VOA慢速英語：居住在海運集裝箱中

Many people do not earn enough money to buy a house in the San Francisco Bay area. Housing prices in northern California can be very high.

在舊金山港灣區(qū)，許多人賺不到足夠的錢來購買房子。加州北部房價可能很高。

So, some young people have begun making their own houses out of shipping containers. It takes a lot of work and creativity to make a home from the large metal boxes. And those who are doing it must often fight local laws that limit where such homes can be placed.

因此，一些年輕人開始用海運集裝箱來建造自己的房子。使用大的金屬箱來建造房子需要耗費大量的工作及創(chuàng)造力，而且那些用集裝箱來建造房子的人們通常要與地方法律作斗爭，其限制建造這樣的房子。

Shipping containers provide experimental housing

Heather Stewart is an artist. She and 19 other people live and work in a small community. Their neighborhood is made up of shipping containers and other kinds of small houses. Most are standard containers, measuring only about six meters long.

希瑟·斯圖爾特是一位藝術家。她和其他19人在一個小社區(qū)居住及工作。他們那個地段都是由集裝箱建造的或其他類型的小房子。大多數(shù)都是標箱，尺寸僅為約六米長。

On a recent day, Ms. Stewart was adding electrical wiring and pipes for drinking water to her home. She and the others are working together to improve their community.

最近，斯圖爾特女士為了使飲用水可以流到家中，因此又架上電線、鋪上管道。她與其他人共同努力以改善他們的社區(qū)。

"We kind of all have enough tools that we canpass them around, so then everybody has the resources they need to build what they want."

“我們有足夠的工具，我們可以四處分發(fā)，這樣每個人都擁有他們所需要的工具來建造他們想建造的房子。”

Heather Stewart and her friend Luke Iseman have been living in the community since April. Before then, they lived in Oakland, a city near San Francisco. But officials forced the two to remove their shipping container houses from a property they had bought with friends. Officials said they were violating local laws that barred people from living in an industrial area.

自四月份以來，希瑟·斯圖爾特與她的朋友Iseman一直生活在該社區(qū)里。在此之前，他們居住在奧克蘭，位于舊金山附近的一個城市。但官員們迫使他們兩個拆除他們的集裝箱房屋，該地段是他們與朋友一起購買的。官員們聲稱，他們違反了地方性法規(guī)，其禁止人們生活在工業(yè)區(qū)。

So they moved to a large warehouse. They and their friends have placed more than 10 containers inside the building. Each container costs about $2,000. The group wants to keep the small community secret from local officials. Visit the website www.chinavoa.com to get more information!

于是他們搬到一個大倉庫。他們與其朋友已經在該倉庫內放置了10多個集裝箱。每個集裝箱的花費約為$2,000美元。該群體希望對當?shù)毓賳T保守保密。

Luke Iseman says he got the idea to live in a shipping container after he helped build a metal-working factory inside a shipping container. The container was then sent to Kenya. He says he realized then how useful the huge boxes are.

Luke Iseman說，在他幫助在海運集裝箱內建造一個金屬加工廠后，他萌生了居住在海運集裝箱內的想法，而后，該海運集裝箱被送到肯尼亞。他說，他這時才意識到這些巨大的箱子是多么有用。

"A roof that doesn't leak and a floor that's level. So from there, it's more or less aesthetic modification."

“屋頂不漏、地面水平，因此，從那里，或多或少可以在美感方面做些改進。”

He and his friends say the lack of reasonably priced housing means people must be creative.

他和他的朋友們說，合理房價的缺乏就意味著人們必須要有創(chuàng)意。

Camille MacRae lives in a container house in the same community as Mr. Iseman and Ms. Stewart.

卡米爾·麥克雷與Iseman先生和斯圖爾特女士一樣，也居住在位于同一社區(qū)的集裝箱房子中。

"It's really interesting to be in this space because there are other people doing similar things, and just to have sort of like this richness ofideas and exchanges happening."

“居住在集裝箱里面，這真的很有趣，因為有其他人在做類似的事情，并且這只是某種豐富的思想并且發(fā)生了交流。

People in other cities are building shipping container houses. And Mr. Iseman says the San FranciscoBayarea may have similar housing communities that are hidden from local officials.

其他城市的人們正在建造海運集裝箱房屋。而Iseman先生說，舊金山海灣地區(qū)可能有類似的住宅社區(qū)，但當?shù)毓賳T是不知情的。

"People have been secretive about it because institutionsimpose large fines if you don't comply with their rules."

“人們對此一直守口如瓶，因為如果你不遵守他們的規(guī)則，這些機構會處以巨額罰款，。”

I'm Bob Doughty.

我是鮑勃·道蒂。

Mike O'Sullivan reported on this story from Oakland, California. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

standard– adj. normal or traditional in appearance

pass them around– expression. to share; to offer something to each person in a group

resource(s) – n. a supply of something that someone has and can use when it is needed

aesthetic modification – expression. changes to the appearance of something

impose – v. to cause (something, such as a tax, fine, rule or punishment) to affect someone or something by using your authority

comply– v. to do what you have been asked or ordered to do (often + with)