让美国再美丽【英语学习】

信达

Making America Beautiful Again

让美国再美丽

We must dispel once and for all the notion that ugly structures naturally equate with cost savings.

我们必须彻底消除“丑陋的建筑自然就等于节省成本”这种观念。

Paul Ingrassia 保罗·英格拉西亚

Feb 02, 2026 2026年2月2日

美国纽约市曼哈顿的帝国大厦

The President’s recent commitments to renovate the White House Rose Garden, begin construction on a spectacular new ballroom, and to propose a magnificent victory arch coinciding with the Nation’s two hundred fiftieth birthday all demonstrate a spirit of cultural revival that had been missing from Washington – and throughout much of the country – for decades.

总统近期承诺翻新白宫玫瑰园、启动一座壮观的新宴会厅的建设，并提议在国家二百五十周年庆典之际建造一座宏伟的凯旋门，这些举措都展现了一种文化复兴的精神，而这种精神在华盛顿乃至整个国家已经缺失了几十年。

Far too long has building in the United States become an ordeal, bogged down by administrative dross and bureaucratic red tape which has stifled innovation and paralyzed the cultural idiom of these United States. Washington as the epicenter of that gridlock, became in recent decades a symbol for urban decay and cultural decline – its brutalist structures being stark representations of the drastic change in values the Republic has undergone since 1776.

长期以来，美国的建设一直是一种煎熬，被繁文缛节和官僚主义的泥沼所拖累，扼杀了创新，也使美国的文化表达方式陷入瘫痪。作为这种僵局的中心，华盛顿在近几十年里成为了城市衰败和文化衰落的象征——其粗野主义的建筑风格鲜明地体现了自1776年以来共和国价值观的剧变。

白宫新宴会厅效果图

Once envisioned by the Founding Fathers as a global oasis for innovation and the development of architectural styles, in the postwar era Washington’s venerable history was usurped by a soul-crushing contagion, oriented towards depressing the formerly exultant character of the city and replacing it with something quite unlike the neoclassical cadence that defined its identity for most of its prior history. The Founding Fathers originally conceived Washington as the new Rome – a proper city evocative of and in keeping with the countless references to antiquity (such as the works of Lucretius, Polybius, and Publius) made in the nation’s founding documents and constitutional charter, as exemplified throughout the Federalist Papers.

华盛顿曾被开国元勋们设想为全球创新和建筑风格发展的绿洲，但在战后时期，其悠久的历史却被一种令人窒息的颓靡之风所侵蚀，这种颓靡之风旨在扼杀这座城市昔日的辉煌，并代之以与此前大部分历史时期定义其身份的新古典主义风格截然不同的东西。开国元勋们最初将华盛顿构想为新罗马——一座真正意义上的城市，它既体现了国家建国文献和宪法中无数对古代文明（例如卢克莱修、波利比乌斯和普布利乌斯的著作）的引用，又与之相符，正如 《联邦党人文集》 中所展现的那样 。

The Founders saw in their roles as statesmen an important responsibility (responsibility being the main public virtue emphasized in the Federalist Papers to the public good, or “commonweal,” as it was referred to in those days. Accordingly, many of them – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson leading the way – got intimately involved in the details of their fledgling capital’s early formation.

开国元勋们将“政治家”的角色视为一项重要责任（在《联邦党人文集》中，“责任”被视为最重要的公共美德之一），这种责任是指对公共利益——当时称为“共同福祉”（commonweal）——的担当。因此，他们中的许多人——以乔治·华盛顿和托马斯·杰斐逊为代表——都深入参与了这个新生首都早期建设的具体细节。

While Washington conscripted a Frenchman, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, to bring to life his generation’s vision for the city – both he, Jefferson, and other founders were hands-on in guiding its creation and conducting its cultural tempo. It was important that America’s City captured the best of the Old World.

华盛顿委任法国人皮埃尔·夏尔·朗方（Pierre Charles L’Enfant），将他这一代人对城市的愿景付诸实现；而华盛顿、杰斐逊以及其他开国者，也都亲自参与指导其建设，并塑造其文化风貌。他们认为，美国的首都必须体现旧世界最优秀的传统。

Its classical features – as embodied in the Greco-Roman aspects of the White House, with its porticos, colonnades, and Olympian fixtures, to say nothing of the Capitol building, with its grand dome, reminiscent of Rome’s Pantheon and countless great domes across Europe – were and are living tribute to the Founders’ grandiose vision to link past and present, Old and New worlds, that would later become the crowning hallmark of its heritage.

