摩天大樓競賽 比拼的不只是高度大綱

One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and currently fourth tallest in the world. Opened in November, this sleek skyscraper soars 1,776ft (541m) above Manhattan. Its height is a symbolic reference to the US Declaration of Independence in 1776.
世界貿易中心一號大樓是西半球最高的建築，也是世界第四高樓。該樓樓高1,776 ft（541 m），於去年11月份完工。1776英尺的高度是爲了紀念1776年簽訂的《美國獨立宣言》而設定的。

The name of the new building, designed by David Childs of Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM), was to have been ‘Freedom Tower’. This, after all, was the monumental skyscraper – the first designs were by Daniel Libeskind – commissioned to take the place of the Twin Towers destroyed by a terrorist attack executed by men who believe neither in life, liberty nor happiness.
這座摩天大樓由SOM建築事務所的大衛·查爾茲擔任主要設計，原稱“自由塔”。它是世界貿易中心在“911”襲擊事件遭到損毀後所重建的建築之一，建築師丹尼爾·裏伯斯金是世貿重建工程的總策劃人.

The new World Trade Center was also renamed to re-establish the idea that New York is one of the most important hubs of global trade, and because, as President Calvin Coolidge told the Society of American Newspaper Editors in January 1925, “the chief business of the American people is business”. He added, “Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence. But we are compelled to recognise it as a means to well-nigh every desirable achievement.”
新的世界貿易中心大樓改爲現在的名字是爲了重新確立，紐約是全球最重要的貿易中心之一。同時也因爲1925年1月時任美國總統的卡爾文·柯立芝曾說過：“美國人的首要事情是經商。當然積累財富並不能作爲生存的主要目的，但是我們卻必須認識到，它作爲一種方法幾乎可以是我們獲取任何想要的成就。”

Today, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, is in the Middle East. This elongated, latter day Tower of Babel is 828m (2,722ft) high. From its vertiginous viewing galleries visitors look down on the great commercial city spread below them and across to the seemingly boundless dunes of the Empty Quarter.
如今世界上的第一高樓是位於中東迪拜的哈利法塔，這座細長的、像是現代巴別塔的摩天大樓高828米（2722英尺）。從令人眩暈的觀景臺上，遊客可以看到這個商業城市的全貌，甚至可以看到魯卜哈利沙漠無邊無際的沙丘。

And, as if to reinforce the point that towers and trade bring peoples together, the Burj Khalifa was designed by SOM, architects of One World Trade Center.
而且，似乎是爲了有意強調高塔和貿易能將人們連在一起，哈利法塔的設計也是SOM建築事務所完成的，這跟世界貿易中心一號大樓一樣。

There are, though, other reasons to build so very high, and competition is perhaps chief among them. When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, designed by the Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki were completed in 1971, they were the tallest buildings in the United States. Not for long. In 1973, SOM completed the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in Chicago, at 1,451-ft (442m). New York and Chicago have long been commercial rivals: the race to see which of them could build higher than the other has been going on since the mid-19th Century.
當然，大樓越蓋越高還有其他的原因，其中最主要的一個就是“競爭”。由美籍日裔建築師山崎實設計、1971年完工的世貿中心雙子塔是當時美國最高的大樓。可不久之後，1973年，由SOM建築事務設計完成的位於芝加哥的希爾斯大廈以442米（1451英尺）的高度成爲了第一。紐約和芝加哥一直以來都是商業競爭對手：從19世紀中期開始兩地就爭相建造超越對方的高樓。

For many decades, the tallest building not just in the United States but in the world was the Empire State Building. Rising above midtown Manhattan during the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was a symbol of better days to come. It even survived an aircraft crashing into it – a B-25 Mitchell bomber lost in fog – in July 1945.
美國紐約的帝國大廈曾在幾十年的時間裏一直都是美國也是全世界最高的建築。它於20世紀三十年代的大蕭條時期在曼哈頓落成後，成爲美國經濟復甦的象徵。1945年6月經歷飛機撞擊後依然倖存。

Today, the People’s Republic of China boasts hundreds of skyscrapers (usually defined as buildings more than 500ft (152 m) tall. The skyline of Pudong, Shanghai’s new commercial centre, is a forest of extravagant skyscrapers and when it opens in 2015, the twisting Shanghai Tower, designed by the US firm Gensler, with Jun Xia, as lead architect, will be the world’s second tallest building at 2,073ft (632m).
現如今，中國也有越來越多的摩天大樓（一般指高度在152米以上的大樓）拔地而起。在浦東新區這個上海市的新商業中心裏，高樓林立，即將投入使用的螺旋式建築--上海中心大廈樓高632米（2073英尺），將成爲世界第二高樓，該樓由美國Gensler公司設計，夏軍擔任主要設計師。The Chinese are likely to want to go much higher than this. Oil-rich Middle Eastern states, kingdoms and emirates are competing with China, while other countries keen to display newfound wealth have joined in this slightly inane numbers game. Where will it all end?
中國人可能還想要建更高的樓。而石油儲備豐富的中東國家正在與中國相互競爭，其他一些熱衷於“炫富”的國家也加入了這場幾乎毫無意義的競爭遊戲。什麼時候是個頭呢？

After the Burj Khalifa and the Shanghai Tower, the world’s third tallest building is the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower. The Mecca tower, designed by Dar Al-Handasah architects, is 1,972ft (601m) high. Clearly, the upward look to the heavens, along with ambition, competition and trade, remain the driving forces behind a building type that will aim ever higher in the 21st Century and beyond.
排在哈利法塔和上海中心大廈之後的世界第三高樓是麥加皇家鐘塔，高度爲601米（1972英尺）。顯然，跟隨摩天大樓一起聳入雲霄的還有人們的勃勃雄心，貿易的競爭、財富的積累都會推動着21世紀的摩天大樓越建越高。