英伦广角 Issue 101 生态型城镇

Today the government announced a shortlist of 15 locations for so-called eco-towns. That is new towns built according to environmental principles. It sounds fine. But what would it actually be like to live in one? Helene Cacace has been to the town of Freiberg in southern Germany, where some districts are run on strictly¹ eco-town principles.

A picture of tranquility, Vauban, a suburb of Freiberg, is a close-knit community with super-efficient homes, grassy² rooftops, solar panels and a multitude of recycling bins³. Calm streets with trams and bicycles, the uber end of eco-living in every respect.

Is this the kind of place Gordon Brown envisages⁴, with its energy-efficient homes, its car-free zones, and its environmentally-conscious community? In one of its eco-houses, it only takes the energy of a light bulb to keep warm. The single radiator⁵ has never been used. Thick insulation⁶ retains heat generated by the bodies of the family, even honey the guinea pig contributes. But is this community living as simple and effective as it seems?

It’s a good decision to bring the people in together that they have to talk to each other and to, um, get this community feeling, that they are more responsible for everything they do. And that’s the way it works here. So it’s positive, but it’s also negative because you have to do it even if you don’t like it. These rules, that’s like it is, you also have to follow them because of people, yeah, they are (Germany) they want that to act like they want.

stiff fines for those who disobey.

 

Discipline stretches beyond recycling. Some schools have a policy for children to play outside for 3 hours a day come rain or shine. Music teacher Almut Schuster is head of the Stadtteilverein, or Residents Association.

In some parts of the neighborhood, it’s certainly there are rules about the traffic and cars that have to be kept. Um, yeah, for example we also have to sign a contract that we don’t use up a car regularly and don’t own a car. We are used to the car-sharing, which is very nice thing. But this we really have to keep.

For those who skirt the rules, beware, the Auto–frei Verein, the car-free society is watching. I mean, I don’t know whether you talk to somebody of that Auto–frei Verein, they have certain ways how they can sue people, or find out, and, you know.

The British government is particularly keen on following the model of traffic restrictions⁷. Here if you want to keep your wheels, it costs 1,500 pounds for the permit. We ask Vauban's chief architect what he thinks of the government’s plans for eco-towns in Britain.

When you just look on these 5 towns, 8 years, maybe 10 years, maybe 12 years, you just look on these 5 little towns and you lose everything else. And the British, I think the British love their, their past. They don’t dare to touch these old houses, these old landscape. All these old things. They love the past and they live in the past.

British ministers hold up the Freiburg template, but really it’s not so much an eco-town as an eco-suburb. And it’s held together by everyone’s agreement to abide⁸ by some pretty strict rules. Time will tell exactly how sustainable the eco-towns project will be when it's exported to the anarchic British.

Helene Cacace, More4 News, southwest Germany

1 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

2 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

3 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

4 envisages   

想像，设想( envisage的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The board envisages that there will be a high profit. 董事会预期将会获得高额利润。
• The paper reviews and envisages the development trend of carbon electrode. 本文对炭电极的发展方向做了回顾与展望。

5 radiator   

n.暖气片，散热器

参考例句：

• The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
• Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

6 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。