2024年4月22日发(作者：长孙毅)
Skylines and Skyscrapers
1
John A. Kouwenhoven
1 Those engagedin discovering America often begin by discove
2
ring the Manhattan skyline
, and here as well as elsewhere they discover apparently
adj. 使用中的，忙碌的
n. 曼哈顿岛（美国的一个区 n. 地平线；空中轮廓线；
adv. 在别处；到别处 adv. 显然地；似
乎，表面上
irreconcilable
opposites. They notice at once that it doesn’t make any sense, in
human or aesthetic
terms. It is the product of insane
politics, greed, competitive ostentation
adj. 矛盾的；不能和解的；不能协调的
adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
[in'sein adj. 疯狂的；精神病的；极愚蠢的
[,ɔsten'teiʃən n. 卖弄；虚饰；虚有其表
, megalomania, the worship
of falsegods. Its products, in turn, are traffic jams, bad ven
tilation
, noise, and all the other ills that metropolitan
n. 崇拜；礼拜；尊敬
虚伪的；伪造的
[,venti'leiʃən] n. 通风设备；空气流通
[,metrə'pɔlitən adj. 大都市的；大主教辖区的；宗主国的
flesh is heir
to
3
. And the net result is, illogically
enough, one of the most exaltedly
exalted
beautiful things man
has ever made.
2 Perhaps this paradoxical [,pærə'dɔksikəl adj. 矛盾的；诡论的；似非
而是的
result will be less bewildering [bi'wildə vt. 使迷惑，使不知所措
n. 继承人；后嗣；嗣子
adv. 不合逻辑地
[eɡ'zɔ:ltid] adj. 高尚的；尊贵的；兴奋的
if we look for a moment at the formal and structural adj. 结构的；建
筑的
principles which are involved in the skyline. It may be helpful to c
onsider the skyline as we might consider a lyric ['lirik adj. 抒情的；
吟唱的poem, or a novel, if we were trying to analyze its aesthetic
[i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
quality.
3 Looked at in this way, it is clear that the total effect which we
call “the Manhattan skyline” is made up of almost innumerable adj.
无数的，数不清的
buildings, each in competition (for height, or glamour n. 魅力，魔力；
迷人的美
, or efficiency, or respectability n. 体面；可尊敬；有社会地位
) with all of the others. Each goes its own way, as it were, in a ca
rnival ['kɑ:nivəl n. 狂欢节，嘉年华会；饮宴狂of rugged adj.崎岖的；凹
凸不平的；结实的；崴['rʌɡid architectural individualism
n. 个人主义；利己主义；个人特征
4
. And yet as witness to the universal
adj. 普遍的；通用的；宇宙的；全世界的；全体的
feeling of exaltation n.兴奋，得意洋洋and aspiration
n. 渴望；抱负；呼气；吸引术
which the skyline as a whole evokes
out of this irrational, unplanned, and often infuriat
ing adj.令人大怒的chaos
, an unforeseen unity has evolved. No building ever bui
lt in New York was placed where it was, or shaped as it was, because
it would contribute to the aesthetic
[i'vəuk vt. 引起，唤起；博得
[i'ræʃənəl adj. 不合理的；无理性的；荒谬的
[ɪnˈfjʊərɪeɪtɪŋ 'keiɔs n. 混沌，混乱
vt. 发展，进化；进化；使逐步形成；推断
[i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
effect of the skyline-lifting it here, giving it mass there, or lend
ing a needed emphasis
. Each was built, all those now under construction are being built, w
ith no thought for their subordination
n. 重点；强调；加强语气
[sə,bɔ:di'neiʃən n. 从属；附属；［语］主从关系
to any over-all effect.
