「倫敦金融城的秘密(一)历史」- The (Secret) City of London, Part 1: HistoryThe Great City of London,伟大的伦敦城known for its historical landmarks, modern skyscrapers, ancient markets and famous bridges.以其历史地标现代摩天大楼古代集市和著名大桥而闻名It's arguably the financial capital of the world它无疑可以称得上是全世界的金融中心and home to over eleven thousand people.也是一个属于超过一万一千名民众的家园Wait, what? Eleven... thousand?慢着什么？一万……一千名？That's right: but the City of London is a different place from London,没错不过伦敦城跟伦敦是两个不同的地方though London is also known for its historical landmarks, modern skyscrapers, ancient markets, famous bridges尽管伦敦也是以其历史地标现代摩天大楼古代集市和著名大桥而闻名and is home to the government, royal family and seven million people.但它还是英国政府英国王室和七百万民众共同的家园But, if you look map of London crafted by a careful cartographer如果你去看看由严谨的制图师制作的伦敦地图that map will have a 1-square-mile hole near the middle.你会发现那个地图接近中央的位置会有一个一平方英里大的洞It's here where the City of London lives inside of the city named London.那就是伦敦城位于一个名叫伦敦的城市里面Despite these confusingly close names尽管这两个名字相似到容易混淆the two Londons have separate city halls and elect separate mayors,但这两个伦敦有各自的市政厅各自选举市长who collect separate taxes to fund separate police who enforce separate laws.他们各自收税给各自的警力拨款执行各自的法律The Mayor of the City of London has a fancy title伦敦城的市长有个尊贵的头衔"The Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor of London" to match his fancy outfit.“伦敦城市长大人阁下”来搭配他尊贵的服饰He also gets to ride in a golden carriage and work in a Guildhall他乘坐的是金色马车在伦敦城政厅里工作while the mayor of London has to wear a suit, ride a bike and work in an office building.而伦敦城长得穿西装套装骑自行车在办公楼里工作The City of London also has its own flag and its own crest伦敦城有自己的旗帜和市徽which is awesome and makes London's lack of either twice as sad.显得非常霸气的同时也让两个都没有的伦敦更加可怜To top it off, the City of London gets to act more like one of the countries in the UK除此以外伦敦城越来越像是英国的一个组成国than just an oddly located city而不只是一个地理位置古怪的城市for uniquely the corporation that runs the city of London is older than the United Kingdom by several hundred years.因为管理伦敦城的市政委员会的成立比英国还要早好几百年So how did the UK end up with two Londons, one inside of the other?那么英国最后究竟是怎样有了两个伦敦而其中一个在另一个之中的呢？Because: Romans.因为罗马人2,000 years ago they came to Great Britain, killed a bunch of druids, 两千年前他们来到大不列颠杀了一班德鲁伊教士and founded a trading post on the River Thames and named it Londinium.然后在泰晤士河边上创立了一个贸易点并把它命名为伦丁尼姆Being Romans they got to work doing what Romans do:作为罗马人他们就得让里面的人“入乡随俗”enforcing laws, increasing trade,施行法律扩大贸易building temples, public baths, roads, bridges and a wall to defend their work.建造庙宇公共浴池道路桥梁以及一道用来保护他们工作成果的城墙And it's this wall which is why the current City of London exists, 正是这座城墙使伦敦城得以保存至今for though the Romans came and the Romans went and kingdoms rose and kingdoms fell,尽管罗马人来来去去众多的王国兴起覆灭the wall endured protecting the city within.但城墙保存了下来把这个城市里的一切保护好And The City, governing itself and trading with the world, grew rich.而这个城市通过自身的有效管理和对外贸易变得日渐富有A thousand years after the Romans, yet still a thousand years ago,罗马人来了之后一千年也就是距今一千年when William the Conqueror came to Great Britain当征服者威廉踏入大不列颠的土地to conqueror everything and begin modern British history开始他的征服历程也开创了英国的新历史的时候he found the City of London, with its sturdy walls他发现征服有着坚固城墙保护的伦敦城more challenging to defeat than farmers on open fields.比征服农民那些未开发的田地更具挑战性So he agreed to recognize the rights and privileges City of Londoners were used to于是他同意让伦敦人承认威廉这个新国王的前提上in return for them recognizing him as the new King.作为回报他承认伦敦城的居民过去所拥有的权利和特权Though after the negotiation,磋商完成后William quickly built towers around the City of London威廉迅速在伦敦城外建造塔楼which were just as much about protecting William from the locals within旨在保护自身免受当地人的偷袭as defending against the Vikings from without.