背景知识
早期的新加坡人，住在木质的亚答屋里，大约20-30户人家组成一个小村落——甘榜（马来语Kampong的音译）。在甘榜，村民与大自然和谐相处。深入村庄，就能注意到叽叽喳喳的鸟叫和青蛙的呱呱声。在一些地方，地面上布满了修剪整齐的草，让村庄感觉像一个公园。甘榜的生活，远离城市的喧嚣，为村民们提供了一定的自由。在这些甘榜里，没有像样的道路，直到1960年代的两场铺天盖地的大火，烧毁了两万人的家，却点燃了政府规划居住环境的激情。伴随着新加坡著名的组屋制度，一个个甘榜村落被拆除，一批批村民走进了现代化的房屋。近半个世纪过去了，新加坡所有的甘榜村落都已经拆除重建，只剩本岛的甘榜罗弄万国，以及新加坡离岛、乌敏岛。
正文阅读
Scenes from An Almost Vanished Singapore
新加坡几乎快消失的景象
Wah! six slices of bread for breakfast: Sng Mui Hong was unusually hungry. She knew what that meant. The spirit of her father, dead these past 25 years, was with her, and he was starving. Not that Ms Sng could see her father—she never had been able to see ghosts—but she could sense his presence: a heavy weight on her shoulders or a yawning pit in her stomach, hungry for white bread.
哇！早餐吃六片面包：孙梅红（Sng Mui Hong）特别饿。她知道这意味着什么。她的父亲已于25年前去世，但他的灵魂却一直陪伴着她，并且她的父亲在挨饿。孙女士并不能看到她的父亲——她从来没有见过鬼，但她能感觉到他的存在：肩膀上沉重的负担，心窝深处的巨大触动，对白面包的渴望。
She was grateful he had shown up today. Torrential rain had fallen that morning, the drops hitting the zinc roof of her house like a hail of bullets. The open drains slicing through the village had clogged with twigs and leaves, as usual, and Ms Sng had to clear them. She did not thrill at the prospect. At 69 she was not as strong as she used to be, and her knee was giving her trouble. It was not as if the tenants would complain if she left the drains blocked. But clearing them was just what she did, what she had always done. The bread, and her father, would give her strength.
她很感激他今天能来。那天早上下了一场倾盆大雨，雨点像子弹一样打在她家的锌屋顶上。像往常一样，村里敞开的排水沟被树枝和树叶堵塞，孙女士不得不清理它们。她对这种景象并不感到兴奋。69岁的她不像以前那么强壮了，而且她的膝盖现在也老是出问题。如果她对被堵塞了的下水道置之不理，房客们似乎也不会抱怨。但清理它们就是她做的，她一直都是这么做的。面包和她的父亲会带给她力量。
So she limped out into the drizzle. Along with her three siblings, Ms Sng owns Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the last village in mainland Singapore. The kampong, which means “village” in Malay, is in the middle of the city-state, and is about the size of three football pitches. Unlike her siblings, Ms Sng lives there and manages the property and the 25 tenant-households. Her skin is rumpled and weathered.
于是她一瘸一拐地走进毛毛雨中。孙女士和她的三个兄弟姐妹一起拥有着新加坡大陆上的最后一个村庄——甘榜罗弄万国。甘榜在马来语中是“村庄”的意思，位于这个城市国家的中部，大约有三个足球场那么大。与她的兄弟姐妹不同，孙女士住在那里，管理着这处房产和25户租户。她的皮肤皱皱巴巴，饱经风霜。
今日单词
- scene /siːn/ n.场面；场景；景象；
- vanished /ˈvænɪʃt/ adj.消失了的；
- Singapore /ˈsɪŋəpɔːr/ 新加坡；
- unusually /ʌnˈjuːʒuəli/ adv.异乎寻常地；罕有地；
- starving/ˈstɑːrvɪŋ/ adj.饥饿的；挨饿的；
- sense /sens/ vt.察觉；感觉；
- presence /ˈprezns/ n.存在；出现；
- a yawning pit 巨大的触动；
- grateful /ˈɡreɪtfl/ adj.感激的；感谢的；
- torrential /təˈrenʃl/ adj.（雨）倾泻似的；如注的；
- zinc /zɪŋk/ n.锌；
- a hail of 一阵；
- bullet/ˈbʊlɪt/ n.子弹；
- drain /dreɪn/ n.下水道；排水沟；
- slice /slaɪs/ vi.滑；快速穿过；
- clog /klɑːɡ/ vi.塞满；
- twig /twɪɡ/ n.小枝；
- as usual 像平常一样；照例；
- thrill /θrɪl/ vi.兴奋；激动；
- prospect /ˈprɑːspekt/ n.前景；景象；
- use to 过去常常；
- It was not as if… 好像不是…；
- tenant /ˈtenənt/ n.租客；房客；
- complain /kəmˈpleɪn/ vi.抱怨；
- leave … done 让…成为…；
- block /blɑːk/ vt.阻塞；堵塞；
- limp /lɪmp/ vi.瘸着脚走；跛行；
- drizzle /ˈdrɪzl/ n.毛毛雨；细雨；
- sibling /ˈsɪblɪŋ/ n.兄弟姐妹；
- Kampong Lorong Buangkok 甘榜罗弄万国；
- city-state/ˈsɪti steɪt/ n.城市国家；城邦；
- football pitch 足球场；
- tenant-household 租户；
- rumpled /ˈrʌmpld/ adj.皱的；
- weathered /ˈweðərd/ adj.饱经风霜的；
素材来源
文本选自：The Economist（经济学人）
作者：Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith
原文发布时间：27 Dec. 2021
每日美句
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
没能摧毁你的，必使你强大。