外國人最想和你聊的時事話題：人滿為患的城市
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Overcrowded city 人滿為患的城市
Over half the world's people now live in cities. The "Global Report on Human Settlements" says the historic change had taken place. The report came out from U.N. Habitat, a United Nations agency.A century ago, less than five percent of all people lived in cities. By the middle of this century it could be seventy percent, or almost six and a half billion people. Already three-fourths of people in developed countries live in cities. Now most urban population growths exist in the developing world.
Urbanization can lead to social and economic progress, but also pressure on cities to provide housing and services. The new report says almost two hundred thousand people move into cities and towns each day. It says worsening inequalities, driven by social divisions and differences in wealth, could lead to violence unless cities plan better.
In China, more attention is being given to population issues. According to the authorities, in the next five years, China's urban population is going to overtake the rural population for the first time. What does this mean for the country and its development?
The National Population and Family Planning Commission said recently, the urban population in the country will pass 700 million in the near future, which will take up 50% of the total population. The population structure is going to experience a dramatic change, and social and economic development will also be affected.
"It is very meaningful to China because we used to be an agricultural country for such a long time. When the country's urban population takes up more than 50% of the total population, we can say our country is an urbanized country. I think it's going to be a milestone in China's history."
Meanwhile, experts also say our society has to get ready for the coming changes.
"We should pay attention to the quality of urbanization. There are a lot of topics around the next generation of rural people. These young people were born in the cities; barely have connection with the rural areas. But it's hard for them to become a real part of the city. So the issue of the living condition of this flowing population is very important too. It is closely connected to the quality of urbanization. "
Facing the population change, we have to be more concerned about many issues, including how to relieve the population pressure in big cities, and how to improve the development of small cities.
Another issue is urban sprawl. This is where cities expand into rural areas, sometimes at a much faster rate than urban population growth.
Sprawl is common in the United States. Americans move a lot. In a recent study, Art Hall at the University of Kansas found that people are moving away from the major cities to smaller cities. He sees a trend toward "de-urbanization" across America.
But urban economies still provide possibilities that rural areas do not. Sabina Deitrick at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, is an expert on cities. She notes that urbanization brings social change that can empower women.
SABINA DEITRICK: "Women entering the labor force is one big change and that always goes up with urbanization and certainly will proceed in many, many countries where urbanization is increasing rapidly."
Sabina Deitrick has closely studied Pittsburgh from the loss of its main industry, steel, to its rebirth as a smaller city with different industries. She says the reuse of existing land and spaces and the reinvention of urban life is important if cities are to succeed.
Professor Deitrick notes that a city's ability to educate and train its people is important to jobs and new industries. Even new industries based on old ideas.
Around the world, people leave rural farm jobs to go to the city. Yet now there is growing demand for farm products grown close to the cities where they are used. Urban farming is taking hold in some of the world's biggest cities. Sabina Deitrick says studies show that urban farming is one area where woman can earn more than men do.
所謂人口壓力指數(shù)（population pressure index），是指一個區(qū)域現(xiàn)有人口數(shù)量(current population)與經(jīng)濟人口容量(economic population capacity)之比。當人口壓力指數(shù)小于1時，人口容量相對富裕(relatively rich)，說明該地區(qū)相對人口壓力不大，還有一定的人口擴容余地(room for expansion)；當人口壓力指數(shù)大于1時，則人口容量超負荷(population capacity overload)。人口壓力指數(shù)與人口經(jīng)濟密度密切相關(guān)。如果以全國平均水平為1來計算，東部地區(qū)人口壓力指數(shù)平均為0.65(the average population pressure index)，表明東部地區(qū)有人口擴容的能力。事實也表明，中、西部地區(qū)的人口向東部地區(qū)的流動遷移(mobility and migration)是主流；中部地區(qū)的人口壓力指數(shù)為1.14，除了吉林、黑龍江兩個省的人口壓力指數(shù)低于1外，其他中部地區(qū)省份的人口容量都超負荷。如果人口過多的遷入，對經(jīng)濟發(fā)展、生態(tài)只會造成負影響。西部地區(qū)人口壓力指數(shù)更大，除內(nèi)蒙古外，其余地區(qū)人口容量已滿負荷。
city size 城市規(guī)模
mega-cities 百萬人口的大城市
uncontrolled urbanization 城市化失控
urban population growth 城市人口增長
This city has a population of more than 1, 000, 000.
這個城市人口超過一百萬。
Within 30 years there will be twice as many urban people as countryside people in the world.
未來30年內(nèi)，全世界的城市居民將是農(nóng)村人口的兩倍。
The town is fast increasing in population.
這座城市的人口增長很快。
The government needed to seek solutions for swelling urban populations and shrinking resources.
政府必須找到可行的辦法來解決城市人口不斷增加和資源不斷減少的問題。
Currently, three densely urbanized regions have formed along China's coast, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
目前，珠江三角洲、長江三角洲和京津唐地區(qū)已經(jīng)成為我國三大城市密集區(qū)。
The population of this city is above a hundred thousand.
該城市人口已超過10萬。
According to the research from McKinsey, by 2025, the report predicts that China will have 221 cities with more than a million inhabitants.
