5.中国鄂尔多斯
The city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, has been called the largest ghost town in China. It was built to accommodate more than a million people, but only 2 percent of it was ever occupied. The remainder is unoccupied and was left to decay. The history of the town began more than 20 years ago during the coal rush of Mongolia. Investors soon began building apartments, hoping to rent them out. However, demand didn't keep pace with the builders, and many investors pulled out or went broke before the buildings were even completed.
中国内蒙古的鄂尔多斯，一直都被称为"中国最大的鬼城"。当时，鄂尔多斯建设的目标是容纳超过100万人口，但是迄今为止，只有百分之二的区域投入使用。剩下的区域则成了空城，自生自灭。这座城的历史起源于20多年前在蒙古的煤矿热潮。热潮下，投资者很快就开始建造房屋，希望把它们租出去。无奈房屋供过于求，甚至在楼房还没有完工的时候，很多投资者就已经撤资或者破产了。
Today, streets are filled with incomplete houses. Even the completed buildings are hardly occupied thanks to their high prices. Many of the residents occupying the town are also leaving for elsewhere. In just five years, price per square foot fell from $1,100 to $470. To encourage people to come to the town, investors have reduced prices. Fresh graduates who move to the town to start a business are even given office space, Internet connections, and several other utilities for free.
今天，在街道上，目之所及都是"烂尾楼"。即使是已经完工的房子也由于房价高昂而几乎无人认购。很多当地的居民也正搬离这座城而到它处落脚。仅仅在五年内，房价就从每平方英尺1100美元跌到470美元。这是投资者为了吸引人们来鄂尔多斯安居而使出的权宜之计。那些来鄂尔多斯创业的高校毕业生甚至能免费享用办公室、网络和其他设备。
4.挪威朗伊尔城
Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen in Norway is the northernmost city in the world. It contains the world's northernmost church, ATM, museum, post office, airport, and university. In Longyearbyen, dying is forbidden. Anyone found ill or dying is immediately flown by airplane or ship to another part of Norway before he or she passes away. And, if someone suddenly dies there, they would not be buried.
朗伊尔城，坐落在挪威的斯匹次卑尔根岛（译者注：挪威所属斯瓦尔巴群岛中最大的岛屿，靠近北极），是世界上最北端的城市。"最北"的教堂、自动取款机、博物馆、邮局、飞机场和大学也都在此地。在朗伊尔城，死亡是被禁止的。任何人一旦被发现患有重病或濒死就会在死亡前被马上通过飞机和船只送到挪威的其它地方去。如果有人在朗伊尔城暴毙，那么他们将不得被埋葬。
Dying is forbidden because bodies buried in the town's cemetery do not decompose thanks to its extreme cold weather. Scientists recently removed tissue from a man who died years ago, and discovered that it contained traces of a deadly virus that caused an epidemic in 1917. Aside from not being allowed to die, citizens are also allowed to move around with high-powered rifles, thanks to the over 3,000 polar bears hanging around. Cats are also forbidden because they pose a threat to the bird population.
死亡之所以被禁止，是因为在当地严寒的天气条件下，埋葬在墓地里的躯体无法分解。最近，科学家从一名已死亡多年的男人的身上取出组织并且发现上面有病毒附着过的痕迹。这种病毒就是引发1917年瘟疫的罪魁祸首。除了死亡是被禁止之外，在户外活动时携带火力大的步枪却是被允许的，这要归因于那3000多只在城里闲逛的北极熊。虽然在这里连死掉都是不允许的，但居民却可以随身携带大口径步枪，这是为了对付那3000多只此地出没的北极熊。然而猫是不允入内的，因为这会对鸟群构成威胁。
3.Asymmetric Warfare Training Center (AWTC) Virginia
3.弗吉尼亚非对称作战训练中心
The Asymmetric Warfare Training Center (AWTC) in Virginia is an uninhabited town built by the US Army to train its soldiers. The town is complete with a school, church, mosque, train station, and a five-story embassy that's likely the tallest building in Virginia's Caroline County, where it is located. It also has a gas station, football field, bank, subway, and bridge. The school is built to replicate schools in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the subway resembles that of Washington, D.C. The trains even have the same logo as those found on trains in Washington. Costing $90.1 million to build, it is run by the US Army Asymmetric Warfare Group.
位于弗尼吉亚的非对称作战中心是个无人居住的地方，它被建造起来是为了满足美国军队训练士兵的需要。这个小镇设施完备，有学校、教堂、清真寺、火车站和五层楼高的大使馆。大使馆很可能是它所在的弗吉尼亚卡罗琳县的最高建筑。同时，这里还有加油站、足球场、银行、铁路和大桥。学校是仿照伊拉克和阿富汗的学校来建造的，而地铁则与华盛顿的相近，甚至连（地铁）列车上的标志也跟华盛顿的一模一样。这里的铁路由非对称作战训练中心运营，建造铁路的总花费为9千万美元。
Another similar town is called Yodaville. It was built in the middle of the Arizona desert by the US Air Force. The uninhabited town, built to look like towns in Iraq and Afghanistan, is meant to teach Air Force pilots how to carry out bombing runs.
