Conquering High-Priced Shanghai, From Dumplings to Modern Art
從磁懸浮到小籠包,"無處不優越"的上海
LUCAS PETERSON
盧卡斯·彼得森

Superlatives are everywhere in Shanghai. I forked over my 50 yuan (about $7.90) and boarded the maglev train departing from Pudong International Airport. My understanding was that this was a high-speed train, like the one I'd recently taken from Chengdu to Xian. I didn't realize that, operating by a giant set of magnets that caused it to levitate over the track (hence the name, maglev), it was the fastest commercially operating train in the world. After leaving precisely on time, our speed began to build. And build. Soon, we were screaming through a blur of new housing developments and farmland at 268 miles per hour as we made our way from the Pacific coast to the heart of Shanghai. The ride, while not exactly smooth—you feel the speed—was exhilarating. I stepped off 19 miles and a few minutes later at Longyang Road, slightly dazed.
上海的高級感無處不在。我掏出50元錢，坐上了從浦東國際機場開出的磁懸浮列車。按我的理解，這就是一列高鐵，和我不久前從成都去西安時坐的那列一樣。我沒意識到的是，這列靠一組巨型磁鐵懸浮在鐵軌上運行的列車（因此有了“磁懸浮”的名字），是世界上最快的商業列車。在準點開車之后，速度就開始加快。再加快。不一會，我們就在一片新建住宅區和農田的模糊風景之中，以268英里時的速度呼嘯而過，從太平洋海岸線駛向了上海的中心。這段車程雖然不算特別平穩——能感受到速度——但令人興奮。幾分鐘后，我在19英里（約合30公里）外的龍陽路下了車，腦子有些發蒙。

Despite this high-tech arrival system, Shanghai is, in a way, a late bloomer. Cities like Beijing and Xian have been political and commercial powerhouses for centuries. Heading into the 19th century, Shanghai was a modest trading port that exploded after being "opened" to the world by Western imperialism. What became known as the Paris of the East laid the groundwork for what Shanghai is today: an unparalleled economic powerhouse and megacity of 24 million people.
撇去這個高科技的到達系統不說，上海，在某種程度上，是一個后起之秀。如北京和西安這樣的城市，數個世紀以來都是政治和商業重鎮。而在邁入19世紀之時，上海還是一個被西方帝國主義“打開”了大門后突然出現的、不算太大的通商口岸。后來，東方巴黎的名聲奠定了今天的上海：無可比擬的經濟發動機，有著2400萬人口的巨型都市。