【BBC伦敦一览】威廉·布雷克的预言

英语自学网

HINTS：
        William Blake
        neo-classical
        Georgian
At the end of the 18th century, poet and visionary William Blake, prophesied a city where awfulness and wonder become the same thing. Industrialisation, the machine age and the railways would transform the look and the experience of the city. No more the beautiful neo-classical Georgian city, London was to become a huge sprawling metropolis. 1 million inhabitants in 1800 would become six and a half million a century later. Now the truest pictures of London would find beauty and inspiration in the most horrific qualities of the city. This immense view of the sprawling metropolis was billed as an illusionistic scene designed to thrill and excite.18世纪末，诗人与预言家威廉·布雷克预言这里将会变成丑陋与美妙共存的城市，工业化、机器时代和铁路，将使这座城市呈现出崭新的面貌，伦敦再也不是乔治王时期的新古典主义之城，而是即将发展成为一座庞大的都市。1800年的100万名居民将在一个世纪后发展为650万，伦敦最真实的画面将在这座城市最糟糕的特质中寻找美和灵感。这幅描绘扩张大都会的画卷，曾被认为是哗众取宠的虚幻景象。