这种古典特征——体现在白宫的希腊罗马风格上，如门廊、柱廊以及庄严宏伟的装饰——更不用说国会大厦那座宏大的圆顶，其风格令人联想到罗马万神殿以及欧洲无数伟大的穹顶——至今仍是对开国元勋宏伟愿景的生动致敬：将过去与现在、旧世界与新世界连接在一起，而这种融合后来也成为美国文化遗产最具代表性的标志之一。

Sadly, over time much of that original Idealism in vision got lost as the republic matured into a global empire following a gruesome civil war and later two world wars. By 1945, Washington was no longer a backwater republic but a global superpower, its architecture evolved to represent the new sort of regime it had developed into. It would seem to be a universal rule that, as nations expand, their laws become more convoluted. An early republic like America, invigorated by a democratic spirit, over time gives way to becoming administrative albatrosses, mired by endless rules and procedures which serve to asphyxiate, rather than provide intelligent guidance, for city planning.

令人遗憾的是，随着共和国在经历了残酷的内战和后来的两次世界大战后发展成为全球帝国，最初的理想主义愿景也逐渐消逝。到1945年，华盛顿不再是一个偏远的共和国，而是一个全球超级大国，其建筑也随之演变，以体现其新政体的特征。似乎一条普遍规律是：随着国家扩张，其法律会变得更加复杂繁琐。像美国这样早期的共和国，在民主精神的激励下，最终沦为行政的沉重负担，被无休止的规章制度所束缚，这些规章制度非但没有为城市规划提供明智的指导，反而扼杀了其发展。

The results of these nefarious trends have been catastrophic: brutalist monstrosities such as the James V. Forrestal Building, which presently houses the Department of Energy, and the Robert C. Weaver Building, today home to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are erected as soulless expressions of a decadent order. These buildings, which are anathema to beauty and classical style, are justified by their proponents in the name of utility – cost-savings and government efficiency – supposedly the driving motives that excuse their ghastly forms.

这些邪恶趋势的后果不堪设想：诸如现为能源部所在地的詹姆斯·V·福雷斯特尔大楼和现为住房与城市发展部所在地的罗伯特·C·韦弗大楼等粗野主义的丑陋建筑，如同颓废秩序的无灵魂象征般拔地而起。这些建筑与美感和古典风格背道而驰，其支持者却以实用性——节约成本和提高政府效率——为之辩护，声称这些才是其丑陋外形的真正原因。

But in practice, as time has so clearly demonstrated, these structures stand as the very antithesis of efficient.

但实践证明，时间已经清楚地表明，这些结构恰恰与效率背道而驰。

In truth they wind up taking up space gratuitously – sometimes over the span of three or four city blocks – as hulking eyesores that crush the soul and tamp out whatever adjacent beauty, still contained in the older styles in the surrounding neighborhood, might remain. It is one thing to make an argument for utility, but it is another thing entirely to assert themselves – as these buildings do – as invasively as they do in an otherwise tranquil setting. Their hulking natures point to an autocratic motive, subliminally if not deliberately, their sheer size an assertion of dominance over a citizenry otherwise repelled by their grotesquery but compelled into obedience, something that only brute force can achieve to establish the authority that a classical structure would do own its own.

事实上，它们最终只是徒增空间——有时甚至横跨三四个街区——如同庞然大物般遮天蔽日，令人窒息，并抹杀了周边街区旧式建筑中仅存的美感。论证其实用性是一回事，但像这些建筑一样，在原本宁静的环境中如此咄咄逼人地彰显自身存在，则是另一回事。它们庞大的身躯指向一种专制动机，即便并非有意为之，也至少是潜意识里的。它们庞大的体量是对市民的一种支配，市民们虽然厌恶它们的丑陋，却不得不服从。唯有蛮力才能建立起古典建筑所拥有的那种权威。

