Dealing with Growth

　　In a world today of immense1 technology， population growth and economic flourish2， planning for future residential and commercial developments needs careful analysis with well thought through assumptions3 about effects on the environment and the people of the community.

　　One example of a growing city， residentially and commercially， is Wooster， Ohio， my place of residency. Wooster in the last five years has grown considerably4 in population， leading to a growth in commercial business. Surrounded by farmland， Wooster's planning commission chose to extend the community into these farm areas in the form of residential and commercial areas.

　　Picture this――a quiet， peaceful， old farmhouse with a barn， fixed appropriately on the outskirts5 of a city of about twenty thousand. Corn fields， old trees， clean air， country roads， and wildlife are all part of the area. Within four years， the people living on this farm step outside on their front porch6 to view an extensive shopping center containing Wal-Mart， JC Penny， Elder-Beerman's， Lowe's， McDonalds， Wendy's， TCBY， and a Cinemark movie theater.

　　The once quiet road is now a city street with traffic lights， busy with automobiles day and evening. The air smells of car exhaust7 and fast food.

　　Some destruction of farm land is unavoidable when a city expands.Instead of expanding outward， planning 　　commissions should consider interior remodeling8 of a city. Tearing down9 unusable10 buildings could remodel many areas inside the city. In addition， commercialized buildings could extend upwards to avoid unnecessary use of land.

　　I also question the necessity of these commercial businesses. For example， Wooster now has three McDonalds， two Wendy's， two Hardy's， Burger King and a Taco11 Bell. In a town of twenty thousand people， this many fast food restaurants seem extremely unnecessary. When a community is introduced to a large amount of nationwide commercial businesses， the community loses its uniqueness， loses small private owned businesses， and becomes a mirror image of every other average city.

　　Environmentally， commercial expansion is detrimental12 to the land. Besides forms of pollution， wildlife， including both plants and animals， is put at risk.

　　A 300-year-old oak tree was cut down in 1994 in the north end of Wooster so a street could be widened. A planning commission could realize the benefits of an historic tree and refuse to allow its destruction. Why not retain13 the beauty and naturalness14 of the land while at the same time allowing for growth？

　　Many developments of homes have been established in the past five years in Wooster. These homes are similar in style， causing a uniformity15 in appearance of new neighborhoods. Planning commissions should avoid uniformity in neighborhoods and allow for a combination16 of styles for homes.

　　Many older homes located in downtown17 areas that have become decrepit18 could be replaced by newer homes， thus saving the surrounding farmland and trees. With the transition from old， run-down19 homes to contemporary homes， the city as whole would be improved in appearance and cleanliness. Neglecting what a community already has is a factor in planning that should change.

　　With a steady growth of population and the need for more homes and more work places， many problems arise when planning for the future. The hillsides， fields， animal habitats and forests need to be preserved while expanding cities. In the future， a world covered with concrete20 and asphalt21 could become reality. Serious research and analysis are needed when planning for the future of our home communities and for the entire globe to avoid such a tragedy.

　　當(dāng)今世界無(wú)窮盡的技術(shù)、人口的增長(zhǎng)、經(jīng)濟(jì)的繁榮，對(duì)未來(lái)居民區(qū)和商業(yè)區(qū)的發(fā)展規(guī)劃需要謹(jǐn)慎的分析，要充分設(shè)想其對(duì)環(huán)境與社區(qū)居民所造成的影響。

　　一個(gè)居住與商業(yè)都快速發(fā)展的城市的實(shí)例就是我所生活的地方――俄亥俄州的伍斯特。在過去的五年中，伍斯特人口劇增，促進(jìn)了其商業(yè)的發(fā)展。由于它被農(nóng)田所包圍，于是伍斯特規(guī)劃委員會(huì)選擇了將社區(qū)向農(nóng)場(chǎng)擴(kuò)展的這樣一種居民區(qū)與商業(yè)區(qū)模式。

　　請(qǐng)想象一下這種情景：一個(gè)安靜祥和、帶有谷倉(cāng)的舊式農(nóng)舍，恰當(dāng)?shù)匕才旁谝粋€(gè)擁有兩萬(wàn)人口的城市的郊區(qū)。玉米地、老樹、清潔的空氣、鄉(xiāng)村公路以及野生動(dòng)植物都是這個(gè)地區(qū)的組成部分。短短的四年間，生活在這個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)的居民走出家門，映入眼簾的卻是大型的購(gòu)物中心，包括沃爾瑪特、JC便士、老比爾曼、洛沃斯、麥當(dāng)勞、溫迪斯、TCBY以及辛馬克電影院。

