介绍:
一直以来，伦敦都是欧洲的顶级都市，英语是通用语言，出入境便利，同时那里还是创意和资讯的源头，许多人视其为第二故乡。然而新冠疫情爆发之后，情况似乎发生了变化，有人认为，伦敦作为全球一线城市的地位，可能受到挑战。伦敦地位为何受到影响？哪些城市有可能威胁伦敦？今明两天，冰彬老师会分上下两期对这篇文章进行讲解，一起进入今天的讲解。
英文原文
The triple threat to London's city top spot
伦敦顶级城市地位面临三重威胁
By Simon Kuper
One of the things I miss most during the pandemic is London. About once a month in the old days, I'd go from waking up in Paris to having morning coffee with someone in Soho.
疫情期间，伦敦是最让我怀念的事物之一。以前每个月都有那么一天，我会在巴黎的清晨醒来，接着前往伦敦的苏豪区(Soho)，与朋友喝一杯晨间咖啡。
London was an incomparable one-stop shop for ideas and information. On one of my last trips, I spent the morning at a tech conference at St Pancras, then walked across the Euston Road to attend an academic seminar on rhetoric. I'd return from the typical 36-hour London visit dizzy from everything I'd heard.
伦敦像一个无与伦比的一站式商店，出售满满的创意和丰富的资讯。在我最后几趟伦敦之旅中，有一次，我上午在圣潘克拉斯开科技会议，然后步行穿过尤斯顿路，去参加一场关于修辞学的学术研讨会。在结束典型的36小时伦敦之行、重返巴黎时，我听到的大量信息常常让我头晕目眩。
But now the city faces a triple whammy of Covid-19, Brexit and the rise of English-language alternatives.
如今，这座城市遭遇了三重打击：新冠疫情，英国脱欧以及其他说英语城市的崛起。
Language was London's biggest advantage over its European rivals. The world's lingua franca acted as an equaliser, allowing Germans, Chinese, Americans, Pakistanis and the odd Brit to share friction-free coffees.
与欧洲的竞争对手相比，语言曾是伦敦的最大优势。作为世界通用语言，英语缩小了不同母语者的距离，让德国人、中国人、美国人、巴基斯坦人，有时还有少数英国人可以一起无障碍地边喝咖啡边聊天。
A decade ago, there might have been no obvious European substitute for London. Now, cities like Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and even bits of Paris have become quasi-bilingual business hubs.
十年前，也许欧洲没有明显能替代伦敦的城市。而如今，像柏林、哥本哈根、阿姆斯特丹，甚至是巴黎这样的城市，都已成为准双语商业中心。
The new UK-EU trade deal does little for London. The British negotiations were conducted as much for the benefit of tabloid newspapers as for the economy, which is why the government prioritised fish over finance.
And though working from home threatens all cities, it disproportionately threatens London. There's still nowhere else in Europe with more expensive housing or public transport, or more draining journeys to work. Many London companies, eager to cut office costs, are happy to let staff stay home long-term.
London won't fade away, obviously. But the next set of tech or architecture firms, or multinationals looking to open a European headquarters, will find London's offer less enticing.
If you think London's role as a cosmopolitan ideas hub is guaranteed, remember that a century ago, Vienna, Constantinople, even Alexandria were cosmopolitan ideas hubs too. Places like that are always fragile, partly because cosmopolitans quickly move on to the next hub. The London I miss might be gone for ever.
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