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If it seems that life in the West has become a fast-forward blur, consider China. In just 20 years, since market forces were unleashed by economic reforms begun in 1978, life for many urban Chinese has changed drastically. A recent survey of 12 major cities showed that 97 percent of the respondents had televisions, and 88 percent had refrigerators and washing machines. Another study revealed that farmers are eating 48 percent more meat each year and 400 percent more fruit. Cosmopolitan, plunging necklines and all, is read by 260,000 Chinese women every month.
如果說西方的生活看似發(fā)展太快而難窺真貌，那么就審視中國吧。自從1978年經(jīng)濟(jì)改革釋放了市場的潛力，在短短20年的時(shí)間里，許多中國城市居民的生活產(chǎn)生了巨變。最近一項(xiàng)對12個(gè)大城市的調(diào)查顯示，97%的調(diào)查對象擁有電視機(jī)，88%擁有電冰箱和洗衣機(jī)。另一項(xiàng)研究表明農(nóng)民每年肉食消費(fèi)增加48%，水果消費(fèi)增加400%。在中國，每個(gè)月都有26萬婦女閱讀刊有開領(lǐng)袒胸圖片及其他內(nèi)容的《時(shí)尚》雜志。
I went to Shanghai to see how the cultural trends show up in the largest city in the world's most populous nation. It is also a city that has long been open to the West. General Motors, for example, set up its first Buick sales outlet in Shanghai in 1929; today GM has invested 1.5 billion dollars in a new plant there, the biggest Sino-American venture in China.
我到上海去考察這個(gè)世界人口最多國家的最大城市文化變遷趨勢。上海也是對西方開放時(shí)間最長的城市，例如，早在1929年通用汽車公司就在上海建立了第一個(gè)別克牌汽車銷售處。今天，通用汽車投資15億美元在那兒新建了中國最大的中美合資工廠。
Once a city of elegant villas and imposing office buildings, Shanghai is currently ripping itself to ribbons. In a decade scores of gleaming new skyscrapers have shot up to crowd and jostle the skyline, cramp the narrow winding streets, and choke the parks and open spaces with their sheer soaring presence. Traffic crawls, even on the new multilane overpasses.
曾經(jīng)擁有雅致別墅和宏偉辦公大樓的上海，現(xiàn)在卻被條條分割。在10年時(shí)間里，幾十座閃亮的摩天大樓沖天而起，擁擠在天際間，擠壓著狹窄彎曲的小巷，用它們高聳的外表窒息著公園和開放空間。車輛緩慢爬行在多車道高架橋上。