　　曾經(jīng)寧?kù)o的道路現(xiàn)在成為了一條交通燈林立、從早到晚都車水馬龍的都市街道。空氣中彌漫著汽車的廢氣以及快餐的味道。

　　當(dāng)一座城市擴(kuò)張時(shí)，對(duì)農(nóng)田部分的破壞是不可避免的。規(guī)劃委員會(huì)應(yīng)當(dāng)考慮城市內(nèi)部改造而不是向外擴(kuò)張。拆掉那些不合用的樓房能夠改建市區(qū)的許多地方。此外，商業(yè)大樓可以向高處延伸以避免不必要地占用土地。

　　而且，我對(duì)建設(shè)這些商業(yè)設(shè)施的必要性也心存疑慮。比方說，伍斯特現(xiàn)在有三家麥當(dāng)勞、兩家溫迪斯、兩家哈代斯、漢堡王以及一家貝爾煎玉米卷。在一個(gè)人口僅有兩萬(wàn)的城鎮(zhèn)，這么多快餐館似乎極其不必要。當(dāng)一個(gè)社區(qū)有了大量的全國(guó)性的商業(yè)設(shè)施后，該社區(qū)便失去了其特色，丟掉了自己小型的私有生意，變成了其他一般城市的翻版。

　　環(huán)境上，商業(yè)擴(kuò)展對(duì)土地是有害的。除了各種污染外，野生物種，包括動(dòng)物和植物都面臨著危險(xiǎn)。

　　1994年在伍斯特北端，一棵300年樹齡的櫟樹被砍掉以加寬一條街。規(guī)劃委員會(huì)是能夠認(rèn)識(shí)到一棵具有歷史意義的古樹的益處而拒絕對(duì)它的損毀的。為什么不能在允許發(fā)展的同時(shí)保留土地的美麗和自然特色呢？

　　在過去的五年中，伍斯特開發(fā)了許多家庭住宅項(xiàng)目。這些住宅風(fēng)格雷同，形成了外觀一樣的新住宅區(qū)。規(guī)劃委員會(huì)應(yīng)該避免這種雷同并允許住宅風(fēng)格的多樣化。

　　位于城區(qū)的許多年久失修的老房可以被新居取代，這樣就可以拯救四周的農(nóng)田和樹木。隨著老房、危房被改造成現(xiàn)代住宅，整個(gè)城市將面目一新、干凈整潔。漠視一個(gè)社區(qū)已經(jīng)擁有的東西是規(guī)劃委員會(huì)必須改變的一點(diǎn)。

　　隨著人口的逐步增長(zhǎng)以及人們對(duì)更多住宅與工作場(chǎng)所的需求，未來(lái)的規(guī)劃中會(huì)出現(xiàn)許多問題。在城市擴(kuò)展時(shí)，山坡、田野、動(dòng)物棲息地以及森林需要得到保護(hù)。在未來(lái)，由混凝土和瀝青覆蓋著的世界會(huì)可能成為現(xiàn)實(shí)。因此，在規(guī)劃我們的居住社區(qū)以及全球的未來(lái)時(shí)，我們需要認(rèn)真研究與分析，以避免這種悲劇的發(fā)生。

　　注釋：

　　1.immense adj.巨大的

　　2.flourish n.繁榮

　　3.assumption n.假定，假設(shè)

　　4.considerably adv.相當(dāng)大地

　　5.outskirt n.市郊，郊區(qū)

　　6.porch n.門廊，走廊，陽(yáng)臺(tái)

　　7.exhaust n.廢氣

　　8.remodel vt.改造，改建

　　9.teardown拆毀

　　10.unusable adj.不可用的

　　11.taco n.墨西哥煎玉米卷

　　12.detrimental adj.有害的

　　13.retain vt.保留，保持

　　14.naturalness n.自然

　　15.uniformity n.一樣，一致

　　16.combination n.結(jié)合

　　17.downtown adj.（城鎮(zhèn)的）商業(yè)區(qū)的，鬧市區(qū)的

　　18.decrepit adj.破舊的，失修的

　　19.run-down adj.失修的，破敗的

　　20.concrete adj.混凝土的

　　21.asphalt n.瀝青，柏油

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