4. Golden Gate Bridge — A Symbol of San Francisco 金门大桥——旧金山的象征

The bridge opened to vehicle traffic on May 28,1937. This is One of the longest suspension bridge in the world, as many as one hundred twelve thousand cars make the trip each day.

金门大桥是世界上最长的悬索桥之一，它于1937年5月28日通车，每天的车流量大约有11.2万辆。

●The detail of Golden Gate Bridge 金门大桥的点点滴滴

The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension span in the world, at the time it was built. The suspended roadway stretches one thousand two hundred eighty meters between the bridge's two tall towers. Today it still rates among the top ten longest bridge spans in existence.

The Golden Gate Bridge is named after the Golden Gate Strait. That narrow passage of water connects the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge project. Work began in 1933. The project took four years to complete.

The bridge is 2788m long from one end to the other. It is 27m wide. Two large cables pass over the top of the bridge's towers. These structures stand 227m above water and 152m above the road. Each cable holds more than 27500 strands of wire.

250 pairs of vertical suspender ropes connect the support cables to the suspension bridge. This is part of what enables the bridge to move up and down by nearly five meters.

The Golden Gate Bridge weighed 81.15 million tons when it was completed in 1937. The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper called the finished project, "a 35 million dollar steel harp!"

Architect Irving Morrow gets credit for the bridge's bright orange color. The Navy wanted the bridge painted in yellow and black. The Air Force had suggested red and white.

金门大桥两座高塔之间的悬浮路面长达1280米。是当时世界上跨度最长的桥，今天仍是现存的世界十大长桥之一。

金门大桥因金门海峡而得名，这条窄窄的水域连接旧金山湾到太平洋。约瑟夫·施特劳斯是金门大桥项目的首席工程师，这项工程开始于1933年，耗时4年时间完成。

这座大桥两头之间的距离是2788米，宽27米。两根巨大的绳索越过桥塔，整个工程离水面227米，离路面152米。每根绳索由27500多股金属丝组成。

250对垂直吊索将支撑钢缆与吊桥连接起来。这就是大桥能够上下移动近5米的部分原因。

金门大桥1937年完工时，重量为81.15万吨。《旧金山纪事报》称这项完工的项目为“价值3500万美元的钢铁竖琴。”

建筑师欧文·莫罗因为大桥的亮橙色广受赞誉。海军曾希望这座大桥涂成黄色和黑色，空军则曾建议涂成红色和白色。

●Aesthetics of the Golden Gate Bridge 金门大桥的建筑美学

The color of the bridge is officially an orange vermillion called international orange. The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog.

Aesthetics was the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon resubmission of his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers. In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

金门大桥桥身的颜色是国际橘，因建筑师欧文·莫罗认为此色既和周边环境协调，又可使大桥在金门海峡常见的大雾中显得更醒目。

约瑟夫·施特劳斯的设计方案因为美感问题被否决后，他又重新提交了新的方案，他补充了一些细节如照明，以描绘大桥的电缆和桥塔等。1999年，金门大桥被美国建筑工程师协会评为美国最受欢迎的大桥第五位。

●Fort Point 尖兵堡

Fort Point is located at the southern side of the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. This fort was completed just before the American Civil War, to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships.

The fort is now protected as Fort Point National Historic Site, a United States National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service as a unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

尖兵堡位于金门大桥在旧金山湾的南入口处。这个堡垒是美国南北战争前建成的，是为了防御敌对军舰的攻击，保卫旧金山海湾而建的。

尖兵堡目前是被美国国家官方保护的国家历史遗迹，而该遗迹现由美国国家公园管理局管辖，目前是金门大桥国家旅游区的一部分。

●Golden Gate in "2012" 电影《2012》中的金门大桥

The bridge can be seen in the background when the cruise ship Genesis surges against the pier from an earthquake, although it is in the location of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

虽然金门大桥在电影中位于旧金山湾大桥，但是可以在大背景中看到游船在地震中被冲到金门大桥桥墩上的景象。

●Golden Gate Bridge's 50th Birthday 金门大桥50华诞

It was San Francisco's biggest event ever. As many as 800, 000 people crowded together on the Golden Gate Bridge.

They wanted to be a part of the history of the bridge.

The crowd broke all the records. There were many more people than anyone had expected.

The party was for the 50th anniversary of the bridge opening.

The Golden Gate Bridge was famous when it was built.

Today, it is a beautiful landmark of San Francisco.

The party began with a walk across the bridge that started at sunrise.

One woman said, "This is the greatest day in the history of San Francisco. There's no better day to walk the bridge."

The bridge walk lasted four hours.

Many people felt the bridge move in the wind as the crowd walked across.

The sunrise walk was just the beginning of a full day of games, concerts and a parade of old cars.

Some of the people and cars crossed the bridge on the opening day fifty years ago.

Many of the older folks walked across the bridge when it opened in 1937.

Some came back with their grandchildren. Endless Love.

This is a very beautiful statue. What's it called?

It's called "Endless Love".

It was a gift from a sister city in Australia for the 100th anniversary of the city.

100th anniversary? When was that?

Just two months ago. There were very big celebrations and there was a spectacular fireworks display.

I took part in the great parade myself.

