade, underneath a now-iconic glass cube.

在接下來(lái)數(shù)月內(nèi)，極具象征意味的事情將發(fā)生在紐約第五大道(Fifth Avenue)上那座宏偉的通用汽車(chē)(GeneralMotors)大樓周?chē)？萍季揠⑻O(píng)果(Apple)計(jì)劃將過(guò)去10年來(lái)游客經(jīng)常造訪的那家旗艦店，從如今已成為地標(biāo)的玻璃方屋下方的地下室中搬出。

The tech group will not be disappearing altogether from this prime site, tucked on thesoutheast corner of Central Park. Instead, it is renovating the basement to cope with soaringnumbers of visitors, and, later this year, it plans to move “temporarily” into a space on theground floor of the General Motors building next door.

這家科技集團(tuán)并不會(huì)從這個(gè)緊鄰中央公園(Central Park)西南角的黃金地點(diǎn)徹底消失。相反，蘋(píng)果正在對(duì)這座地下室進(jìn)行翻修，以應(yīng)對(duì)日益增加的游客。今年晚些時(shí)候，蘋(píng)果計(jì)劃“暫時(shí)”搬進(jìn)旁邊通用汽車(chē)大樓的一層。

In a neat twist of timing, FAO Schwarz, the equally iconic American toy store, has decided tovacate its flagship location in the GM building on July 15 “to realise meaningful rent savings” inthe face of “the continuing rising costs of operating a retail location on Fifth Avenue”. The storehas not yet revealed where its new home will be.

剛巧就在這個(gè)時(shí)候，同樣標(biāo)志性的美國(guó)玩具店FAO Schwarz決定于7月15日將其位于通用汽車(chē)大樓內(nèi)的旗艦店搬走。面對(duì)“在第五大道開(kāi)設(shè)零售店成本持續(xù)上漲”，此舉是為了“實(shí)現(xiàn)重大租金節(jié)約”。該玩具店尚未公布新店地址。

So when tourists flock to Central Park this summer, they will no longer see stuffed animals,dolls, Lego and train sets — or the gigantic “floor piano” keyboard that Tom Hanks and RobertLoggia danced on in the 1988 movie Big (a film that helped to immortalise FAO Schwarz).Instead, the site will host piles of gleaming electronic gadgets — and the inevitable throng ofvisitors who pay pilgrimage around the clock. (Apparently, the store under the cube is notjust the busiest in the world but also the only Apple store that operates 24 hours a day, sevendays a week.)

因此，今年夏天當(dāng)游客蜂擁至中央公園時(shí)，他們將不會(huì)再看見(jiàn)毛絨動(dòng)物玩具、玩偶、樂(lè)高積木(Lego)以及火車(chē)模型，也不會(huì)再看見(jiàn)地板上的巨型“鋼琴”琴鍵——在1988年的電影《飛向未來(lái)》(Big)中，湯姆•漢克斯(TomHanks)和羅伯特•洛賈(Robert Loggia)就是在這個(gè)地面琴鍵上跳舞(這部電影讓FAO Schwarz在人們心中留下了難以磨滅的印象)。取而代之的是，那里將會(huì)擺滿成堆閃閃發(fā)光的電子小玩意——游客也必然會(huì)成群結(jié)對(duì)，不分晝夜地前來(lái)“朝圣”。(顯然，玻璃方屋下面的蘋(píng)果旗艦店不僅是世界上生意最忙碌的，還是唯一的每周7天無(wú)休、24小時(shí)全天候營(yíng)業(yè)的蘋(píng)果店。)

Now, in one sense this rental dance is nothing new. As the journalist Vicky Ward recounts inher book, The Liar’s Ball (which tells the history of the GM building and which is about to bemade into a Hollywood film), this site has already seen endless commercial flux. Businessempires have risen and fallen there at startling speed. Indeed, one of the great (and little-known) ironies about that famous glass cube is that the man who first dreamt up the idea,Harry Macklowe, the real estate titan who owned the GM building, actually went bankrupt(before later rebounding).

眼下，從某種意義而言，這種租戶更迭沒(méi)什么新鮮的。正如記者薇姬•沃德(Vicky Ward)在她的書(shū)《騙子的皮球》(The Liar’s Ball)中敘述的那樣，這個(gè)地點(diǎn)已經(jīng)見(jiàn)證了數(shù)不盡的商業(yè)變遷。(該書(shū)講述了通用汽車(chē)大樓的歷史，即將被拍攝成為好萊塢電影。)在這座大樓中，商業(yè)帝國(guó)以驚人的速度崛起和沒(méi)落。事實(shí)上，關(guān)于那座著名玻璃方屋極具諷刺意味(且鮮為人知)的一點(diǎn)是，最初設(shè)計(jì)出這個(gè)想法的人——房地產(chǎn)大亨、通用汽車(chē)大樓曾經(jīng)的所有者——哈里•麥克洛(Harry Macklowe)實(shí)際上破產(chǎn)了(后來(lái)東山再起)。

To my mind, this switch of retail outlets speaks to far more than just the vagaries of NY realestate. After all, FAO Schwarz is not just any old toy store: in recent decades it epitomised a20th-century style of kiddie consumer dream, which, of course, is why families have long flockedthere to stare at the goodies — and that famous piano.

