新西兰英语 471 Christchurch Design Challenge

 　　More than 100 architects¹ and other designers² spent 48 hours designing a new Christchurch city. It was a team competition. Five zones in the central city were chosen. Each zone had three or four teams working on it. Each team had five or six people. They were city designers, landscape designers, design engineers and architects and they came from around New Zealand and overseas³. They started at midday⁴ on Friday and had to finish at midday today.

　　One member from each team was taken into the red zone to see the area. These are the five areas: The Square in the centre of the city, two areas in Gloucester St and one in Armagh St including Victoria Square, and a large empty piece of land in Colombo St where the old Women’s Hospital used to be.

　　Then the teams worked for 48 hours. Some didn’t sleep. Everyone drank a lot of coffee to stay awake. They had one eye on the computer and one eye on the clock.

　　A group of architects will judge which team is the winner.

　　Christchurch city hopes some good ideas will help with the city plan which will be ready in August. Already the council⁵ is looking at 90,000 ideas from the “Share an Idea” weekend and website. However, these design experts might have more creative ideas. Henry Ford⁶ once said, “If you had asked people what (transport) they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses’. Sometimes you need people who have more imagination. This is called ‘thinking outside the square’.

　　Listen to May 15 2011 to hear more about ‘Share an Idea’.

　　Questions

　　Nobody was paid to do this 48 hour design challenge⁷. Why would people want to do it? Was it to help Christchurch? If they don’t win, what do they gain from it?

　　Do you think it is too soon to re-design Christchurch city because there are still after-shocks? Some of the after-shocks cause more damage.

　　Grammar

　　Note: spend time doing / designing / working /playing/ enjoying

　　Vocabulary

　　What do architects do? What do landscape designers do? What do city planners do?

1 architects   

n.建筑师( architect的名词复数 )；设计师；缔造者；创造者

参考例句：

• He was one of the principal architects of the revolution. 他是那次革命的主要发动者之一。
• He was one of the architects of the republic. 他是这个共和国的缔造者之一。 来自辞典例句

2 designers   

n.设计师( designer的名词复数 )；图案设计师；打样师；制图员

参考例句：

• Have you seen that article about young fashion designers? 你见到了关于年轻时装设计师的那篇文章没有？
• Every moment of the fashion industry's misery is richly deserved by the designers and magazine poltroons who perpetuate this absurd creation. 时装工业每一个痛苦的时刻都是完全应该被时装设计师们…和那些使这种荒诞创造永久化的杂志懦夫领受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 overseas   

adj.海外的；adv.在海外

参考例句：

• Her man has been sent overseas by his employers.她的丈夫已被雇主派往海外。
• Many firms are focusing on increasing their markets overseas.许多商行都专注于扩大国外市场。

4 midday   

n.正午，中午；adj.正午的

参考例句：

• It is now past midday.现在已过中午了。
• I awoke to bright sunlight filling my room.It was already midday.我一醒来就看见屋里阳光灿烂，原来已是中午了。

5 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

6 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

7 challenge   

n.挑战；v.向...挑战

参考例句：

• The job doesn't really challenge him.这项工作不能真正地考验他。
• She looked at me with challenge.她带着挑战的目光看着我。