Blood Line
血统
Mohammed bin Salman unveils an absurd answer to the question "What's next?"
穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼对“下一步是什么?”这个问题给出了荒谬的答案
By Robert F. Worth
文/罗伯特·F·沃尔斯
To the rest of the world, Saudi Arabia may look like a quasi-medieval kingdom where women still struggle for basic rights, where bearded clerics run the courts and where convicts are routinely beheaded by sword in public.
在其他国家看来,沙特阿拉伯看起来像是一个准中世纪的王国,那里的妇女仍在为基本权利而斗争,那里留着胡须的神职人员管理着法庭,罪犯通常在公共场合被剑斩首。
But the Saudi monarchy - like its neighbors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi - has long cherished dreams of leapfrogging into a high-tech future.
但是沙特的君主制——就像它在迪拜和阿布扎比一样——长期以来一直怀有跃进高科技未来的梦想。
The last Saudi king created plans for six new cities in the desert, all billed as transformative steps toward a world beyond oil.
上一任沙特国王为沙漠中的六座新城市制定了计划,所有这些都被宣传为朝着“不仅是石油”的世界迈出的变革性一步。
Now the Saudis have announced a fantasy that makes all their previous efforts look tame.
现在沙特宣布了一个空想,使他们之前的所有努力看起来都很平淡。
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, released a short film in January outlining his plans for the Line, a postmodern ecotopia to be built on the kingdom's northwest coast.
实权领导人穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼王储在一月份发布了一部短片,概述了他对The Line的计划——在沙特西北海岸修建的后现代生态乌托邦。
It will be a narrow urban strip 106 miles long with no roads, no cars and no pollution.
它将成为一条106英里长的狭窄的城市地带,没有道路,没有汽车,没有污染。
M.B.S., as the crown prince is known, plans to pour $500 billion into the Line and related projects, which is a lot of money even by Saudi standards.
众所周知,MBS计划向该项目投入5000亿美元,即使按照沙特的标准,这也是一大笔钱。
He calls the Line a "civilizational revolution" to be inhabited by one million people "from all over the world."
他把该项目称为“文明革命”,将有100万“来自世界各地”的人居住。
Why anyone would want to move there, and why a city should be shaped like a strand of capellini, is anyone's guess.
为什么有人会想搬到那里,为什么一个城市应该被规划成天使细面的形状,人们都在猜测。
译文由可可原创,仅供学习交流使用,未经许可请勿转载。