譯/李京倫 Children splashed in a shallow pool in Boston Common as a guide in a tricorner hat led a tour last week, pointing out Revolutionary War sites. Yet here, in the nation's oldest park, some people worry that this city is closing in around its open spaces, with skyscrapers blanketing its parks in shadow.
上周，波士頓公園裡一群孩子在淺池裡嬉戲，頭戴三角帽的導遊則領著遊客參觀，指給他們看美國獨立戰爭時期的遺址。不過，就在這座美國最古老的公園裡，有些人擔心波士頓正在一步步包圍開放空間，讓摩天大樓為公園覆上陰影。
"It's going to be hidden, buried within the buildings," Sonuschka Pierre-Mike, 38, said of the beloved Common, as she strolled through it the other day.
Boston is riding the crest of what city officials say is the biggest building boom in its history, with cranes lifting glassy towers into place and raising the city's unassuming profile.
幾天前，38歲的索努許卡．皮耶爾—邁克散步穿越波士頓公園，談到深受人們喜愛的公園時說：「它就要被隱藏、隱身於高樓大廈之間了」。
波士頓正在經歷市府官員所謂該市史上最大一波建築熱潮的巔峰。起重機搭建起一座座玻璃帷幕大樓，也推高了這城市原本低調的輪廓。
The surge of construction is also plunging some of its most cherished sites into deepening shadow, testing state laws that have long balanced economic development with protection of sunlight and open space.
波士頓大興土木也讓一些最受珍視的景點蒙上日益濃厚的陰影，也讓一向在經濟發展和保護日照與開放空間之間求取平衡的麻州法律面對考驗。
The concern is not merely about preserving a glimpse of sky in the increasingly vertical downtown or about the risks of darkness to plants, historic buildings and even humans. It is also about whether the city is going down a road of no return by trading away, one piece at a time, its intangible assets, like sunlight on its signature parks and public access to its gleaming waterfront.
人們關注的不僅是在日漸高樓密布的市中心保留瞥見天空的機會，也不僅是黑暗可能對植物、歷史建築甚至人類造成的危害。人們同時關注的是，這個城市是否已走上一點一點地變賣無形資產的不歸路，譬如賣掉指標性公園裡的陽光和大眾接近波光粼粼海濱的機會。
"A booming economy is always hard on heritage and heritage values," said Jean Carroon, a preservation architect at the firm Goody Clancy, who is helping to restore the historic Trinity Church in Copley Square.
史蹟保護專業建築師珍·卡魯恩說：「經濟繁榮總是不利於歷史遺產保護和傳統價值延續。」卡魯恩在「古迪．克蘭西」建築事務所工作，目前正在修復波士頓科普利廣場上的三一堂。
Boston has been transforming itself through bursts of construction since colonial days. By the 1970s, as the city became denser and buildings rose higher, residents opposed a proposed downtown skyscraper that would have thrown long shadows across the Common and the adjacent and equally beloved Public Garden. That protest led to the state's passage of laws in the 1990s that restricted new buildings, outside one downtown district, from casting shadows on the two parks for more than one hour a day.
波士頓從英國殖民統治時期開始，就透過一陣陣的建築潮改頭換面。到了1970年代，由於波士頓人口越來越稠密，樓房越建越高，居民反對在市中心建造一棟摩天大樓的提議，因為高樓會在波士頓公園和鄰近且同樣受喜愛的公共花園裡投下長長的陰影。這股抗議潮使麻州在1990年代立法規定，波士頓市中心外新建的高樓每天在兩座公園裡投下陰影的時間不得超過一小時。
For a quarter-century, those laws worked, allowing development while limiting shadow creep.
But now, as part of the city's latest rush of construction, the developer Millennium Partners has proposed a $1 billion skyscraper that could soar 775 feet — and cast new shadows lasting 90 minutes or more on the Common and the Public Garden.(Katharine Q. Seelye)
25年來，這些法律一直發揮了效用，既讓城市發展，又限制了高樓陰影蔓延。
但如今，在波士頓最新一波建築大潮中，開發商「千禧夥伴」提議用10億美元建造一座高達775英尺（約236公尺）的摩天大廈，這座高樓向波士頓公園和公共花園裡投下陰影的時間將長達90分鐘以上。
說文解字看新聞
本文討論波士頓是否可以為了發展經濟而變賣無形資產（intangible assets），也就是犧牲將大眾原本可隨時享有大片天空、充分日照和波光粼粼的海邊的無形權利。
有個相關詞「日照權」（right to enjoy sunshine）。燦爛陽光是人人應享的基本權利，日本重視日照權，甚至將日照權寫入憲法，日本憲法第25條規定：「居民為擁有健康文明的生活，有權利享受陽光。」建築基準法也規定建商不能侵犯鄰居的日照權，在日本，因侵害日照權遭法院勒令停工或賠償的建商不計其數。
road of no return是不歸路，有個相關詞「禁止折返點」（point of no return），一架飛機在飛行途中若飛過這一點，剩餘油料就不足以讓飛機回到出發地，只能繼續往目的地飛，引申為不可能回頭或情況不可能逆轉的關鍵點。