4 What, then, makes possible the fluid [ˈflu:ɪd]and
ever-changing unity which does, in fact, exist? Quite simply, there are
two things, both simple in themselves, which do the job. If they were not
simple, they would not work; but they are, and they do.
adj. 流动的；流畅的；不固定的
5 One is the gridiron n.（炙烤食物用的）烤架；美式橄榄球球场；船
架；火刑铁格pattern of the city’s streets — the same basic pattern
which accounts for说明（原因、理由等Denver
, Houston, Little Rock, Birmingham, and almost any American town you
can name, and the same pattern which, in the form of square townships
[ˈgrɪdˌaɪən
n. 丹佛（地名，美国城市）
n. 镇区；小镇
, sections
影响
n. 截面，节段；型材（section的复数
, and quarter
n. 四分之一；
sections, was imposed
vi. 利用；欺骗；施加
by the Ordinanceof 1785 on an almost continental scale. Wh
atever its shortcomings when compared with the “discontinuous street
patterns” of modern planned communities, this artificial geometric
'ɔ:dinəns] n. 条例 n. 规模
[dʒiə
u'metrik adj. 几何学的；几何学图形的
grid
[ɡrid] n. [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网
-imposed
upon the land without regard to contours
v. 欺骗（impose的过去分词）；把…强加于
['kɔntuə n. 轮廓；等高线；周线；电路；概要
or any preconceived adj.预想的，先入为主的pattern of social zon
ing
— had at least the quality of rationalsimplicity. And i
t is this simple gridiron船架street pattern which, horizontally adv.
水平地，横地, controls the spacing and arrangement of the rectangular
[ˌpri:kənˈsi:vd
n. （美）分区制；都市的区域划分
['ræʃənəl adj. 合理的；理性的
'rek'tæŋɡjulə adj. 矩形的；成直角的
shafts
which go to make up the skyline.
6 The other thing which holds the skyline’s diversity together is t
he structural principle of the skyscraper. When we think of individua
l buildings, we tend to think of details of texture
n. 拍杆；轴；箭杆；杆状物
n. 质地；纹理；结构；本质，实质
, color, and form, of surface ornamentation
[,ɔ:nəmen'teiʃən] n. 装饰物
or the lack of it. But as elements in Manhatten’s skyline, these th
ings are of little consequence. What matters there is the vertical
l adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的
['və:tikə
thrust, the motion
upward; and that is the product of cage or skeleton, constr
uction in steel — a system of construction which is, in effect, mere
ly a three-dimensional
variant
[θrʌst vt. 插；插入；推挤 n. 动作；移动；手势；请求；意向
['skelitən n. 骨架，骨骼
[di'menʃən adj. 空间的；尺寸的
['vεəriənt adj. 不同的；多样的
n. 变体；转化
of the gridiron street plan, extending
vt. 延伸；扩大；推广
vertically
adv. 垂直地
instead of horizontally.
7 The aesthetics
of cage, or skeleton, construction have never been fully anal
yzed, nor am I equipped to analyze them. But as a lay observer, I am
struckby fundamental differences between the effect
5
created by height in the RCA building at Radio ci
ty, for example, and the effect created by height in Chartres cathedr
al
6
or in Giotto’s
7
campanile. In both the latter (as in all the great
architecture of the past) proportion
and symmetry
, the relation of height to width
, are constituent
[i:s'θetiks] n. 美学；美的哲学
['skelitən n. 骨架，
v. 罢工，打，打击（strike的过去式和过去分词
abbr. 美国无线电公司（Radio Corporation of America
[kə'θi:drəl] n. 大教堂
n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
['simitri n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
n. 宽度；广度
[kən'stitjuənt n. 成分；选民；委托人
to the effect. One can say of a Gothic cathedral, “This tower is t
oo high”; of a Romanesque adj.罗马风格的dome
, “This is top-heavy.” But there is nothing inherent
[dəum n. 圆屋顶
adj. 固有的；内在的；与生俱来的，遗传的
in cage construction which would invite such judgments. A true skysc
raper like the RCA building could be eighteen or twenty stories
taller, or ten or a dozen stories shorter without changing its essent
ial aesthetic
effect. Once steel cage construction has passed a
certain height
, the effect of transitiveupward motion has been establishe
d; from there on, the point at which you cut it off is arbitrary
['skai,skreipə
adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
搜索
adj. 及物的；过渡的；可迁的
['ɑ:bitrəri adj.
