万花筒 Kaleidoscope2007-09-25&09-26, 把停车场变成公园

Hi, come have a seat, take a break, you guys deserve a break. Come have a seat; come joining me for a minute. It started in San Francisco, I think a couple of years ago and it soon spreaded across the country and it’s just a day when people are taking over parking spots and turning them into mini-parks.

It’s kind of a vision of what the city would be like if there are fewer cars and just more space for people to relax and hang out and meet each other, and you know, get to know the neighborhood. Hi, there, come have a seat in our park, we have a lovely park here today.

Here we have some sod and a bench and a tree, eh, just to make it a little urban park in this oasis¹ for a standing² in Time Square. So it’s um, a bright and bold contrast against the city lights and the grey asphalt and the cars parked around us. Come back later when you find a good place to park and join us.

We had a very mixed reaction, mainly positive. A lot of people are incredulous, they can’t really understand what they are seeing. Um, many people are who are busy just going off on their day but a lot have come back during their lunch-hour and stop to see what we are doing in the afternoon. Having more greenery, and having more parks is a good thing for your body , for the health and mainly for stress and well-being³ coz you get to feed the soul.

This one day is really about visibility for city parks, um, but for the Trust for Public Land is something that’s going on 365 days a year as we try to build more city parks and protect land before it vanishes to development
Happy Park Day! Happy Park Day!
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sod: Surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
oasis: A shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary
asphalt: A dark bituminous substance found in natural beds and as residue from petroleum distillation; consists mainly of hydrocarbons

1 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。