另外一个与之相似的城镇叫尤德瓦（Yodaville）。它由美国空军建造，坐落在亚利桑那州的沙漠中心。这个仿造伊拉克和阿富汗建造的无人居住的城镇，是用来训练空军飞行员执行投弹任务的。
2.Marloth Park South Africa
2.南非玛洛斯公园
Marloth Park is close to the Kruger National Park, which is filled with wildlife including lions, hippopotamuses, and crocodiles. What makes the town unique is that, despite the dangers of having these wild animals close by, residents are not allowed to build fences around their houses. The only fence that separates the townspeople from the park is a small 1.2-meter (4 ft) fence that was built more to keep humans out of the park than to keep the animals in.
玛洛斯公园靠近克留格尔国家公园，是狮子，河马和鳄鱼等众多野生动物的聚集地。在玛洛斯，有一点很奇特的就是居民不允许在房子周围建造栅栏，尽管来自野生动物的危险近在眼前。唯一一道将居民和野生动物活动区隔开的围栏仅有1.2米（4英寸）高。它更像是为了不让居民踏入野生动物活动区而建造的，而不是为了防止动物进来。
It is not unusual to see wild animals walking about the town. Baboons are known to enter houses through windows to steal from the refrigerators, and giraffes and elephants are known to block the road. Lion attacks on humans are also not uncommon. Eyebrows were raised when a lion attacked, killed, and ate a burglar fleeing with his loot, leaving only his head and a foot. Even after the deadly attack, most of the town's occupants want the lions to remain. Some said the burglar was shot while escaping, and his corpse was eaten by lions. Others said the lions would serve as a form of crime control for the town, which was seeing a rise in burglary.
看到野生动物在城镇里游荡一点儿也不稀奇。狒狒因为通过窗户爬入屋内从冰箱里偷东西而"臭名昭著"；长颈鹿和大象由于经常挡道而出了名；狮子袭击人类也见怪不怪。但如果告诉你一头狮子袭击并吃掉了一个正准备裹着赃物逃之夭夭的窃贼，最后只留下了他的头和腿，你可能会瞪大眼睛。即使在致命的攻击事件发生之后，城镇里绝大部分的居民都希望狮子留下来。有些人说，那个窃贼是在逃跑时被枪击了，狮子吃的是他的尸体。其他人则表示在盗窃越发猖獗的年头，狮子能够起到控制当地犯罪的作用。
Cyclists are often the victims of attacks. This belies underlying race issues in the town, as most of the town's residents are white and have cars, while the bicyclists are mostly black people who commute there for work. One cyclist managed to escape an ambush staged by four lions, abandoning his bicycle and fleeing to safety. Townsmen have nicknamed people riding bicycles at night "meals on wheels."
骑自行车的人经常会遭到狮子袭击。这掩饰了城镇里潜在的种族问题，因为大多数的居民都是白人而且都有小车，而那些骑自行车的大多是在上班路上的黑人。有一位骑车的人成功从四头狮子"谋划"的伏击中逃脱出来，他扔下了自行车，逃到了安全的地方。城镇里的人打趣道，那些在夜里骑车的人是"轮子上的晚餐"。
1.中国哈尔斯塔特
The real Hallstat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Austria. The Chinese Hallstat is a similar mock-up town built in Guangdong province, China. The town, which cost about $940 million to build, looks like the real Hallstat, including its roads, church tower, and wooden houses. The town's construction was sponsored by a Chinese millionaire, and it caused quite a stir among residents of the real Hallstat who were not aware of the project.
真正的哈尔斯塔特位于奥地利，被联合国教科文组织列为世界文化遗产。中国版的哈尔斯塔特位于中国广东，是模仿真实的哈尔斯塔特而建成的。建造这座小城花费了9.4亿美元，城里的街道、塔型教堂和木屋都跟原型相差无几。这座小城由一个有钱的中国人投资建造。当时，哈尔斯特塔特的居民都不了解这项工程。这则新闻在当地引发了不小的轰动。
Residents of Austria's Hallstat (including the mayor) later visited the town. They said they were proud that their town was copied (it wasn't like they could do anything about it), but they did not like the way the Chinese went about it. They were supposed to have met with the owners of the buildings they copied and asked if they were comfortable with the idea of replicating their buildings elsewhere, rather than just building them. The company that built the mock-up town, called Minmetals, had sent several of its workers to Austria's Hallstat where they took pictures of places to replicate.
奥地利哈尔斯塔特的居民，包括他们的市长，在后来参观了在中国的"胞城"。他们对于自己的城镇被复制到其它地方感到很骄傲（不过他们似乎要拦也拦不住），但是他们不喜欢中国人的行事方式。他们认为，中国人应该到他们的城镇去问问那里的居民他们是否反感自己的城市在他乡被复制下来，而不是招呼不打就直接开工。承建这座"胞城"的是中国五矿集团。他们派员工到奥地利拍摄各种照片，并根据照片进行"复制"建造。
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