任意的；武断的；专制的
and makes no difference.
8 Those who are familiar with the history of the skyscraper will re
member how slowly this fact was realized. Even Louis Sullivan — grea
test of the early skyscraper architects — thought in terms of having
to close off and climax
the upward motion of the tall building with an “attic” of co
rnice
. His lesser contemporariesworked for years on the blin
d掩饰；借口；assumption that the proportion
n. 高潮；顶点；层进法；极点
n. 阁楼；顶楼；[
['kɔ:nis n. 檐口，飞檐
n. 同龄，同辈人（contemporary复数形式
n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
and symmetry
of masonry
architecture must be preservedin the new technique. If with th
e steel cage one could go higher than with load-bearing masonry
n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
['meisənri n. 石工；石工行业；石造建筑
adj. 保藏的
n. 石工；石工行
业；石造建筑
walls, the old aesthetic
effects could be counterfeited v.仿制，造假（ counterfeit的过去分词 ）
by dressing the façade as if one or more buildings had been piled
n. 堆；大
量；建筑群
on top of another — each retaining n.保留，保持，维持防护the illusi
onof being complete in itself. You can still see such building
s in New York: the first five stories perhaps a Greco-Roman temple, t
he next ten a neuter
warehouse
, and the final five or six an Aztec pyramid
8
. And that Aztec pyramid
n. 幻觉，错觉；错误
n. 无性动物；中性名词；阉割动物adj. 中性的；
n. 仓库；货栈；大商店
n. 金字塔；角锥体
is simply a cheap and thoughtless equivalentof the more s
ubtle Sullivan cornice. Both structures attempt to close and climax
the upward thrust
adj. 等价的，相等的；同意义的
[θrʌst] vt. 插；插入；推挤
, to provide something similar to the Katharsis in Greek tragedy
悲剧；灾难；惨案
['trædʒidi n.
.
9 But the logic n.逻辑，逻辑学of cage construction requires no such
climax n.顶点，极点；. It has less to do with the inner logic
of masonry石工工程，砖瓦工工程；砖石建筑forms than with that of
the old Globe-Wernicke sectional bookcases, whose interchangeable
n. 逻辑；逻辑学；逻辑
性 [ˈmeɪsənri
adj. 可互换
的；可交换的；可交替的
units (with glass-flap fronts) anticipated
[æn'tisipeit adj. 预期的；期望的
by fifty years the modular
unit systems of so-called modern furniture. Those bookcases
['mɔdjulə adj. 模块化的；模数的；有标准组件的
, n. 书柜，书架
were advertised in the ‘nineties as “always complete but never fin
ished” — a phrase which could with equal propriety have been applie
d to the Model-T Ford. Many of us remember with affection
n. 喜爱，感情；影响；感染
that admirably simple mechanism
, forever susceptible
to added gadgets
or improved parts, each of which was interchangeable with what you
already had.
10 Here, then, are the two things which serve to tie together the ot
herwise irrelevantcomponents of the Manhattan skyline: the gr
idiron ground plan and the three-dimensional
verticalgridof steel cage construction.