也是为了防御外来的维京海盗This started a thousand-year long tradition就这样伦敦城的独立成为了持续千年的传统whereby Monarchs always reconfirmed that 'yes',英国历朝历代的君主都以此承认the City of London is a special, unique place that's best left to its own business,伦敦城就是个独特的地方最好不要干涉他们的内政while simultaneously distrusting it.但同时这些君主并不信赖它Many a monarch thought the City of London was too powerful and rich.很多君主觉得伦敦城过于强大富有And one even built a new Capital city nearby, named Westminster,其中一个还在附近建造了一个新首都名叫威斯敏斯特to compete with the City of London and hopefully, suck power and wealth away from it.用它来与伦敦城竞争希望能偷取它的权力和财富This was the start of the second London.这就是伦敦的开始As the centuries passed,又过了几个世纪Westminster grew and mergedwith nearby towns威斯敏斯特不断扩张合并周边城镇eventually surrounding the walled-in, and still separate City of London.最后把在城墙内独立出来的伦敦城包围在内But, people began to call the whole urban collection "London"人们开始把整个合并起来的市区称作“伦敦”and the name became official当议会把这些城镇都合并起来when Parliament joined towns together under a single municipalgovernment with a mayor.归于一个市政府管理的时候“伦敦”这个名字就成为官方用语But, the mayor of London still doesn't have power over the tiny City of London但伦敦城长同样没有权力干涉伦敦城这个小小的城市which has rules and traditions like nowhere else in the country and possibly the world.它有自己的规则和传统在全国甚至全世界是找不到一个这样的城市了For example, the ruling monarch doesn't just enter the City of London on a whim,譬如在位的英国女王如果为了一时的心血来潮想进入伦敦城but instead asks for permission from the Lord Mayor at a ceremony.也要在礼节上获得伦敦城市长的许可While it's not required by law, the ceremony is, unusual to say the least.尽管法律没有这样的规定但礼节是必要的至少可以说这样不太寻常The City of London also has a representative in Parliament, The Remembrancer,伦敦城在议会上有一名代表作为伦敦城议会代表whose job it is to protects the City's special rights.他的职责是保护该城的特殊权益Because of this, laws passed by Parliament sometimes don't apply to the City of London:因为国会通过的法律有时并不适用于伦敦城most notably voting reforms, which we'll discuss next time.尤其是投票改革这个我们下次再讨论But if you're curious for preview, unlike anywhere else in the UK,如果你对以上内容感到好奇它而不像英国其他地方那样elections in the City of London involve Medieval Guilds and modern companies.伦敦城的选举制度牵涉到中世纪的行会和现代企业Finally, the City of London also owns and operates land and buildings far outside its border,最后伦敦城在境外拥有并管理很多土地和建筑making it quite wealthy.这让它十分富有Once you start looking for The City's Crest you'll find it in lots of unexpected places,如果你去寻找伦敦城的市徽你会在很多意想不到的地方发现它most notably on Tower Bridge which, while being in London is operated by City of London,最著名的是塔桥虽然地处伦敦却被伦敦城管辖These crests everywhere when combined with the City of London's age and wealth and quasi-independent status当无处不在的市徽和伦敦城的历史财富还有半独立状态联系在一起的时候make it an irresistible temptation for conspiracy nuts.他们就成了阴谋论者不可抗拒的诱惑Add in the oldest Masonic temple再加上最古老的共济会教堂and it's not long before the crazy part of the Internet starts yelling about不久前一些网络上的疯子叫嚣着secret societies controlling the world via the finance industry from inside the City-state of London.伦敦城里的秘密组织正通过金融产业控制着整个世界And don't forget the reptilian alien Queen who's really behind it all.而且别忘了是爬行动物怪伪装成的外星女王在操控着一切But conspiracy theories aside,但撇开阴谋论不说the City of London is not an independent nation like the Vatican is,伦敦城不像梵蒂冈那样是独立的国家no matter how much you might read it on the Internet,不管你从网上读到了什么rather it's a unique place in the United Kingdom with a long and very complicated history.这是一个在英国内有着相当漫长而且复杂历史的地方The wall that began all this 2,000 years ago is now mostly gone,那座2000年前筑起来的城墙现在已多半不复存在so the border between London and its secret inner city isn't so obvious.以致伦敦和伦敦城之间的界限并不是很明显Though, next time you're in London,不过若你下次来到伦敦if you come across a small dragon on the street,碰巧在街上看见一只小龙he still guards the entrance to the city in a city in a country in a country.它还在守卫着这个进入国中国里城中城的入口。
