It was the dawn of 1863, and London's not-yet-opened subway system, the first of its kind in the world, had the city in an uproar.
1863年伊始，伦敦尚未通车的全世界第一条地铁线路使整个城市一片哗然。
Digging a hole under the city and putting a railroad in it seemed the stuff of dreams.
在城市底下打洞并且安装轨道是不可想象的事情。
Pub drinkers scoffed at the idea and a local minister accused the railway company of trying to break into hell.
酒吧里的常客取笑这种想法，当地的牧师指责地铁开发公司在自掘坟墓。
Most people simply thought the project, which cost more than 100 million dollars in today's money, would never work. But it did.
大多数人认为这个耗资过亿美元的的项目绝对不会成功。然而，它却成功了。
On January 10, 1863, 30,000 people ventured underground to travel on the world's first subway on a four-mile stretch of line in London.
在1863年1月10日，三万人在伦敦地下试乘了四英里长的世界上第一条地下铁路。
After three years of construction and a few setbacks, the Metropolitan Railway was ready for business.
在历经三年施工和不少挫折之后，大都会铁路即将正式投入运营。
The city's officials were much relieved.
市领导们非常欣慰。
They'd been desperate to find a way to reduce the terrible congestion on the roads.
他们已想尽办法尝试减少道路交通拥堵。
London, at the time the world's largest and most prosperous city,
伦敦作为当时世界上最大最繁荣的城市，
was in a permanent state of gridlock, with carts, costermongers, cows, and commuters jamming the roads.
正处于一种长期交通瘫痪的状态，马车、街边小贩、牛以及日常通勤的人，让道路变得异常拥挤。
It'd been a Victorian visionary, Charles Pearson, who first thought of putting railways under the ground.
维多利亚时代的空想家查尔斯·皮尔森第一个想到将铁路挪到地下。
He'd lobbied for underground trains throughout the 1840s,
他在19世纪40年代间不停游说当局开建地下铁路，
but opponents thought the idea was impractical since the railroads at the time only had short tunnels under hills.
但是他的反对者认为这个想法是不切实际的，因为当时的铁路短到仅仅能够穿过山洞。
How could you get a railway through the center of a city?
怎么可能修建可以穿过城市中心的铁路呢？
The answer was a simple system called "cut and cover."
问题的答案很简单，那就是：明挖回填技术。
Workers had to dig a huge trench, construct a tunnel out of brick archways, and then refill the hole over the newly built tunnel.
工人们需要挖出巨大的壕，然后用砖块进行进行封顶，而后对沟壑进行回填。
Because this was disruptive and required the demolition of buildings above the tunnels, most of the line went under existing roads.
由于此种方法是对路面是破坏式的，且需要损毁地上的建筑物，大多数地铁线埋藏于已建成的城市道路之下。
Of course, there were accidents.
当然，事故也时有发生。
On one occasion, a heavy rainstorm flooded the nearby sewers and burst through the excavation, delaying the project by several months.
曾经有一次，大暴雨冲毁了附近的污水池，污水填满挖好的沟壑，导致施工进度推迟了数月。
But as soon as the Metropolitan Railway opened, Londoners rushed in to ride the new trains.
然而，当大都会地铁投入运营时，伦敦人争相体验这些新的地铁。

The Metropolitan quickly became a vital part of London's transport system.
大都会地铁很快成为了伦敦交通枢纽的重要组成部分。
Additional lines were soon built, and new suburbs grew around the stations.
新的地铁线路很快建成起来，新的乡镇在地铁站周围孕育而生。
Big department stores opened next to the railroad, and the railway company even created attractions,
大型购物中心也在地铁站旁边林立，地铁公司甚至在地铁站周边打造娱乐设施，
like a 30-story Ferris wheel in Earls Court to bring in tourists by train.
比如在伯爵宫建造了三十层高的摩天轮，以吸引游客乘地铁来游玩。
Within 30 years, London's subway system covered 80 kilometers,
三十年间，伦敦地铁系统延伸至80公里，
with lines in the center of town running in tunnels, and suburban trains operating on the surface, often on embankments.
地铁在城市中心区为地下铁路，到郊区则为建在堤坝上的地上线路。
But London was still growing, and everyone wanted to be connected to the system.
然而，伦敦仍在不断壮大，每个人都希望和地铁系统连接上。
By the late 1880s, the city had become too dense with buildings, sewers, and electric cables for the "cut and cover" technique,
19世纪80年代末，伦敦因楼房、污水管和电缆外露而变得过于拥挤，原因是明挖回填技术，
so a new system had to be devised.
因此，人们需要设计新的系统。
Using a machine called the Greathead Shield,
通过使用大头盾构机，
a team of just 12 workers could bore through the earth, carving deep underground tunnels through the London clay.
只要12名工人组成的团队就可以在伦敦的地下深处挖掘隧道。
These new lines, called tubes, were at varying depths, but usually about 25 meters deeper than the "cut and cover" lines.
这些新建的地铁线叫做管道，它们的深度不同，但通常比明挖回填的隧道深25米。
This meant their construction didn't disturb the surface, and it was possible to dig under buildings.
这意味着它们的建造不会对地表造成影响，也就是说，可以在建筑物下面进行挖掘。
The first tube line, the City and South London,
第一条深层隧道地铁线名为城市及南伦敦铁路，
opened in 1890 and proved so successful that half a dozen more lines were built in the next 20 years.
该线路于1890年投入运营，并大获成功，使得近十条地铁线路在接下来的二十年间陆续建成。
This clever new technology was even used to burrow several lines under London's river, the Thames.
这项革命性的新技术甚至被用于挖掘几条从伦敦泰晤士河下经过的地铁线。
By the early 20th century, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, and New York had all built subways of their own.
20世纪初期，布达佩斯特、柏林、巴黎和纽约都建成了城市地铁线路。
And today, with more than 160 cities in 55 countries using underground rails to combat congestion,
今天，55个国家的160多座城市利用地下铁路线来应对地上交通堵塞。
we can thank Charles Pearson and the Metropolitan Railway for getting us started on the right track.
我们应该谢谢查尔斯·皮尔森和伦敦大都会铁路，让我们走上了这条光明的大道！