And both of these are closely related to one another. Both are compo
sed
of simple and infinitely
repeatable units.
n. 机制；原理，途径；进程；机械装置；技巧
adj. 易受影响的；易感动的；容许…的
[gæ,dʒets n. 小配件；小工具（gadget的复数）
adj. 不相干的；不切题
adj. 空间的；尺寸的
'və:tikəl] adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的 . [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网
v. 组成；作曲（compose的过去分词）；著作
['infinitli adv. 无限地；极其
2024年4月22日发(作者：长孙毅)
Skylines and Skyscrapers
1
John A. Kouwenhoven
1 Those engagedin discovering America often begin by discove
2
ring the Manhattan skyline
, and here as well as elsewhere they discover apparently
adj. 使用中的，忙碌的
n. 曼哈顿岛（美国的一个区 n. 地平线；空中轮廓线；
adv. 在别处；到别处 adv. 显然地；似
乎，表面上
irreconcilable
opposites. They notice at once that it doesn’t make any sense, in
human or aesthetic
terms. It is the product of insane
politics, greed, competitive ostentation
adj. 矛盾的；不能和解的；不能协调的
adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
[in'sein adj. 疯狂的；精神病的；极愚蠢的
[,ɔsten'teiʃən n. 卖弄；虚饰；虚有其表
, megalomania, the worship
of falsegods. Its products, in turn, are traffic jams, bad ven
tilation
, noise, and all the other ills that metropolitan
n. 崇拜；礼拜；尊敬
虚伪的；伪造的
[,venti'leiʃən] n. 通风设备；空气流通
[,metrə'pɔlitən adj. 大都市的；大主教辖区的；宗主国的
flesh is heir
to
3
. And the net result is, illogically
enough, one of the most exaltedly
exalted
beautiful things man
has ever made.
2 Perhaps this paradoxical [,pærə'dɔksikəl adj. 矛盾的；诡论的；似非
而是的
result will be less bewildering [bi'wildə vt. 使迷惑，使不知所措
n. 继承人；后嗣；嗣子
adv. 不合逻辑地
[eɡ'zɔ:ltid] adj. 高尚的；尊贵的；兴奋的
if we look for a moment at the formal and structural adj. 结构的；建
筑的
principles which are involved in the skyline. It may be helpful to c
onsider the skyline as we might consider a lyric ['lirik adj. 抒情的；
吟唱的poem, or a novel, if we were trying to analyze its aesthetic
[i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
quality.
3 Looked at in this way, it is clear that the total effect which we
call “the Manhattan skyline” is made up of almost innumerable adj.
无数的，数不清的
buildings, each in competition (for height, or glamour n. 魅力，魔力；
迷人的美
, or efficiency, or respectability n. 体面；可尊敬；有社会地位
) with all of the others. Each goes its own way, as it were, in a ca
rnival ['kɑ:nivəl n. 狂欢节，嘉年华会；饮宴狂of rugged adj.崎岖的；凹
凸不平的；结实的；崴['rʌɡid architectural individualism
n. 个人主义；利己主义；个人特征
4
. And yet as witness to the universal
adj. 普遍的；通用的；宇宙的；全世界的；全体的
feeling of exaltation n.兴奋，得意洋洋and aspiration
n. 渴望；抱负；呼气；吸引术
which the skyline as a whole evokes
out of this irrational, unplanned, and often infuriat
ing adj.令人大怒的chaos
, an unforeseen unity has evolved. No building ever bui
lt in New York was placed where it was, or shaped as it was, because
it would contribute to the aesthetic
[i'vəuk vt. 引起，唤起；博得
[i'ræʃənəl adj. 不合理的；无理性的；荒谬的
[ɪnˈfjʊərɪeɪtɪŋ 'keiɔs n. 混沌，混乱
vt. 发展，进化；进化；使逐步形成；推断
[i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
effect of the skyline-lifting it here, giving it mass there, or lend
ing a needed emphasis
. Each was built, all those now under construction are being built, w
ith no thought for their subordination
n. 重点；强调；加强语气
[sə,bɔ:di'neiʃən n. 从属；附属；［语］主从关系
to any over-all effect.
