挖出一条河的城市

首尔市中心有一条河，曾在黑暗中度过了半个世纪。清溪川过去在城市中心公开流淌，但在战后的几十年里，它逐渐受到污染，两岸挤满了简陋的棚屋，于是政府把它埋了起来。混凝土盖住了河水，到了二十世纪七十年代，一条高架公路又轰隆隆地压在混凝土之上。这条河成了车流之下的一个传说。

In the middle of Seoul, there is a river that spent half a century in the dark. The Cheonggyecheon stream once ran openly through the heart of the city, but in the decades after the war it became polluted and crowded with shacks, so the city buried it. Concrete went over the water, and by the 1970s an elevated highway roared above the concrete. The river became a rumour underneath the traffic.

到了二零零三年，首尔做了一件看似倒行逆施的事：开始拆除高架公路，把河流重新挖掘出来。工程师们拆除了道路，恢复了将近六公里长的河道，并沿着河岸修建了步道、踏脚石和桥梁。批评者说，城市正在为了一件装饰品而拆掉有用的基础设施。项目还是继续推进，河流在二零零五年重新开放。

Then, in 2003, Seoul did something that seemed almost backwards: it began demolishing the highway to dig the river back out. Engineers removed the roads, restored almost six kilometres of the stream, and built walkways, stepping stones, and bridges along the banks. Critics said the city was destroying useful infrastructure for a decoration. The project pressed on anyway, and the stream reopened in 2005.

结果连最乐观的人也感到意外。五十年未见阳光的河水里，重新出现了鱼类、鸟类和昆虫。夏天，沿河一带的气温比旁边平行道路低了好几度，仿佛一台天然空调，在这座城市最密集的区域里运转着。如今，每年有数百万人在河岸边散步，其中许多人年纪太轻，根本不记得自己最喜欢的首尔角落，曾经是一条高架公路的桥下。

The results surprised even the optimists. Fish, birds, and insects returned to water that had not seen sunlight in fifty years. Summer temperatures along the stream measured several degrees cooler than on the parallel roads nearby, a natural air conditioner running through the densest part of the city. Today millions of people walk the banks every year, many of them too young to remember that their favourite place in Seoul was once the underside of a highway.