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  3. A conference held the other day by the Joint Unit for the Study of Social Trends on the quality of life in London and New York,

A conference held the other day by the Joint Unit for the Study of Social Trends on the quality of life in London and New York,

admin2010-07-06  61
问题      A conference held the other day by the Joint Unit for the Study of Social Trends on the quality of life in London and New York, brought out some of these issues. It revealed that our feelings about the quality of life in our cities are affected not so much by recorded statistics but by perceptions an the streets which are much more difficult to measure. The presence of often obscene graffiti, for example, upsets a lot of people and can make them feel offended and even threatened.
      George Kelling, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, told the conference the public and media in New York were trapped in a tunnel vision which regarded arresting criminals as the only appropriate business of the police. Thus the stunning success of the city’s transit authority in getting rid of graffiti from the subway was all but dismissed. Yet surveys showed that what made New Yorkers afraid to use the subway was disorder rather than serious crime: broke, turnstiles, litter and graffiti , the presence of the homeless and street hawkers.
      As Ken Young, professor of polities at London University, argued, people’s sense of well-being in public places may be crucial in cementing their commitment to a city. Their quality of life relates to architecture, urban design, transport access, policing, behavioural and cultural factors.
      London still has much to commend it. My American cousins note in particular the parks and green space and trees. We notice the noise , the dirt, and the fumes; and, if you’re a mother, the fact that the parks serve as canine latrines, becanse this is a country that puts the welfare of animals higher than that of children.
      Yet, according to Fred Siegel, a history professor at the Cooper Union, New Yorkers stroll in parks with no grass, play in playgrounds with no equipment, and walk streets with no public toilets. Instead of flowers, the city’s parks and plazas are often strewn with broken glass and condoms.
      Parts of London — Covent Garden, Clerkenwell, stretches of the South Bank — have been attractively reclaimed. But, as Young said, the negative side of city life is becoming more apparent to more people as small incidents send out wide ripple, leading to the avoidance of certain public places. Conflict now is closer to the surface. Young said little attention had been paid until now to the importance of encounters with strangers in public places.
      London in the 18th century had its pleasure gardens where people promenaded, listened to concerts, and looked at each other. During the 19th century ,public parks became places for private display and public entertainment moved indoors to the music hall. Today’s clubs, he said ，were the dismal modern equivalent of the open air public meeting place.
It revealed that our feelings about the quality of life in our cities are affected not so much by recorded statistics but by perceptions on the streets which are much more difficult to measure.
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答案会议指出了我们在城市的街上观察到的东西比关于城市的记录资料数字更能影响我们对于这个城市的生活质量的评价，尽管这些观察得到的感觉更难衡量。
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