Ask people what makes a neighbourhood comfortable and many will not mention parks or shopping centres. They will mention small things: whether there is a place to buy vegetables, where a child can read after school, and how far an old parent must walk for a hot meal. Last Sunday, China Central Television reported that more than ninety per cent of cities at the prefecture level and above are now building what are called fifteen-minute life circles. Every resident should be able to finish the ordinary errands of a day within a quarter of an hour of walking.
The work is not really about building new roads. It is about filling the gaps that residents feel. In Changsha county, an unused office block became a shared space where children join reading and art classes. In Tianjin, low-cost canteens cook meals and deliver them to elderly people who cannot leave home easily. In Beijing, one street turned a line of small shops into a silver street, mixing medical care with culture and shopping. In Wuhan, older commercial space reopened as neighbourhood centres offering sport, health checks and places to sit and talk.
What makes these projects different from older city plans is where the ideas come from. Before rebuilding the Beijing street, workers handed out questionnaires and collected more than eight thousand suggestions from people living around it. They then picked out the ones mentioned most often and started there. A reader who has watched such projects fail will know that a swimming pool nobody asked for can sit empty for years, while a bench beside the bus stop is used every single day. Asking first costs almost nothing and saves a great deal.
So far, more than nine thousand five hundred circles have been built, serving over one hundred and ninety million residents. None of this is spectacular. It produces no great engineering record and no dramatic photo. Yet it quietly decides how much of a day is spent on living rather than on travelling, and that may be the most practical kind of progress a city can offer.
Words to know:
- resident (居民)
- errand (跑腿的事；杂事)
- elderly (上了年纪的)
- canteen (食堂)
- suggestion (建议)
- silver (银色的；（此处）面向老年人的)
- spectacular (壮观的；引人注目的)
长难句拆解 · 并列宾语从句 · whether…, where…, and how far…
冒号后面是三个并列的宾语从句，分别由 whether、where、how far 引导，都作 mention 的宾语，只是把 mention 省略了不说第二遍。 whether 表示「有没有、是否」，where 表示地点，how far 表示距离，三者都是英文里常见的名词性从句引导词。 how far an old parent must walk for a hot meal 中，must walk 是谓语，for a hot meal 是目的状语，直译是「为了一顿热饭要走多远」。 直译：他们会提到一些小事：有没有地方买菜，孩子放学后能在哪里看书，年迈的父母为了一顿热饭要走多远。
长难句拆解 · what 引导的主语从句 · What makes… is…
句子的主语不是 these projects，而是整个从句 What makes these projects different from older city plans，意思是「让这些项目与过去的城市规划不同的地方」。what 在从句里充当主语。 系动词 is 后面接的是表语从句 where the ideas come from，表示「点子是从哪里来的」。 英语里常用「What… is…」这种结构把重点放到句末，翻译成中文时通常要先说「……的地方在于……」，语序是反过来的。 直译：使这些项目不同于过去的城市规划的，是这些想法来自哪里。
同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器
下面每组左边是原文表达，右边是可以在写作和阅读中互换的说法，点一下即可自测。
- the ordinary errands of a day → the everyday chores of daily life → errand 指跑腿办的杂事
- within a quarter of an hour of walking → a short walk away / no more than fifteen minutes on foot → 描述距离与时间的常用替换
- It is about filling the gaps that residents feel → It aims to cover what local people still lack → fill the gaps 表示补空缺
- turned a line of small shops into a silver street → changed a row of small stores into a street for older people → turn A into B，名词短语可整体替换
- sorted out the ones mentioned most often → picked out the issues raised most frequently → sort out 在这里是「挑出、理清」
- costs almost nothing and saves a great deal → is very cheap and prevents much waste → a great deal 表示「大量」
- spectacular → impressive and exciting to look at → 反义词式替换，写作中常用
阅读自测 · 3 题
- True / False / Not Given: Every city in China has now finished building its fifteen-minute life circles.
- Short answer: What did workers do before renovating the street in Beijing?
- Short answer: Why does the writer mention the empty swimming pool and the busy bench?
参考答案与解析
- False。原文说 more than ninety per cent of cities are now building，即「九成以上城市正在建设」，题目把「正在建设」换成「已经完成」，还把「九成以上」改成「每一座城市」，属于典型的偷换结论加扩大范围。
- They handed out questionnaires and collected more than eight thousand suggestions from local residents. 依据是 Before renovating the Beijing street, workers handed out questionnaires and collected more than eight thousand suggestions。
- To show that asking residents first saves money and prevents waste, because a facility nobody asked for may stay empty. 依据是最后一段 Asking first costs almost nothing。注意干扰项常写成「因为游泳池很贵」，那是把重点偷换成成本，而原文强调的是「先问再做」。
中文译文
如果问人们什么让一个社区住得舒服，很多人不会提公园，也不会提商场。他们会提一些小事：有没有地方买菜，孩子放学后能在哪里看书，年迈的父母要走多远才能吃上一顿热饭。上周日，中国中央电视台报道，全国超过九成的地级及以上城市正在建设所谓「一刻钟便民生活圈」。换句话说，每一位居民都应该能在步行十五分钟的范围内，办完一天里那些平常的琐事。
这项工作其实并不是修新马路，而是补上居民感受到的缺口。在长沙县，一处闲置的办公楼变成了共享空间，孩子们放学后可以参加阅读和美术课。在天津，平价食堂把饭做好，送到那些出门不方便的老人家里。在北京，有一条街道把一排小店变成了一条银发金街，把医养服务和文化体验、购物串在一起。在武汉，社区原有的商业空间重新开放为邻里中心，提供运动、健康检查以及可以坐下来聊天的地方。
这些项目与过去的城市规划不同的地方，在于点子是哪里来的。在改造北京那条街道之前，工作人员发放了问卷，从附近居民那里收集到八千多条建议。然后他们把提到最多的问题梳理出来，从那几件事做起。看过这类项目失败的读者都知道，一个没人要求的游泳池可能空上好几年，而公交站旁的一张长椅每天都有人用。先问一句几乎不花什么成本，却能省下很多。
到目前为止，全国已建设九千五百多个生活圈，服务社区居民超过一亿九千万人。这些事一点都不壮观。它不创造什么工程纪录，也拍不出震撼的照片。但它悄悄决定了一天里有多少时间花在生活上、而不是花在路上，而这或许正是一座城市能提供的最实在的进步。