为什么当我去美国旅行的时候，美国看起来不像世界上最大的经济体？中国的顶级城市看起来甚至比美国还要先进。-网帖翻译-龙腾网

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有类似文章，但本文选最新回答并保证原创。
1.Geoffrey Widdison，曾在5个国家生活过，去过十一个国家。

Looking advanced, in modern times, is usually defined by mega-projects, like skyscrapers, high speed trains, and fancy looking airports.

在现代，通常是通过大型项目来定义先进的，像摩天大楼，高速列车，花哨的机场。
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Americans just don’t like paying for those.

美国人只是不喜欢花钱建这些东西。

Here’s the thing, skyscrapers are a perfect example. In most situations, skyscrapers just aren’t economically warranted. The payback you get on the (fairly massive) investment is generally smaller than you could get by investing in something else. Unless you have a real reason to want huge amounts of floor space in a very expensive real estate environment (which happens, but is not especially common), it makes a lot more sense to build closer to the ground. Many companies in the US build campuses a little ways away from dense city centers, rather than skyscrapers downtown. They do that because American companies tend to be relentlessly pragmatic, and the dollars flow to whatever’s most profitable.

事情就是如此，摩天大楼就是一个完美的例子。在大多数情况下，摩天大楼没有经济保证。你从(相当大规模的)投资中得到的回报通常比你投资其他东西所能得到的回报要小。除非你有真正的理由想要在一个非常昂贵的房地产环境中拥有大量的建筑面积(这种情况时有发生，但并不是特别常见)，否则建造离地面更近的建筑会更有意义。在美国，许多公司在远离人口稠密的城市中心的地方建造校园，而不是在市中心建造摩天大楼。他们这样做是因为美国公司往往非常务实，他们会让美元流向最有利可图的领域。

So, why do other countries build that vast infrastructure? There are a number of reasons. Different rules and cheaper labor may make those kinds of buildings more justified elsewhere. In many cases, at least some of the money is provided or incentivized by governments, who are less concerned with economic justification. But the biggest reason, to my perception, is that the big buildings aren’t about what makes financial sense, it’s about image. A huge, distinct building is a symbol of a company’s power, and an advertisement to the whole world.

那么，为什么其他国家要建设如此庞大的基础设施呢？原因有很多。不同的规则和廉价的劳动力可能使这种建筑在世界其他地方更加合理。在许多情况下，至少有一部分资金是由政府提供的，政府不太关心经济上的合理性。但在我看来，最大的原因是，建造大型建筑并不是为了赚钱，而是为了形象。一座巨大而独特的建筑是一家公司力量的象征，也是向全世界宣传的广告。

America’s kind of gotten away from that. There was a time when we did the same thing. A lot of Manhattan’s skyline was built in an earlier era in which companies competed to have taller buildings than their competitors. It was about pride and image more than about money. But we’ve more or less gotten over that.

美国似乎已经摆脱了这种局面。曾几何时，我们也做过同样的事情。曼哈顿的许多天际线是在早期建造的，在那个时代，企业竞相建造比竞争对手更高的建筑。与其说是为了钱，不如说是为了自尊和形象。但我们已经或多或少克服了这个问题。

American culture tends to value practicality. Here’s an example:

美国文化倾向于重视实用性。举个例子:
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Warren Buffet,World’s third richest man, and he lives in a house that any comfortable middle-class American might live in.

沃伦.巴菲特是世界上第三富有的人，却住在任何一个富裕的美国中产阶级都可能住的房子里。

Now, I don’t want to give the impression that wealthy Americans don’t actually spend money on expensive things (sometimes very expensive things), nor do I mean to suggest that conspicuous consumption doesn’t exist in the US. If an American flaunts his wealth, it’s broadly seen less as a power move than a disgusting attempt by a clueless guy to feel good about himself. We tend to laud and respect wealthy people who are publicly seen to be living simply.

