2023年03月六级第1套长篇阅读匹配原文翻译及答案

A) The fog still chills the morning air and the cable cars still climb halfway to the stars. Yet on the ground, the Bay area has changed greatly since singer Tony Bennet left his heart here. Silicon Valley and the tech industry have led the region into a period of unprecedented wealth and innovation. But existing political and land limits have caused an alarming housing crisis and astronomical rise in social and economic difference.

雾气仍然使清晨的空气寒冷，缆车仍然攀爬到半空中。然而，在地面上，自从歌手托尼·贝内特在这里留下他的心后，湾区已经发生了巨大变化。硅谷和科技行业将该地区带入了一个前所未有的财富和创新时期。但现有的政治和土地限制导致了令人震惊的住房危机以及社会和经济差异的急剧上升。

B) While the residents of most cities display pride and support for their home industries, drastic market distortions in the San Francisco Bay Area have created boiling resentment in the region towards the tech industry. A vocal minority is even calling on officials to punish those who are benefitting from the economic and housing boom. If this boom and its consequences are not resolved, a drastic increase in social and economic difference may have a profound impact on the region for generations. A history and analysis of this transformation may hold invaluable insights about the opportunities. Perils of tech cities are currently being cultivated across the US, and indeed around the world.

虽然大多数城市的居民对当地产业表现出自豪和支持，但旧金山湾区剧烈的市场扭曲已经在该地区引发了对科技行业的强烈不满。一个发声的少数派甚至呼吁官员惩罚那些从经济和住房繁荣中受益的人。如果这种繁荣及其后果得不到解决，社会和经济差异的急剧增加可能会对该地区产生几代人的深远影响。对这一转变的历史和分析可能为目前在美国乃至全球范围内培育的科技城市的机会和风险提供宝贵的见解。

C) According to a recent study, San Francisco ranks first in California for economic difference. The average income of the top 1% of households in the city averages $3.6 million. This is 44 times the average income of those at the bottom, which stands at $81,094. The top 1% of the San Francisco peninsula's share of total income now extends to 30.8% of the region's income. This was a dramatic jump from 1989, where it stood at 15.8%.

根据最近的一项研究，旧金山在加利福尼亚州经济差异方面排名第一。该市收入最高的1%家庭的平均收入为360万美元。这是收入最低群体平均收入81,094美元的44倍。旧金山半岛收入最高的1%群体现在占该地区总收入的30.8%。这比1989年的15.8%有显著跃升。

D) The region's economy has been fundamentally transformed by the technology industry springing from Silicon Valley. Policies pushed by Mayor Ed Lee provided tax breaks for tech companies to set up shop along the city's long-neglected Mid-Market area. The city is now home to Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, Dropbox and others. In short, the Bay Area has become a global magnet for those with specialized skills, which has in turn helped fuel economic enthusiasm, and this economic growth has reduced unemployment to 3.4%, an admirable feat.

该地区的经济已经被源自硅谷的科技行业根本性地转变了。市长埃德·李推动的政策为科技公司在该市长期被忽视的中部市场区域设立办事处提供了税收优惠。该市现在拥有Twitter、Uber、Airbnb、Pinterest、Dropbox等公司。简而言之，湾区已成为吸引具有专业技能人才的全球磁石，这反过来又帮助激发了经济热情，而这种经济增长已将失业率降低到3.4%，这是一个令人钦佩的成就。

E) In spite of all that, the strength of the recent job growth, combined with policies that have traditionally limited housing development in the city and throughout the peninsula, did not help ease the affordability crisis. In 2015 alone, the Bay Area added 64,000 in jobs. In the same year, only 5,000 new homes were built.

尽管如此，最近就业增长的强劲势头，加上该市和整个半岛上传统上限制住房开发的政策，并没有帮助缓解可负担性危机。仅在2015年，湾区就增加了64,000个工作岗位。同年，只建了5,000套新房。

F) With the average house in the city costing over $1.25 million and average flat prices over $1.11 million, the minimum qualifying income to purchase a house has increased to $254,000. Considering that the average household income in the city currently stands at around $80,000, it is not an exaggeration to say that the dream of home ownership is now beyond the grasp of the vast majority of today's people who rent.

由于该市平均房价超过125万美元，平均公寓价格超过111万美元，购买房屋的最低合格收入已增加到254,000美元。考虑到该市目前平均家庭收入约为80,000美元，毫不夸张地说，对于今天绝大多数租房者来说，拥有住房的梦想已经遥不可及。

G) For generations, the stability and prosperity of the American middle class has been anchored by home ownership. Studies have consistently shown that the value of land has overtaken overall income growth, thus providing a huge advantage to property owners as a vehicle of wealth building. When home prices soar above the reach of most households, the gap between the rich and the poor dramatically increases.

几代人以来，美国中产阶级的稳定和繁荣一直以住房所有权为锚点。研究一直表明，土地价值已经超过了整体收入增长，从而为业主提供了巨大的优势，作为财富积累的载体。当房价飞涨超出大多数家庭的承受能力时，贫富差距会急剧扩大。

H) If contributing factors leading to housing becoming less than affordable are not resolved over multiple generations, a small elite will control a vast share of the country's total wealth. The result? A society where the threat of class warfare would loom large. A society's level of happiness is tied less to measures of quantitative wealth and more to measures of qualitative wealth. This means that how a person judges their security in comparison to their neighbors' has more of an impact on their happiness than their objective standard of living. At the same time, when a system no longer provides opportunities for the majority to participate in wealth building, it not only robs those who are excluded from opportunities, but also deprives them of their dignity.

