Zo : 大家好，我是刘佳, 欢迎收听今天的都市掠影，今天我们来到了泰晤士河岛上，周围都是一些摩天高楼。

Finn: Yes today we've just arrived in a part of London which is called Canary Wharf. It's on the river Thames.

Zo : Canary 金丝雀, wharf 码头. That's a cute name!

Finn: Yes but Zo , you won't find many canaries here unfortunately! This area originally used to be one of the busiest docks in the world, with all the main docks for London.

Zo : Dock 就是码头的另一种说法，就是装卸码头。

Finn: You won't find many boats here either. It's now been transformed into an important financial centre for London, with modern buildings built on top of these old docks.

Zo : It has been transformed 就是被改造了，改造成 a modern financial centre 非常现代的金融中心.

Finn: Yes and Canary Wharf is now home to the UK's three tallest buildings which are owned by banks, like HSBC and Citibank.

Zo : 汇丰银行和城市银行. 是啊，我能看见他们在楼顶的标志。

Finn: You can see these buildings from miles away at the other side of London.

Zo : Finn, there's a museum over there.

Finn: Yes, let's find out a little bit more about the history. This is Brian and he works in the Museum of Docklands.

Insert 1

Yes in the early days this West India Dock where we are today was for the goods coming in from the West Indies: rum, molasses, sugar and bananas. This dock actually opened in 1802.

Zo : Brian 说这个码头叫西印度码头 West India Dock, 这里接受从西印度运来的货物 goods。

Finn: Yes that's right, the goods. Did you hear which goods he mentioned? Let's listen again, Brian speaks quite fast.

Insert 2

Rum, molasses, sugar and bananas.

Finn: That's rum

Zo : 雷姆酒

Finn: and molasses

Zo : 糖浆

Finn: and sugar and bananas. So this dock, it opened in the year 1802 but it is now no longer used as a dock and in the 1980s all the docks were already closed and they lay empty. So a new project was started by the government to regenerate the area.

Zo : Regenerate 重建. So now we have all these skyscrapers. It all looks very modern, very different to other parts of London. 我还真想知道在这里工作的感觉是怎么样的。

Finn: Well let's find out. In between all these skyscrapers there's a few small parks and a few green spaces, and I can see some people taking their lunch break. Let's ask this lady what she thinks.

Insert 3

Well I think there's a very strong sense of community here. These are people who like to try new things. There's a very strong sense of it all being new. It is basically a pleasant place to work, and the facilities are superb, I mean, everybody eats very well here, for example. It's like that because people can work very long hours. People have been known to work day and night here for, sort of, 3 or 4 days at a time.

Zo : People work so hard around here – that's crazy!

Finn: Yes, she said some people have been known to work 3 or 4 days and nights at a time. It has to be a pleasant environment because people work such long hours.

Zo : 她说这里的设施 facilities 是非常好。她用的形容词就是 superb，就是很好的意思。

Finn: And she said the food is good. She said that people eat very well around here.

Zo : 极其拼命的工作，也能使自己的胃口大开。 这儿坐着另外一个人，让我们来问问他在这里工作的感受。

Insert 4

I'm Brian and I work in corporate banking in Canary Wharf. Yeah, I work in one of the tallest towers in the UK but I'm only halfway up the tower on level 23. It's a bit like Sim City really, it's all ordered and planned and everything has its place.

Zo : 他可真有意思，他说她虽然在最高的楼里工作，可是他办公的地方却是在楼层的中段儿。

Finn: Yes, he said he's only halfway up. He describes the Canary Wharf area as being like Sim City which is the computer game.

Zo : 你玩儿过吗？是个非常流行的电脑游戏，可以随便设计自己喜欢的城市的样子。

Finn: He thinks it's like Sim City because everything here is so ordered and so planned.

Zo : 周围的一切都设计的井井有条。

Finn: Yes, but I really like the way that some of these old docks have been developed. They've got cafes, art galleries and museums.

Zo : Such a nice atmosphere. Fancy a bite to eat?

Finn: Well, I'd love a bite to eat but I think we really have to get back to the office.

Zo : Ok then. 咱们来坐船回市中心吧。

Finn: And that's all for this week's programme. Don't forget you can log on to our website to practise your English and to hear the programme again. The address is:

Jean: bbc.co.uk/china.

Finn: Bye for now.

Jean: 咱们下次节目再见！