在我看來(lái)，零售店的轉(zhuǎn)變所體現(xiàn)的遠(yuǎn)不止是紐約房地產(chǎn)市場(chǎng)的變幻莫測(cè)。畢竟，F(xiàn)AO Schwarz并不是普通的老牌玩具店：最近數(shù)十年，它象征的是20世紀(jì)兒童消費(fèi)者的夢(mèng)想，當(dāng)然，這也是長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)很多家庭蜂擁至此，凝視那些玩具和那臺(tái)著名鋼琴的原因。

In recent decades, like so many 20th-century American icons, the glittering façade hasconcealed a sense of rot. For while tourists have visited the store in droves, they have notbeen spending money on the scale that FAO Schwarz’s owner — Toys R Us — needs. Thesedays families tend to buy toys at budget downmarket shops (think Walmart) or upscaleboutique outfits (such as American Girl). The middle has been squeezed — making it hard tojustify Fifth Avenue rents.

最近幾十年，就像那么多20世紀(jì)美國(guó)的標(biāo)志性物品一樣，那座光芒閃耀的店鋪流露出一種衰敗的味道。這是因?yàn)椋M管游客成群結(jié)隊(duì)地走進(jìn)這家商店，但他們?cè)谶@里花的錢(qián)卻一直無(wú)法達(dá)到FAO Schwarz的所有者——玩具反斗城(Toys R Us)——需要的水平。如今，家長(zhǎng)往往要不就在經(jīng)濟(jì)型低端商店(比如沃爾瑪(Walmart))，要不就在高端精品店(比如美國(guó)女孩(American Girl))里購(gòu)買(mǎi)玩具。中端商店受到擠壓——使得其很難支付得起第五大道的租金。

But at Apple’s glass cube consumers are not just thronging to look but to spend money too.Never mind the fact that the shopping experience itself is often horrid. (When I descendedthere myself recently, to get a new iPhone, the basement was so jam-packed and salesassistants so scarce that it felt like the retail equivalent of the seventh circle of hell.)

但是在蘋(píng)果的玻璃方屋下，消費(fèi)者不僅是成群結(jié)隊(duì)地來(lái)，同時(shí)也會(huì)大筆花錢(qián)——盡管購(gòu)物體驗(yàn)本身通常很糟糕。(最近我自己前往那家店購(gòu)買(mǎi)一部新的iPhone手機(jī)，發(fā)現(xiàn)店內(nèi)如此擁擠，店員也如此短缺，感覺(jué)就像到了商店版第七層地獄。)

Indeed, sales are so high that Mort Zuckerman, the current owner of the GM building, isquoted in The Liar’s Ball as saying that “whenever I want to cheer myself up I just take a walkaround the Apple Store”.

事實(shí)上，這家店的銷(xiāo)售額極高，以至于通用汽車(chē)大樓目前的所有者莫特•祖克曼(Mort Zuckerman)(援引于《騙子的皮球》一書(shū))曾表示，“每當(dāng)我想讓自己開(kāi)心起來(lái)時(shí)，我就會(huì)在蘋(píng)果店周?chē)涔洹?rdquo;

At the beginning of this decade the store was making “$665m a year for 10,000 square feet”of space “in a windowless basement”. Undoubtedly it is dramatically more today; in fact, somewell-placed insiders suspect that if anyone could get comparable public data on sales persquare foot from retailers around the world (which is all but impossible), Apple’s glass cubewould be the most profitable retail outlet in the world.

在2010年代初，這家“位于地下、連個(gè)窗戶都沒(méi)有的”蘋(píng)果店“1萬(wàn)平方英尺面積每年能創(chuàng)造6.65億美元的銷(xiāo)售額”。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，如今這個(gè)數(shù)字肯定高得多;事實(shí)上，一些知情人士認(rèn)為，如果有人能得到全球各地零售店每平方英尺銷(xiāo)售額的可比公開(kāi)數(shù)據(jù)，可能會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)蘋(píng)果的玻璃方屋是全世界最賺錢(qián)的零售店。

Perhaps this is just another passing fad, like the FAO Schwarz floor piano. As the history of theGM building proves, business fortunes swing faster than anyone can imagine. In anothercouple of decades we may find it utterly bizarre to think that anyone ever wanted to go into awindowless basement with hundreds of others to buy an iPhone. Least of all treat it as atourist attraction.

也許這只是另一次短暫的熱潮，就像FAO Schwarz的地面鋼琴一樣。正如通用汽車(chē)大樓的歷史所證明的那樣，企業(yè)命運(yùn)跌宕起伏，速度之快超出所有人的想象。再過(guò)幾十年，我們也許會(huì)感到難以置信：居然有人想要去一間連窗戶都沒(méi)有的地下室，和數(shù)百名其他顧客擠在一起，只為購(gòu)買(mǎi)一部iPhone。更別提還把它當(dāng)作一個(gè)游覽勝地。

Right now, I will be watching curiously to see what Angela Ahrendts, the ultra-stylish designqueen at Apple, does with that cube. Like it or not, it has now become a powerful symbol ofour modern age, a time where kids (and adults) still love to buy “toys” — just not quite thetype of toys our parents flocked to in the past.

現(xiàn)如今，我將會(huì)饒有興趣地期待蘋(píng)果超級(jí)時(shí)尚的設(shè)計(jì)女王安杰拉•阿倫茨(Angela Ahrendts)對(duì)那個(gè)玻璃方屋的改造。無(wú)論你喜歡與否，這個(gè)玻璃方屋已經(jīng)成了我們當(dāng)今時(shí)代的有力符號(hào)。在這個(gè)時(shí)代，孩子(和大人)仍然喜愛(ài)買(mǎi)“玩具”——只不過(guò)跟過(guò)去我們的父母愛(ài)買(mǎi)的玩具類型不太一樣罷了。