四大学英语四级美文欣赏：现代建筑林立

　　Bad news. Unesco may soon stripLondon's two most prominent tourist sites, Westminster's Parliament Square and the Tower of London in the City of their world heritage status. Chief reason is the toweringShard, which will be western Europe's tallest building, now looming over both of them from its launch pad on the south side of London Bridge. Westminster's grouping of Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Whitehall is probably far enough away to survive the shock. The Tower of London is a different matter.

　　Unesco 联合国教科文组织（United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization）

　　strip of 剥夺

　　tourist sites 旅游景点；观光地区

　　Shard 夏德伦敦塔（一座超高层摩天大楼，位于伦敦Southwark，2009年年底前开始施工，并计划于2012年5月竣工，届时将会是英国和西欧最高建筑。）

　　loom over 赫然耸立

　　The rough-and-tumbleold citadelhas become such a London familiar that few people really know it. William the Conqueror's White Tower still sits noblyin the centre of the composition, sadly deprived of the original limewashthat gave it its name. Inside are the original apartments, two chambers to each floor, and a Norman chapel. In the basementis a magnificent armourymuseum. This remains the finest 11th-century structure in Britain.

　　William the Conqueror 征服者威廉，即威廉公爵，法国诺曼底公爵。英格兰第一位诺曼人国王。

　　deprive of 剥夺；失去

　　armoury museum 兵器博物馆

　　On the river side of the Tower is Traitor's Gate and a suite of medieval chambers fitted out for Henry III (who kept a zoo in the grounds). This mini-palace has been recreated, complete with throne room and peaceful oratorylooking out over the Thames – a serene view touched by the sadness of those passing to their deaths beneath.

　　throne room 王宫大殿

　　the Thames 泰晤士河

　　serene adj. 平静的；安详的

　　Within this palace runs the last medievalstreet in London, a mazeof ancient walls, steps and turrets. Here are the Bloody Tower, Raleigh's prison chambers, the Crown Jewels and the "leads" where Princess Elizabeth walked and contemplateddeath or coronationduring the reign of her Catholic half-sister, Mary. The Tower enclave as a whole is a remarkable medieval town within a town. When inside, we can just about lose ourselves in Beefeaters, ravens, blood, gutsand history.

　　a maze of 像迷宫般的

　　lose oneself in 沉浸于；沉迷于

　　Until the 1960s Tower Hill, overlooking the tower itself, was surrounded by the buildings, mostly warehouses, of a working Georgian and Victorian city. Most eye-catchingof all, Tower Bridge, designed by the City architect, Horace Jones, in 1886, rose downstreamin deference to the tower itself. The most famous bascule bridge in the world and still working, it perfectly complements the battlements and vigour of the Conqueror's fortress. Visitors can climb it and look down on river and city beneath, getting a closer and more evocativeview than from the big wheel upstream.

　　eye-watching adj. 引人瞩目的

　　Tower Bridge 伦敦塔桥（从英国伦敦泰晤士河口算起的第一座桥，也是伦敦的象征，有“伦敦正门”之称。）

　　That is about it. As Unesco rightly suggests, no city in Europe has shown less concern for the setting of its historic buildings than London. St Katherine's Dock just downstream of the bridge has been partly restored, but its tower facadeis wreckedby an overwhelming glass box by Lord Rogers, and by the appalling concrete Tower Hotel. Whoever allowed this to be put up should be shot, and one day I assume it will be taken down.

　　show less concern to 对……关注较少

　　take down 拆下；推倒

　　Across the river lies the benightedsite of warehouses cleared in the 1970s and left fallow as planners argue over what to do next. Had the waterfront been restored, as happened downstream in Wapping, this area would have been yielding rent and jobs for a quarter of a century. That is the true cost of so-called redevelopment.

　　Directly opposite the Tower is the mayor of London's ovalbuilding designed by Lord Foster and described by former mayor Ken Livingstone as a "glass testicle". It lurchesstrangely towards the river with, to its right, the frigidMore London development. Meanwhile, on the north bank upstream of the Tower, is a giant atriumblock also by Foster, blundering across the contour.

　　These buildings show not the slightest respect for the Tower or Tower Bridge. They are monumentsonly to insipid steel and glass.

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