麥肯錫咨詢公司的研究報告預(yù)測，截至2025年，中國將有221個人口超百萬的城市。
Every year, about 13 million rural people flood into China's cities, equivalent to the current population of Beijing.
我國每年約有1300萬的農(nóng)村人口涌向城市，這個數(shù)字相當于現(xiàn)在整個北京市的人口。
Urbanization is speeding up throughout China, with half the 1.3 billion Chinese expected to live in cities in 2020.
隨著我國城市化進程的加快，預(yù)計到2020年，全國將有一半人口居住在城鎮(zhèn)。
The scale and pace of urbanization in China would continue at an unprecedented rate.
中國的城市化規(guī)模和進程仍將以前所未有的速度持續(xù)下去。
New urban systems are also taking shape in the country's smaller cities and towns, due to economic development and the absorption of surplus rural labor.
隨著我國城鎮(zhèn)經(jīng)濟的發(fā)展和吸納農(nóng)村剩余勞動力能力的增強，一些中小城鎮(zhèn)已經(jīng)開始形成新的城鎮(zhèn)體系。
China's mega-cities are swelling at an alarming rate; they cannot accommodate the numbers of people and the increasing strain on resources.
中國的超大城市規(guī)模的膨脹速度相當驚人，隨之而來的就是城市功能的不堪重負和對于各種資源消耗的增加。
Most citizens will prefer to live in a smaller city than a mega size one with millions of people; but they all want to have access to the same opportunities and services in the mega-cities.
許多市民都更喜歡住在一個小型的城市，而不是住在那種擠了百萬人口的大城市，但是他們?nèi)匀幌Ｍ玫侥切┰诖蟪鞘锌梢垣@得的相同的機會和服務(wù)。
More and more official and property developers are turning to the concept of eco-towns as populations' expansion and calls for sustainability in new construction grow louder.
隨著人口增長以及新建筑的可持續(xù)性呼聲的高漲，官員和房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商越來越趨向于采用生態(tài)城的理念。
Mary: Katherine, How about your holiday? Did you go anywhere?
瑪麗：凱瑟琳，假期過得怎么樣??？去哪里玩了？
Katherine: I visited the museum.
凱瑟琳：去了博物館。
Mary: Was there any interesting prohibition?
瑪麗：有什么有意思的展覽嗎？
Katherine: There were so many people that I could see nothing.
凱瑟琳：人太多了，什么都沒有看到。
Mary: Yeah, there are crowd of people everywhere in the city.
瑪麗：是啊，在城市里無論去什么地方都會有很多人。
Katherine: According to the prediction of authority, the total population of world cities will reach 9 billion till year 2075.
凱瑟琳：據(jù)權(quán)威部門預(yù)測，到2075年，世界城市人口將達到90億。
Mary: Really? That's horrible!
瑪麗：是嗎？那簡直太可怕了!
Katherine: Well, will you plan to find job and live here after graduation?
凱瑟琳：畢業(yè)后你也會留在這里工作和生活嗎？
Mary: I suppose I will. There are more opportunities in big cities, and the life here will be more colorful.
瑪麗：我想會的，大城市會有更多的機會，生活也更加豐富多彩。
Katherine: There are indeed many temptations and advantages in big cities, but the continuously increasing of population in urban cities will lead to plenty of inconvenience for our lives, the transport is included. More and more people in urban city own their private cars, which causes the everyday traffic jam. Most time are wasted on the way.
凱瑟琳：大城市確實有很多的誘惑和優(yōu)勢，但是城市人口的不斷增加會給我們的生活帶來很多不便，出行就是其中之一。城市里擁有私家車的人越來越多，交通擁堵天天發(fā)生，很多時間都將浪費在路上。
Mary: Our government should further improve the public transport facilities in order to release the traffic pressure.
瑪麗：政府應(yīng)該進一步完善公共交通設(shè)施從而緩解交通壓力。
Katherine: The public transport is also inconvenient, with tens of thousands of people crowd in the subway in peak time every day.
凱瑟琳：公共交通也不方便，每天高峰時期都有成千上萬人擠地鐵。
Mary: That's the truth.
瑪麗：的確如此。
Katherine: It is also uneasy to find an ideal job in urban city.
凱瑟琳：生活在城市里找個理想的工作也不容易。
Mary: One of my friends hasn't found a satisfied job since graduation two years ago.
瑪麗：我的一個朋友已經(jīng)畢業(yè)兩年了還沒有找到滿意的工作。
Katherine: In addition, owing to the expansion of urban population, the requirement for house increases constantly, which lead to the price increase. Even house renting has become a big burden.
凱瑟琳：另外，近些年來，由于城市人口不斷膨脹，對于住房的需求也不斷增加，導致了房價不斷上升，即使租房也變成了一種不小的負擔。
Mary: Is that mean you will not stay here after graduation?
瑪麗：那么你決定不留在這里了？
Katherine: Maybe. Compared with the colorful urban city, I prefer the cozy life.
凱瑟琳：或許吧，相對于五彩繽紛的城市，我更傾向于安逸的生活。
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