4 What, then, makes possible the fluid [ˈflu:ɪd]and
ever-changing unity which does, in fact, exist? Quite simply, there are
two things, both simple in themselves, which do the job. If they were not
simple, they would not work; but they are, and they do.
adj. 流动的；流畅的；不固定的
5 One is the gridiron n.（炙烤食物用的）烤架；美式橄榄球球场；船
架；火刑铁格pattern of the city’s streets — the same basic pattern
which accounts for说明（原因、理由等Denver
, Houston, Little Rock, Birmingham, and almost any American town you
can name, and the same pattern which, in the form of square townships
[ˈgrɪdˌaɪən
n. 丹佛（地名，美国城市）
n. 镇区；小镇
, sections
影响
n. 截面，节段；型材（section的复数
, and quarter
n. 四分之一；
sections, was imposed
vi. 利用；欺骗；施加
by the Ordinanceof 1785 on an almost continental scale. Wh
atever its shortcomings when compared with the “discontinuous street
patterns” of modern planned communities, this artificial geometric
'ɔ:dinəns] n. 条例 n. 规模
[dʒiə
u'metrik adj. 几何学的；几何学图形的
grid
[ɡrid] n. [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网
-imposed
upon the land without regard to contours
v. 欺骗（impose的过去分词）；把…强加于
['kɔntuə n. 轮廓；等高线；周线；电路；概要
or any preconceived adj.预想的，先入为主的pattern of social zon
ing
— had at least the quality of rationalsimplicity. And i
t is this simple gridiron船架street pattern which, horizontally adv.
水平地，横地, controls the spacing and arrangement of the rectangular
[ˌpri:kənˈsi:vd
n. （美）分区制；都市的区域划分
['ræʃənəl adj. 合理的；理性的
'rek'tæŋɡjulə adj. 矩形的；成直角的
shafts
which go to make up the skyline.
6 The other thing which holds the skyline’s diversity together is t
he structural principle of the skyscraper. When we think of individua
l buildings, we tend to think of details of texture
n. 拍杆；轴；箭杆；杆状物
n. 质地；纹理；结构；本质，实质
, color, and form, of surface ornamentation
[,ɔ:nəmen'teiʃən] n. 装饰物
or the lack of it. But as elements in Manhatten’s skyline, these th
ings are of little consequence. What matters there is the vertical
l adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的
['və:tikə
thrust, the motion
upward; and that is the product of cage or skeleton, constr
uction in steel — a system of construction which is, in effect, mere
ly a three-dimensional
variant
[θrʌst vt. 插；插入；推挤 n. 动作；移动；手势；请求；意向
['skelitən n. 骨架，骨骼
[di'menʃən adj. 空间的；尺寸的
['vεəriənt adj. 不同的；多样的
n. 变体；转化
of the gridiron street plan, extending
vt. 延伸；扩大；推广
vertically
adv. 垂直地
instead of horizontally.
7 The aesthetics
of cage, or skeleton, construction have never been fully anal
yzed, nor am I equipped to analyze them. But as a lay observer, I am
struckby fundamental differences between the effect
5
created by height in the RCA building at Radio ci
ty, for example, and the effect created by height in Chartres cathedr
al
6
or in Giotto’s
7
campanile. In both the latter (as in all the great
architecture of the past) proportion
and symmetry
, the relation of height to width
, are constituent
[i:s'θetiks] n. 美学；美的哲学
['skelitən n. 骨架，
v. 罢工，打，打击（strike的过去式和过去分词
abbr. 美国无线电公司（Radio Corporation of America
[kə'θi:drəl] n. 大教堂
n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
['simitri n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
n. 宽度；广度
[kən'stitjuənt n. 成分；选民；委托人
to the effect. One can say of a Gothic cathedral, “This tower is t
oo high”; of a Romanesque adj.罗马风格的dome
, “This is top-heavy.” But there is nothing inherent
[dəum n. 圆屋顶
adj. 固有的；内在的；与生俱来的，遗传的
in cage construction which would invite such judgments. A true skysc
raper like the RCA building could be eighteen or twenty stories
taller, or ten or a dozen stories shorter without changing its essent
ial aesthetic
effect. Once steel cage construction has passed a
certain height
, the effect of transitiveupward motion has been establishe
d; from there on, the point at which you cut it off is arbitrary
['skai,skreipə
adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
搜索
adj. 及物的；过渡的；可迁的
['ɑ:bitrəri adj.
