前两天，听说一位同事老家是雄县的，好像家里还有几十亩地，现在已经被大家戏称为单位的“首富”了。雄安这个地方确实是彻底的火了，外媒也一直在关注，看了看经济学人、彭博和福布斯的网站，已经发了好几篇文章了。4月3日，彭博就发了《China Plan to Create New Shenzhen Spurs Speculative Rampage》，经济学人也在4月6日发了《A Plan To Build A City From Scratch That Will Dwarf New York》（这个标题放在文末解释），另外还有一些专栏。不妨就从中学一学怎么用英语谈论雄安新区吧。
雄安火了
UNTIL the start of this month, no one had ever heard of Xiongan. Today, it is the most talked-about place in China.
这个月月初以前，没人听说过雄安。现在，它是中国被谈论最多的地方。
非首都功能？
The development of the region will create an urban district in Hebei that will help move some of thenon-capital functionsaway from Beijing.
新区建设将在河北建立一个新城区，帮助疏解北京部分非首都功能。
Beijing will still serve as the capital. But businesses and universities unrelated to that function will be urged to move to Xiongan.
北京仍然是首都，但是与首都功能无关的商业和大学将被说服迁往雄安。
雄安有多大？
Initially, it willcover100 sq km, nearly twice the size of Manhattan. Eventually, the aim is to reach 2,000 sq km, more than twice as big as New York city or Singapore.
初期，新区面积100平方千米，大概相当于2个曼哈顿。其远期目标将达到2000平方千米，比2个纽约或新加坡还要大。
千年大计
The regional plan has been termed a “1000-year project”.
这一区域规划被称为一项“千年大计”。
拉动经济
This would be one of thecentrepiecesof a high-level development plan for theBeijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
这将是京津冀地区顶层发展规划中最重要的部分之一。
There are no blueprints yet anddetails are hazy, but it is sure toentaila massive amount of investment.
目前还没有建设蓝图，细节也尚未明确，但是可以肯定的一定会带来大量的投资。
hazy:uncertain
entail:to make something necessary, or to involve something
投资还是投机？
Within hours of the announcement about the new city,speculatorswereflocking tothe area’s existing property developments tobuy upwhatever was available.
新区建设的消息宣布不过几个小时，大量的投机者就蜂拥至雄安地区，把现有的房产项目只要能买到的统统收入囊中。
flock:to move or come together in large numbers
buy up:buy large amount of or all of something that is available
On Monday, shares of Chinese cement, building and port-related stocks surged in Hong Kongamid optimismthe decision willsparka flurry ofconstruction activity.
由于对这项决策可能在短期内刺激大量建设项目持乐观估计，周一，香港股市中中国水泥、建筑和港口的相关股票大涨。
spark:to cause the start of something
这张图连外国人都知道了？
One was aspoofad, written as if by someone from the countryside whose marriage prospects now look bright: “Male, 53, two acres in Xiongan, seeking woman, 25 or younger, beautiful, preferably with study-abroad experience”.
其中有一个征婚的广告段子，似乎是一个农民写的，他的婚事现在看起来是非常令人看好的：“男，53岁，在雄安有两亩地，寻一名女士，希望25岁以下，漂亮，有出国留学经历者优先。”
spoof:a funny piece of writing, music, theatre etc. that copies the style of an original work.
还是理智一些？
It would be unwise tobet all onXiongan’s rise.
如果把一切都押在雄安的崛起上可能不太明智。
Giventhe size of the Chinese economy, Xiongan will,even in the most bullish assessments,add less than half a percentage point to annual GDP growth while it is being built. And that is if all goes well.
考虑到中国经济的规模，即使作最乐观的估计，雄安的建设对中国经济的GDP贡献也不会超过0.5个百分点。前提是如果一切进展顺利的话。
bullish:be cheerful and optimistic about something
顺便推荐一下这两个资源吧，彭博是全球最大的财经资讯媒体，以经济评论见长，对经济感兴趣的可以长期关注。《经济学人》则应该是很多英语老师都推荐的，它的文章用词很讲究，句式也值得研究，翻译一篇文章能学到的单词、句式、文化典故等东西都不少，很花时间也很有意思，比如上面说的这个标题《A Plan To Build A City From Scratch That Will Dwarf New York》，from scratch的意思是“从头开始”，dwarf在西方玄幻小说里是很常见，“矮人”，做动词是“使……显得小”的意思，可以进一步引申为“使……相形见绌、黯然失色”的意思，很妙。
扯句闲的，大学时代追过一阵《经济学人》，参加过经济学人中文网论坛的翻译大赛，拿了个优秀奖（奖项里头最次的，哈哈），得过一个笔记本和一件POLO衫。现在这个论坛因为各种原因也不太活跃了，但是仍然可以获取《经济学人》最新的电子版和Mobi版读物。
PS.其他参考文章还有：
China Hopes Xiongan New Area Will Relieve Pressure On Congested Beijingby Sara Hsu from Fobes
The Hype About China's Newest Cityfrom The Economist