The argument for utility also fails in another fundamental respect, as time has repeatedly shown. These structures, maybe best epitomized by Forrestal, remain to this day half-occupied at best, which in the grand scheme cost taxpayers millions (if not tens of millions) of dollars per year just to upkeep. The notion that barebones utility is somehow naturally compatible with government efficiency – and cost savings – is shattered by the reality of hundreds of millions of dollars in maintenance fees and operational costs the American taxpayer must foot each year. And to make matters worse, the taxpayer must foot the bill for something that is downright hideous: these buildings are intended to crush his spirit, and make him believe that what was once conceivable – a beautiful new Rome which surpassed the blueprint of the original – is no longer possible, or never was, and that it is but a fool’s errand to think that such a grand vision could ever be restored in modern times.

效用论在另一个根本方面也站不住脚，时间已经反复证明了这一点。这些建筑，或许以福雷斯塔尔大厦最为典型，时至今日充其量也只是半空置，而从长远来看，每年仅维护费用就需纳税人花费数百万（甚至数千万美元）。那种认为最低限度的效用就能自然而然地与政府效率和成本节约相容的想法，被美国纳税人每年必须承担的数亿美元维护费和运营成本的现实彻底粉碎了。更糟糕的是，纳税人还必须为一些丑陋不堪的东西买单：这些建筑旨在摧毁他们的精神，让他们相信曾经可以设想的——一个超越原罗马蓝图的美丽新罗马——如今已不再可能，或者从未可能，认为在现代社会能够重现如此宏伟的愿景，不过是痴人说梦。

The Robert C. Weaver Building (headquarters of HUD), which is evocative of the soulless, mid-century structures of the former Soviet Union. What message are we signaling to Americans, and to society overall, when the department in charge of housing needs is stationed in a building that is obnoxiously inhospitable and brazenly soulless?

罗伯特·C·韦弗大楼（美国住房和城市发展部总部）让人联想起前苏联那些毫无生气的中世纪建筑。当负责住房需求的部门设在一栋令人厌恶、冷漠无情、毫无灵魂的建筑里时，我们究竟在向美国民众乃至整个社会传递怎样的信息？

Donald Trump is first and foremost a builder – but, more than just that, he is a creative visionary. He operates by following vision first, the driving vehicle of his success as a developer, and which now accounts for everything he has been able to accomplish, from the patio to the ballroom, already during his second presidency. He is the furthest thing from a bureaucrat and does not let fear of process kowtow him into submission. In this way, he is a powerful reminder of the spirit of the Founding generation – and the greatness in the many generations which followed – a tenacity and boldness to innovate and create a legacy for posterity, one that would lead to the betterment of society. His mindset is generational, not transient. In times of yore, that was the same mindset of the society at large: civilizations only advance when they can tame the temptation for instantaneous gratification, in pursuit of a larger, nobler project that might unfold over decades.

唐纳德·特朗普首先是一位建设者——但不仅如此，他更是一位富有创造力的远见卓识者。他始终坚持以愿景为先，这正是他作为开发商取得成功的驱动力，也是他如今成就斐然的原因，从庭院到宴会厅，这一切都源于他第二任总统任期内所取得的成就。他绝非官僚主义者，也不会因畏惧繁文缛节而屈服。从这个意义上讲，他有力地展现了建国一代的精神，以及其后几代人的伟大成就——一种坚持不懈、勇于创新、为后世创造遗产的魄力，这种遗产将引领社会走向进步。他的思维方式具有时代意义，而非昙花一现。在过去，这同样也是整个社会的思维方式：文明只有克服对即时满足的渴望，转而追求更宏大、更崇高的事业，才能不断进步。

The Forrestal Building (headquarters of Department of Energy), which is also brutalist and soul-crushing, squanders tens of millions of dollars each year in maintenance fees. The building is literally crumbling apart from water damages, unsustainable management, and other costs. Notice, however, that the parks, greenery, and historic structures located across the street are aesthetic marvels – the green space, which begins across the street, can be extended to mesh with the acreage on which the building is currently located. And then once opened, the space may be refashioned into the neoclassical styles referenced above; this can lead to walkable areas that are pleasant to the senses, and over time, restaurants, retail districts, and other businesses might emerge in close proximity that would help revitalize the local economy