如果导致住房可负担性下降的因素在多代人中得不到解决，一小部分精英将控制国家总财富的很大一部分。结果呢？一个阶级战争威胁迫在眉睫的社会。一个社会的幸福水平与定量财富的衡量关系较小，而与定性财富的衡量关系更大。这意味着一个人相对于邻居的安全感判断，对其幸福的影响比客观生活水平更大。同时，当一个系统不再为大多数人提供参与财富积累的机会时，它不仅剥夺了那些被排斥者的机会，还剥夺了他们的尊严。

I) San Francisco and the Bay Area have long been committed to values which embrace inclusion and rejection of mainstream culture. To see these values coming apart so publicly adds insult to injury for a region once defined by its progressive social fabric. In the face of resentment, it is human to want revenge. But deteriorating policies such as heavily taxing technology companies or real estate developers are not likely to shift the balance.

旧金山和湾区长期以来致力于拥抱包容和拒绝主流文化的价值观。看到这些价值观如此公开地瓦解，对于一个曾经以其进步的社会结构而定义的地区来说，是雪上加霜。面对怨恨，想要报复是人之常情。但恶化政策，如对科技公司或房地产开发商征收重税，不太可能改变平衡。

J) The housing crisis is caused by two primary factors: the growing desirability of the Bay Area as a place to live due to its excellent economy, and our limited housing stock. Although the city is experiencing an unprecedented boom in new housing, more units are sorely needed. Protection policies were originally designed to suppress bad development and boost historic preservation in our urban areas. Now, too many developers are experiencing excessive delays. Meanwhile, there are the land limitations of the Bay Area to consider. The region is surrounded by water and mountains. Local governments need to aid development as well. This means increasing housing density throughout the region and building upwards while streamlining the approval process.

住房危机主要由两个因素造成：由于其出色的经济，湾区作为居住地的吸引力日益增长，以及我们有限的住房存量。尽管该市正在经历前所未有的住房繁荣，但迫切需要更多单元。保护政策最初旨在抑制不良开发并促进城市地区的历史保护。现在，太多开发商正经历过度延迟。同时，需要考虑湾区的土地限制。该地区被水和山包围。地方政府也需要帮助开发。这意味着在整个地区增加住房密度，向上建造，同时简化审批流程。

K) Real estate alone will not solve the problem, of course. Transportation, too, needs to be updated and infrastructure extended to link distant regions to Silicon Valley and the city. We need to build an effective high-speed commuting system linking the high-priced and crowded Bay Area with the low-priced and low-density Central Valley. This would dramatically reduce travel times. And based on the operating speeds of hovering trains used in countries such as Japan or Spain, high-speed rail could shorten the time to travel between San Francisco and California's capital, Sacramento, or from Stockton to San Jose, to under 30 minutes. This system would bring once distant regions within reasonable commute to heavy job centers. The city also needs to update existing transportation routes combined with smart home-building policies that dramatically increase housing density in areas surrounding high-speed rail stations. By doing so, we will be able to build affordable housing within acceptable commuting distances for a significant bulk of the workforce.

当然，仅靠房地产不能解决问题。交通也需要更新，基础设施需要延伸以连接偏远地区与硅谷和城市。我们需要建立一个有效的高速通勤系统，连接高价拥挤的湾区和低价低密度的中央谷地。这将大大减少旅行时间。根据日本或西班牙等国使用的悬浮列车的运营速度，高速铁路可以将旧金山与加利福尼亚州首府萨克拉门托之间，或从斯托克顿到圣何塞的旅行时间缩短到30分钟以下。这个系统将使曾经偏远的地区在合理通勤范围内到达主要就业中心。该市还需要更新现有交通路线，结合智能住房政策，大幅增加高铁站周围的住房密度。通过这样做，我们将能够在可接受的通勤距离内为大部分劳动力建造经济适用房。

L) Our threatening housing crisis forces the difficult question of what type of society we would like to be. Will it be one where the elite command the vast bulk of wealth and regional culture is defined by an aggressive business world? We were recently treated to a taste of the latter, when local tech employee Justin Keller wrote an open letter to the city complaining about having to see homeless people on his way to work.

我们威胁性的住房危机迫使我们面对一个难题：我们希望成为什么样的社会？会是一个精英掌控大部分财富、地区文化由激进的商业世界定义的社会吗？我们最近尝到了后者的滋味，当地科技员工贾斯汀·凯勒给该市写了一封公开信，抱怨在上班路上不得不看到无家可归的人。

M) It doesn't have to be this way. But solutions need to be implemented now, before angry crowds grow from a nuisance to serious concern. It may take less than you might think. And in fact, the solutions to our housing crisis are already fairly clear. We need to increase the density of housing units. We need to use existing technology to shorten travel times and break the land limits. There is a way to solve complex social and economic problems without abandoning social responsibility. This is the Bay Area's opportunity to prove that it can innovate more than just technology.

事情不必如此。但解决方案需要现在实施，以免愤怒的人群从麻烦变成严重问题。这可能比你想象的要少。事实上，我们的住房危机的解决方案已经相当明确。我们需要增加住房单元的密度。我们需要使用现有技术缩短旅行时间并打破土地限制。有一种方法可以在不放弃社会责任的情况下解决复杂的社会和经济问题。这是湾区证明它不仅仅能创新技术的机会。