VOA标准英语2012--Stubborn Holdouts Trip Up Land Developers

Stubborn Holdouts Trip Up Land Developers

 

Before a big office complex or housing subdivision can be built, the developer must acquire all the land on which the buildings will rise. Sometimes this means buying up a lot of small parcels of land at the site.

Such purchases are usually handled quietly, because if word gets out, the landowners could raise the price they’re asking for their property. 

Occasionally people won't sell at all - at any price. Many of these "spikes¹," as stubborn holdouts are called in the real-estate trade, are the classic "little old ladies" - or men - who just can't bear to part with their homes or small businesses. They hold onto their places, which are called “nail houses” - as in, “stubborn as a nail.”

Here’s a classic example. In the 1960s, the Disney Company secretly bought up 11,000 hectares in central Florida for a mega-theme park. But two families simply would not sell their chunks² of swampland. So Disney had to re-route a huge drainage canal around them, and both individually owned properties intrude³ into the Walt Disney World theme park to this day.

And a few years ago, a Washington, D.C., man refused multimillion-dollar offers for the two-story townhouse that he used as his architect's office. So the developer's earth-movers gouged⁴ a deep crater⁵ around three sides of him.

The holdout owner said that once the new office towers rose around him, he’d open a pizzeria. Skeptics pointed⁶ out he'd have to sell a lot of pizzas to equal the millions of dollars he'd been offered. 

The pizza place never opened, and last year the owner put the property up for sale at less than half of what developers had offered him. We’re not sure whether he found a buyer. 

What can a developer do to pry⁷ loose these stubborn spikes? Some get help from the local or state government, which classifies the project as "urban redevelopment." That way, officials have the authority, under the laws of what’s called “eminent domain,” to force a holdout to sell and move. 

But if developers cannot get the government involved, filing suit against holdouts can sometimes convince them to give up. The builders have more money to pay lawyers than most individual property owners. 

Then again, many a company has learned the hard way that it can be a very bad idea to take a little old lady to court. She and her tiny nail house in the midst of skyscrapers⁸ can make a powerful impression on a judge or jury.

1 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

3 intrude   

vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰

参考例句：

• I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
• I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。

4 gouged   

v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• The lion's claws had gouged a wound in the horse's side. 狮爪在马身一侧抓了一道深口。
• The lovers gouged out their names on the tree. 情人们把他们的名字刻在树上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 pry   

vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起)

参考例句：

• He's always ready to pry into other people's business.他总爱探听别人的事。
• We use an iron bar to pry open the box.我们用铁棍撬开箱子。

8 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。