福雷斯塔尔大楼（能源部总部）同样是粗野主义风格，令人压抑，每年却要挥霍数千万美元的维护费。由于水患、管理不善和其他费用，这座大楼实际上正在坍塌。然而，值得注意的是，街对面的公园、绿地和历史建筑却是美学上的奇迹——这片从街对面延伸而来的绿地可以与大楼目前所在的土地融为一体。一旦开放，这片空间可以改造成上文提到的新古典主义风格；这将打造出令人愉悦的步行区域，随着时间的推移，餐厅、零售区和其他商业场所可能会在附近涌现，从而有助于振兴当地经济。

Of course, the President has also repeatedly shown an uncanny aptitude to compress what might take normal men decades to do into a much shorter timeline. Witness all the diplomatic and peacemaking progress of the last ten months alone, to say nothing of the expeditious schedule upon which construction of the new White House ballroom has taken place. But the rapid pace upon which the President has been able to execute his projects further supports the rule that generational thinking, driven by a guiding vision of what is inherently good and beautiful, can do wonders for any society. Europe’s grand cathedrals were often generational projects that took many centuries, if not in some cases, millennia, to build.

当然，总统也屡次展现出一种非凡的能力，能将常人需要数十年才能完成的事情压缩到更短的时间内。仅过去十个月的外交和和平进程就足以证明这一点，更不用说白宫新宴会厅的建设进度也十分迅速。总统如此高效地推进各项计划，进一步印证了这样一条规律：由对美好本质的深刻理解所驱动的世代传承的思维，能够为任何社会带来奇迹。欧洲那些宏伟的大教堂往往是世代相传的工程，建造过程耗时数个世纪，有的甚至长达数千年。

Modern technology has made it possible where a project that might once have taken centuries previously can now be done in a matter of decades, if not in a few short years (or even months). Observe the time it took to build the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building in New York – a little over a year. For forty years thereafter, until the construction of the World Trade Center, which was completed in the early 1970s, the Empire State Building stood as the tallest building in the world, a monument to American innovation and a pioneering masterpiece in Art-Deco style (and in the twelve years following the tragic 9/11 attacks, it returned as New York City’s tallest structure once again). This demonstrates how the spirit of American innovation coupled with modern technology can work at its best.

现代科技使得过去可能需要几个世纪才能完成的项目，如今只需几十年，甚至短短几年（或几个月）即可完成。以纽约帝国大厦和克莱斯勒大厦的建造为例——仅用了一年多一点的时间。此后四十年间，直到20世纪70年代初世界贸易中心建成，帝国大厦一直是世界最高的建筑，是美国创新精神的象征，也是装饰艺术风格的先驱杰作（在9·11恐怖袭击事件发生后的十二年里，它再次成为纽约市最高的建筑）。这充分展现了美国创新精神与现代科技相结合所能达到的最佳效果。

Unfortunately, as we have seen in the ten intervening decades, what once was a function of technological limitation has been replaced by bureaucratic headwinds. Or at least the illusion that process must invariably hold up progress. The bureaucratic trend is sinister because as one waits for federal agency approval on any new project, it is not as if no new buildings are constructed in the meantime. It is no coincidence that in the eighty years since the end of World War II, which roughly coincided with the advent of the modern administrative state, architectural forms have gone downhill – drastically deviating from their classical origins along the way. Bureaucracy, in short, leads to ugliness. Sometimes it does this under the veneer of “utility,” but it is a misnomer to think that bureaucrats are agnostic to aesthetics. New buildings have been erected over the last eighty years, arguably more than at any time previous in American history. The problem is not with the lack of building, but that the buildings which do go up are abominations – while the proposed projects which derive inspiration from the beauty of the past seem to languish in administrative purgatory forever, never to see the light of day.

