VOA慢速英语：到纽约,一定要参观老市政厅地铁站

The first subway station in New York City was designed to be a masterpiece and was considered a "jewel in the crown" when it opened.

纽约市第一座地铁站的设计堪称杰作，启用时被誉为 "皇冠上的明珠"。

The trains in New York City's public transportation system, its subway, mostly run underground. Today, the main concern of subway designers is that their systems work correctly.

纽约市的公共交通系统，即地铁，大部分在地下运行。如今，地铁设计师主要关心的是他们的系统是否能正常工作。

New York's subway opened in 1904. City Hall Station was one of New York City's first underground subway stations. Now called Old City Hall Station, it was built during a time when many public buildings and spaces were designed to appear majestic. The goal was to demonstrate that New York could compete culturally with great European cities, sometimes called metropolises.

纽约地铁于1904年开通。市政厅站是纽约市最早的地下地铁站之一。它现在被称为老市政厅站，建于许多公共建筑和空间被设计得宏伟壮观的时代。其目的是证明纽约可以与欧洲大城市(有时被称为大都市)相媲美。

It was a statement that New York City had arrived at the level of the great European metropolises like London and Paris, Rome, Madrid... that New York City was taking its place as a world city, said Clifton Hood. Hood is a history professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

“这表明纽约市已经达到了伦敦、巴黎、罗马、马德里等欧洲大都市的水平……纽约正在成为一个世界城市.”克利夫顿·胡德说道。胡德是纽约日内瓦霍巴特和威廉史密斯学院的历史教授。

Inside Old City Hall Station, the top is not flat in shape but curved instead. The walls rise up to create a high, round shape known as a vault. Square pieces of glass, called tiles, shine. Some of the lights in the station are called chandeliers. These are beautiful hanging lights that hold many individual light bulbs and look like huge pieces of jewelry.

在老市政厅车站内，顶部不是平的，而是弯曲的。墙壁上升形成一个高而圆的形状，称为拱顶。被称为瓷砖的方形玻璃碎片闪闪发光。车站里有一些叫做吊灯的灯具。这些美丽的悬挂灯具装有许多独立的灯泡，看起来就像一件巨大的珠宝。

Polly Desjarlais is with the New York Transit Museum. She said she was "blown away" when she first saw the old station. She used words like "lovely, elegant and really unique space" to describe the station.

波利·德贾莱就职于纽约交通博物馆。她说，当她第一次看到这个老车站时，就“被震撼了”。她用“可爱、优雅、真正独特的空间”来形容这个车站。

I've heard [the station] be described as a celebration of curves, because there are a lot of curves. Everything is sort-of rounded, Desjarlais said.

“我听说(这个车站)被形容为曲线的庆典，因为这里有很多曲线，一切都是圆润的。”德贾莱说。

But those beautiful curves are why the station is no longer part of the normal subway system. Its rounded platform cannot fit long trains.

但正因为车站的这些美丽的曲线，它已经不再是正常地铁系统的一部分了。它的圆形站台无法容纳长长的列车。

The platform at City Hall is really curved. It's a very, very tight curve, and the platform itself is just over 200 feet long. So, it's short, Desjarlais said. "As the subway got busier... trains got longer, and we added cars... We were growing those platforms and making them longer..."

“市政厅的站台是弯的，它是一个非常非常紧的弯，站台本身只有200多英尺长，很短。”德雅莱说。“随着地铁越来越繁忙……列车越来越长，我们增加了车厢……我们不断扩大这些站台，让它们变得更长……”

Although it is no longer part of the subway system, Old City Hall Station is still being used. One train line, the No. 6, uses the Old City Hall Station to turn around. And while the public cannot enter the station from the street, the members of the New York Transit Museum can see the station a few times a year at a cost of about $50.

虽然它不再是地铁系统的一部分，但老市政厅站仍在使用。有一条6号线需要在老市政厅站掉头。虽然公众不能从街上进入车站，但纽约交通博物馆的会员每年可以参观几次，费用约为 50 美元。

Over the years, there have been ideas to make the old station a restaurant or a place for travelers to the city to visit. However, security concerns put those ideas to rest. Today, the unofficial way for the public to see the old station is by taking the No. 6 train and staying on after the last stop. Then, the train turns around at the Old City Hall Station, and riders will be able to see the majestic space.

多年来，一直有人想把这个老车站变成一个餐馆，或供游客参观的地方。然而，出于安全考虑，这些想法被搁置了。如今，公众参观老车站的非正式方式是乘坐6号线，在最后一站后继续乘坐。然后，列车在老市政厅站掉头，乘客就能够看到这个雄伟的空间了。

I'm Caty Weaver.

卡蒂·韦弗报道。