Sounds real good. It's a pity that I missed that.

Yes. We all loved the celebration of our city's birthday.

It made the people feel so proud of our city.

这是旧金山有史以规模最大的盛事，有80万人聚集在金门大桥上。

他们想成为大桥历史的一部分。

人数之众超出了所有人的预料，打破了所有纪录。

聚会是为了庆祝大桥开通50周年举行的。

早在修建之初，金门大桥就声名远扬，

如今它更是旧金山美丽的标志。

庆祝活动的第一项是在日出时步行穿越大桥。

一位女士说：“这是旧金山历史上最伟大的一天，这也是穿越大桥的最佳时机。”

穿越活动持续了4小时。

很多人感到在过桥时大桥在风中晃动。

日出之行只是庆祝活动的序幕，随之而来的是一整天的游戏、音乐会和古董车游行。

参加活动的人与车中有一些在50年前大桥开通之日就曾在桥上通行。

许多年长一些的人在1937年大桥刚刚开通进来过这里，

现在他们有些是带孙子孙女故地重游。无尽的爱。

这尊美丽的雕塑它叫什么名字？

它叫“无尽的爱”。

它是城市百年华诞的时候，澳大利亚的一个友好城市赠送的礼物。

●Golden Gate: Dangerous Beauty 金门大桥：危险的美景

KEVIN HINES, a manic-depressive, was 19 and in one of his weekly downswings on an overcast monday morning in 2000. He went to the nearby Golden Gate Bridge to kill himself mostly because, with only a four-foot (1.2-metre) railing to leap, "I figured it was the easiest way." He dived over, but flipped and hit the water at 75mph with his feet first. His legs were crushed, but he somehow stayed conscious and started paddling with his upper body until the Coast Guard fished him out.

Mr. Hines is one of 26 people who have survived suicide attempts at the bridge, but 1,223 are known to have succeeded (i.e., were seen jumping or found floating). People are throwing themselves off the bridge at the rate of two a month, which makes it the most popular place in the world for suicides. One book on the subject says that the Golden Gate is "to suicide what Niagara Falls is to honeymooners".

Many San Franciscans think that the solution is to emulate the Empire State Building, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, St Peter's basilica and other such places and put up a simple barrier. This, however, is a decision for the 19 board members of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, an entity that oversees the bridge itself and the buses and ferries that operate in the area. Most of its revenues come from tolls and fares, and the district loses money. A barrier would cost between $15m and $25m.

So the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California, which has adopted the barrier as its cause, considers it a success that the board has merely allowed a feasibility study, for which various private and public donors have raised $2m. Mel Blaustein, a director at the foundation, has heard several arguments against a barrier over the years—too ugly, too expensive, and so forth—but the most persistent has been that people would simply kill themselves somewhere else, so why bother? This is nonsense, he says; "Most suicides are impulsive and preventable." A bridge without a barrier, adds Pat Hines, Kevin's father, is"like leaving a loaded gun in the psychiatric ward."

凯文·海因斯是一个19岁的狂躁抑郁症患者。在2000年一个天气阴沉的星期一早晨，他像往常一样感到浑身不得劲。于是，他走到附近的金门大桥，之所以选择在那里了断余生，主要是因为只需要翻过一排4英尺（1.2米）高的栏杆，“我觉得这样自杀最简单。”他越过栏杆，纵身跳下，但在空中翻了几个跟头之后，他的脚先碰到了水面，腿摔折了，不过意识还有些清醒，于是上身开始用力扑腾，直到海岸巡逻队队员把他捞上岸。

在金门大桥自杀未遂的一共有26人，海因斯就是其中之一，不过据知还有1223人都“成功”了（也就是说，人们目睹他们跳入海中或者发现他们的尸体漂浮在海上）。每个月就有两人从这座桥上跳下，它也因此成为世界上最有名的自杀场所。对此，有一本书写到，金门大桥“之于自杀者的意义就如同尼亚加拉瀑布之于度蜜月的人”。

许多旧金山人认为，解决这一问题的办法就是要仿效帝国大厦、悉尼港湾大桥、埃菲尔铁塔、圣彼得大教堂和其他一些地方的做法，建造一个简易的防自杀屏障。不过，这要由金门大桥高速公路运输行政部门（负责监管大桥以及该地区营运公车和渡船的机构）董事会的19名董事来拿主意。该部门的收入主要来自过路过桥费和车船乘载费，但通常都入不敷出，而修建防自杀屏障将耗资1500万—2500万美元。

尽管董事会只是同意就修建防自杀屏障开展可行性研究，而且许多私人和政府也为此捐助了200万美元。但是热衷于修建防自杀屏障的北加利福尼亚精神病基金会认为，这说明事情有了进展。多年来，基金会主管梅尔·布劳斯特恩屡次听到反对修建防自杀屏障的声音，说那样太不美观、太昂贵，等等，不过说得最多的还是，人们完全可以在别的地方自杀，何必管太多呢？他说，这是一派胡言：“大多数人自杀都是出于一时冲动，完全是可以阻止的。”凯文的父亲帕特·海因斯也说，一座没有防自杀屏障的桥，就“好比把一支装好子弹的枪丢到精神病房里。”