不幸的是，正如我们在过去十年中所见，曾经的技术限制如今已被官僚主义的阻力所取代。或者至少，人们产生了一种错觉，认为流程必然会阻碍进步。这种官僚主义趋势令人担忧，因为在等待联邦机构批准任何新项目的同时，并非没有新的建筑拔地而起。二战结束后的八十年间，建筑形式日渐衰落，与现代行政国家的出现大致吻合，这绝非巧合——建筑形式也随之发生了巨大的变化，与它们的古典起源相去甚远。简而言之，官僚主义导致了丑陋。有时，它披着“实用性”的外衣，但认为官僚们对美学漠不关心是错误的。过去八十年间，新建建筑的数量可以说超过了美国历史上的任何时期。问题不在于缺乏建筑，而在于已经建成的建筑丑陋不堪——而那些从过去的美丽中汲取灵感的拟建项目似乎永远地在行政审批的炼狱中停滞不前，永远不会面世。

The gardens of Rome should be a model for how luscious green city space can be used economically but also with a view to the highest ideals in urban planning: Washington never achieved the look of the civilization it embodies, now can be the time to reach full maturation in civic aesthetics.

罗马的花园应该成为如何经济有效地利用城市绿地，同时又能达到城市规划最高理想的典范：华盛顿从未达到其所代表的文明的面貌，现在是时候在城市美学方面达到完全成熟了。

So, what can be done about it? A few things. First, we must as a society dispel once and for all with the notion that ugly structures naturally equate with cost savings. In most cases, it is the exact opposite: barbaric brutalism lends itself to barbaric prices – prices that are inevitably shouldered by the taxpayer. In the first few years after it was built, the Empire State Building was mocked by New Yorkers as the “empty state building.” At the time, America was in the throes of Depression, and the original building struggled to recruit tenants as a result. Yet, despite all that, at no point was it ever mocked as the “ugly state building.” That stands in sharp contrast with today’s federal monstrosities, which suffer from both emptiness and ugliness.

那么，我们该如何应对呢？有几点可以做。首先，作为一个社会，我们必须彻底摒弃“丑陋的建筑自然等同于节省成本”这种观念。在大多数情况下，情况恰恰相反：粗野的暴力主义建筑必然导致高昂的造价——而这些高价最终必然由纳税人承担。帝国大厦建成后的最初几年，曾被纽约人嘲笑为“ 空荡荡的州政府大楼”。当时，美国正处于经济大萧条的泥沼中，因此这座建筑很难招到租户。然而，尽管如此，它却从未被嘲笑为“ 丑陋的州政府大楼”。这与如今那些既空荡荡又丑陋的联邦建筑形成了鲜明的对比。

For many of these buildings, particularly the ones that require more money than they are worth to simply maintain year-after-year, it would be better to demolish them altogether. For the ones that remain, consolidation of leases is in order: why have an agency scattered about five semi-empty buildings, rather than condensed into one or two at near-complete occupancy? As for looking ahead, President Trump offers the quintessential model in how to get things done: just do it. By embracing this vision-driven approach, while acknowledging the original intents behind modernist designs, we can restore Washington’s heritage as a beacon of beauty and, yes, a fount of American Greatness.

对于许多这类建筑，尤其是那些年复一年维护成本远超其价值的建筑而言，拆除重建或许是更好的选择。而对于那些保留下来的建筑，整合租赁合同势在必行：与其让一个机构分散在五栋半空置的建筑里，何不将其集中到一两栋几乎满租的建筑中呢？展望未来，特朗普总统提供了一个典型的行动指南：行动起来！通过采纳这种以愿景为导向的方法，同时尊重现代主义设计的初衷，我们可以将华盛顿的遗产恢复为美丽的灯塔，以及美国伟大的源泉。

Paul Ingrassia is currently serving as the Acting General Counsel for General Services (GSA).

保罗·英格拉西亚目前担任美国总务署（GSA）代理总法律顾问。

Your photo of the Forrestal Building showing the Smithsonian's gardens across the street is illustrative, but it doesn't convey the soul-crushing intimidation the building imposes on people at ground level walking or driving on Independence Ave. It seems to never end. In your DC buildings-of-horror list, I would include the Hart Senate Office Building as well, with its bland minimalist exterior and hulking volume. Its enormous hanging mobile sculpture by Calder in the 90-foot atrium threatens to crash down at any minute and crush the building's occupants. The only word for it is menacing, and if it was intended to intimidate the Senators' constituents, it fulfills that purpose. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan described Hart as "a building whose banality is exceeded only by its expense." And I must add that the Dirksen Senate Office Building, with its resemblance to a 1950s high school on steroids, is equally hideous.

