2023年06月四级第1套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

The United States is facing a housing crisis: Affordable housing is inadequate, while luxury homes abound (充裕), and homelessness remains a persistent problem. Despite this, popular culture and the housing industry market happiness as living with both more space and more amenities (便利设施). Big houses are advertized as a reward for hard work and diligence, turning housing from a basic necessity into a luxury.

美国正面临住房危机：经济适用房不足，而豪宅充裕，无家可归者问题依然存在。尽管如此，流行文化和住房行业将幸福营销为拥有更多空间和更多便利设施的生活。大房子被宣传为辛勤工作和勤奋的奖励，将住房从基本必需品转变为奢侈品。

This is reflected in our homes. The average single-family home built in the United States before 1970was less than 1,500 square feet in size. By 2016, the average size of a new, single-family home was 2,422 square feet. What's more, homes built in the 2000s were more likely than earlier models to have more of all types of spaces; bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, recreation rooms and garages.

这反映在我们的住房中。1970年之前在美国建造的平均单户住宅面积不到1500平方英尺。到2016年，新建单户住宅的平均面积为2422平方英尺。此外，2000年代建造的住宅比早期型号更可能拥有更多各类空间；卧室、浴室、客厅、餐厅、娱乐室和车库。

There are consequences of living big. As middle-class houses have grown larger, two things have happened. First, large houses take time to maintain, so cleaners and other low-wage service workers are required to keep these houses in order. Second, once-public spaces, where people from diverse backgrounds used to come together, have increasingly become privatized, leading to a reduction in the number of public facilities available to all, and a reduced quality of life for many. Take swimming pools. While in 1950, only 2,500 U.S. families owned pools, by 1999 this number was 4 million. At the same time, public municipal pools were often closed, leaving low-income people nowhere to swim.

居住在大房子里有其后果。随着中产阶级住房变大，发生了两件事。首先，大型住房需要时间维护，因此需要清洁工和其他低工资服务工人来保持这些房子的整洁。其次，曾经的公共空间，即不同背景的人们聚集的地方，日益私有化，导致可用的公共设施数量减少，许多人的生活质量下降。以游泳池为例。1950年，只有2500个美国家庭拥有游泳池，到1999年，这一数字达到400万。与此同时，公共市政游泳池经常关闭，使得低收入人群无处游泳。

The trend for bigger housing thus poses ethical questions. Should Americans accept a system in which the middle and upper classes enjoy a luxurious lifestyle, using the low-wage labor of others? Are we willing to accept a system in which an increase in amenities purchased by the affluent means a reduction in amenities for the poor?

因此，更大的住房趋势提出了伦理问题。美国人是否应该接受一个中上层阶级享受奢侈生活、利用他人低工资劳动的系统？我们是否愿意接受一个富裕者购买更多便利设施意味着穷人便利设施减少的系统？

I believe neither is acceptable. We must change the way we think: living well does not need to mean having more private spaces; instead, it could mean having more public spaces. A better goal than building bigger houses for some is to create more publicly accessible spaces and amenities for all.

我认为两者都不可接受。我们必须改变思维方式：生活得好并不意味着拥有更多私人空间；相反，它可能意味着拥有更多公共空间。比为一些人建造更大的房子更好的目标是为所有人创造更多可公开访问的空间和设施。