The Big Apple Bites Back
As images of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy were beamed into households worldwide, people were stunned to see New York City reduced to near chaos. Yet, as expected, the Big Apple is coming out swinging. As former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani observed, “The city has been through this before and . . . New York probably does it better than most.”
Founded as New Amsterdam in 1624, the city was originally a Dutch trading post but grew in stature as a port under British rule. Mass immigration from Europe saw the population surge and, by the 1920s, New York had surpassed London as the world's most populous city. These days, millions of visitors flock to the city annually, attracted by iconic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or luxury boutique-lined thoroughfares like Fifth Avenue. Other highlights include the Broadway theater district and Time Square, while the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim have art lovers in rapture.
As with any modern metropolis, New York is not without problems. Tourist areas are notoriously overcrowded, and Sandy exposed serious infrastructure problems with the antiquated subway system. On the plus side, efforts are being made to make the city greener, and one fascinating proposal is to develop part of the city's vast, unused underground space as a park.
紐約勢必遇水重生
當珊蒂颶風所造成的破壞景象傳到全球家家戶戶裡，大家都很驚訝看見紐約處於近乎混亂的狀態。然而一如預期，紐約正進行著捍衛之戰。如同前市長魯迪‧朱利安尼所觀察的：「這座城市以前曾挺了過來……紐約可能比大多數的城市做得更好。」
一六二四年創建時名為新阿姆斯特丹的紐約原本是荷蘭的貿易集散地，但在英國統治下茁壯為一座港口。大批來自歐洲的移民使得人口遽增，到了一九二○年代，紐約已超越倫敦，成為全球人口最多的城市。如今，每年都有數百萬名遊客湧入紐約，他們深受自由女神或奢華精品店林立的第五大道等著名地標所吸引。其他吸睛點包括百老匯劇院區和時代廣場，而現代藝術博物館與古根漢博物館則讓藝術愛好者欣喜若狂。
和任何一個現代大都市一樣，紐約也不是沒有問題。旅遊區是出了名的人滿為患，珊蒂颶風則突顯了老舊地鐵系統嚴重的基礎建設問題。在好的方面，市民正努力讓紐約更綠化，有個很棒的提案是將這座城市部分廣大且廢置的地下空間開發為公園。
資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報
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