你拍的福雷斯塔尔大厦的照片，虽然能看出街对面是史密森尼花园，但并不能完全展现这座建筑给在独立大道上行走或驾车的人们带来的那种令人窒息的压迫感。这种压迫感似乎永无止境。在你的华盛顿特区恐怖建筑名单中，我还要加上哈特参议院办公大楼，它有着平淡无奇的极简主义外观和庞大的体量。位于90英尺中庭的考尔德巨型悬挂式动态雕塑仿佛随时都会坠落，砸死楼里的人们。用“吓人”来形容它再合适不过了，如果它的目的是为了震慑参议员的选民，那它确实达到了目的。参议员丹尼尔·帕特里克·莫伊尼汉曾形容哈特大厦“平庸至极，其造价之高也毫不逊色”。我还必须补充一点，迪克森参议院办公大楼也同样丑陋，它就像一所打了兴奋剂的20世纪50年代高中。

Both the Forrestal and the Weaver buildings are reminiscent of nothing so much as the stunning (intended) architecture of the worst of Soviet and fascist architecture. All perfectly typical. And one of the commentators mentions the soul-crushing deadliness of the Forrestal. Interesting to think, that I heard that the Versailles Palace was actually meant to intimidate the nobility who were "asked" to come visit. What a difference, however, in the architecture! So, buildings can be overwhelming and everything you wish - but the ugliness is a quality only sought after in diabolically perverted cultures focused on hatred of human beings. You can see this quality, too, in many dystopian books and films like "1984" and "Brave New World". (As per the same commentator below, our school buildings in the US have long suffered from the same hatred of humanity. Their glorification of "efficiency", "cost-consciousness", and whatever nasty gods might be worshipped in them.)

福雷斯塔尔大楼和韦弗大楼都让人联想起苏联和法西斯时期最糟糕的建筑，其令人震惊的（刻意营造的）风格简直如出一辙。一切都非常典型。一位评论者提到福雷斯塔尔大楼令人窒息的压抑感。有趣的是，我听说凡尔赛宫的建造初衷是为了震慑那些“应邀”前来参观的贵族。然而，两者的建筑风格却截然不同！所以，建筑可以令人震撼，可以满足你的一切愿望——但丑陋这种特质，只有在那些充满仇恨人类的邪恶扭曲的文化中才会被追求。你也可以在许多反乌托邦小说和电影中看到这种特质，比如《1984》和《美丽新世界》。（正如下面同一位评论者所说，美国的学校建筑长期以来也深受这种仇恨人类的影响。它们崇尚“效率”、“成本意识”，以及其中可能崇拜的任何邪恶神灵。）

Ugliness is never accidental. Brutalist Washington wasn’t built to inspire citizens—it was built to dominate them. These concrete fortresses telegraph contempt for the public while draining taxpayers through endless “maintenance” of buildings nobody wants to occupy. Trump understands what the bureaucrats never will: beauty is authority. Classical design commands respect without force. It lifts morale, invites commerce, and signals civilizational confidence. The administrative state hates beauty because beauty implies purpose, hierarchy, and permanence. Reclaiming Washington’s aesthetics isn’t cosmetic—it’s counterrevolutionary. Tear down the concrete lies. Build structures worthy of a Republic that intends to endure.

丑陋绝非偶然。华盛顿的粗野主义建筑并非为了激励民众而建，而是为了统治他们。这些混凝土堡垒传递着对公众的蔑视，同时又通过无休止的“维护”来榨取纳税人的钱财，而这些建筑根本无人问津。特朗普明白官僚们永远无法理解的道理：美即权威。古典设计无需强权便能赢得尊重。它能提升士气，促进商业发展，并彰显文明的自信。行政国家憎恨美，因为美意味着目的、等级和永恒。重塑华盛顿的美学并非表面功夫，而是反革命之举。拆除混凝土的谎言，建造配得上一个旨在永续存在的共和国的建筑。

It's called Cultural Marxism. Crush the spirit with meaningless statues and ugly buildings, among all of its other crimes against humanity.

它被称为文化马ks主义。它用毫无意义的雕像和丑陋的建筑来摧残精神，这只是它反人类罪行的一部分。