任意的；武断的；专制的
and makes no difference.
8 Those who are familiar with the history of the skyscraper will re
member how slowly this fact was realized. Even Louis Sullivan — grea
test of the early skyscraper architects — thought in terms of having
to close off and climax
the upward motion of the tall building with an “attic” of co
rnice
. His lesser contemporariesworked for years on the blin
d掩饰；借口；assumption that the proportion
n. 高潮；顶点；层进法；极点
n. 阁楼；顶楼；[
['kɔ:nis n. 檐口，飞檐
n. 同龄，同辈人（contemporary复数形式
n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
and symmetry
of masonry
architecture must be preservedin the new technique. If with th
e steel cage one could go higher than with load-bearing masonry
n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
['meisənri n. 石工；石工行业；石造建筑
adj. 保藏的
n. 石工；石工行
业；石造建筑
walls, the old aesthetic
effects could be counterfeited v.仿制，造假（ counterfeit的过去分词 ）
by dressing the façade as if one or more buildings had been piled
n. 堆；大
量；建筑群
on top of another — each retaining n.保留，保持，维持防护the illusi
onof being complete in itself. You can still see such building
s in New York: the first five stories perhaps a Greco-Roman temple, t
he next ten a neuter
warehouse
, and the final five or six an Aztec pyramid
8
. And that Aztec pyramid
n. 幻觉，错觉；错误
n. 无性动物；中性名词；阉割动物adj. 中性的；
n. 仓库；货栈；大商店
n. 金字塔；角锥体
is simply a cheap and thoughtless equivalentof the more s
ubtle Sullivan cornice. Both structures attempt to close and climax
the upward thrust
adj. 等价的，相等的；同意义的
[θrʌst] vt. 插；插入；推挤
, to provide something similar to the Katharsis in Greek tragedy
悲剧；灾难；惨案
['trædʒidi n.
.
9 But the logic n.逻辑，逻辑学of cage construction requires no such
climax n.顶点，极点；. It has less to do with the inner logic
of masonry石工工程，砖瓦工工程；砖石建筑forms than with that of
the old Globe-Wernicke sectional bookcases, whose interchangeable
n. 逻辑；逻辑学；逻辑
性 [ˈmeɪsənri
adj. 可互换
的；可交换的；可交替的
units (with glass-flap fronts) anticipated
[æn'tisipeit adj. 预期的；期望的
by fifty years the modular
unit systems of so-called modern furniture. Those bookcases
['mɔdjulə adj. 模块化的；模数的；有标准组件的
, n. 书柜，书架
were advertised in the ‘nineties as “always complete but never fin
ished” — a phrase which could with equal propriety have been applie
d to the Model-T Ford. Many of us remember with affection
n. 喜爱，感情；影响；感染
that admirably simple mechanism
, forever susceptible
to added gadgets
or improved parts, each of which was interchangeable with what you
already had.
10 Here, then, are the two things which serve to tie together the ot
herwise irrelevantcomponents of the Manhattan skyline: the gr
idiron ground plan and the three-dimensional
verticalgridof steel cage construction.
And both of these are closely related to one another. Both are compo
sed
of simple and infinitely
repeatable units.
n. 机制；原理，途径；进程；机械装置；技巧
adj. 易受影响的；易感动的；容许…的
[gæ,dʒets n. 小配件；小工具（gadget的复数）
adj. 不相干的；不切题
adj. 空间的；尺寸的
'və:tikəl] adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的 . [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网
v. 组成；作曲（compose的过去分词）；著作
['infinitli adv. 无限地；极其