我并不是想说美国富人实际上不会把钱花在昂贵的东西上(有时是非常昂贵的东西)，我也不是说美国没有炫耀性消费。如果一个美国人炫耀自己的财富，这与其说是一种为了展示权力而产生的行为，不如说是一个愚蠢的家伙为了自我感觉良好而进行的令人厌恶的行为。我们倾向于赞美和尊重那些在公众眼里生活简朴的富人。

When American billionaires spend lots of money, they generally do it in ways that are visible to themselves and their immediate social circle. Trying to look rich to the world at large is seen as largely gauche.

当美国的亿万富翁花很多钱的时候，他们通常会以一种他们自己和他们周围的社交圈都认可的方式去做。炫富在很大程度上被认为是愚蠢的。

And the same applies to companies. In some countries, a large company will try to emphasize its history of power and prominence. In America, by contrast, we love our myth of the meritocracy: the scrappy underdog fighting his way up from the bottom with sheer grit and determination. Companies are far more likely to emphasize their founders starting from nothing (especially if they started in a garage, we love companies starting in a garage). And they’ll go out of their way to seem approachable and down-to-earth. That’s why Google, despite being worth three-quarters of a trillion dollars, isn’t building massive skyscrapers. They build very nice looking but unintimidating buildings, usually tucked way in tree-lined campuses that are far more concerned with being nice and comfortable on the inside than looking triumphant and prominent on the outside.

同样的道理也适用于公司。在一些国家，大公司会试图强调其权力和显赫的历史。相比之下，在美国，我们喜欢英雄主义的神话：弱者凭着纯粹的勇气和决心从底层奋力拼搏。公司更可能强调他们的创始人白手起家(特别是如果他们从住在车库开始，我们喜欢从住在车库开始创建自己的公司)。他们会特意让自己看起来平易近人，脚踏实地。这就是为什么谷歌尽管价值0.75万亿美元，却没有建造大型摩天大楼的原因。他们建造的建筑看起来非常漂亮，但并不吓人，通常隐藏在绿树成荫的校园里，这些校园更关心的是内部的美观和舒适，而不是从外表看起来很巨大。

And I’m not trying to suggest that America has it right and other countries have it wrong. Our national fixation on the appearance of modesty and humility carries its own problems. But that’s what drives us.

我并不是说美国是对的，而其他国家是错的。我们国家对谦逊外表的执着也有其自身的问题。但这就是我们的动力。
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Looking impressive, and advanced, costs a lot of money. Americans, as a group, just aren’t interested in spending money on that. We’d rather accumulate wealth and spend it on other stuff.

有些东西看起来令人印象深刻，很先进，花费了大量金钱。而美国人作为一个群体，对在这上面花钱不感兴趣。我们宁愿积累财富，把它花在其他东西上。

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2.Luke Cillessen，堪萨斯州立大学机械工程专业
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This is Shanghai in China. This is the number 1 city in China, minus Hong Kong, with an Economic output per year of $471 billion dollars.This is a very beautiful city with more than 126 skyscrapers, and tipping the scale to over 24 million inhabitants. It is home to multiple large national banks, and to hundreds of businesses such as SAIC motors, PanAn, and Musical.ly. Shanghai is also one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with a nominal GDP growth of 6.9% as compared to 2016. Millions of people head to Shanghai for work and for tourism, with a massive 2,446sq miles of space to visit. Shanghai is a massive city and looks very much developed. With tons of high rise buildings and having dozens of high profile businesses and banks setting up shop in Shanghai, it’s no wonder why this is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Now onto an American place.

这是中国的上海。中国排名第一的城市。除去香港，这里每年的经济产出为4710亿美元...这是一个非常美丽的城市，有超过126座摩天大楼，人口超过2400万。它拥有多家大型国有银行，以及数百家企业，如上汽汽车、上海邦安检测工程和Musical.ly。上海也是世界上增长最快的城市之一，与2016年相比，其名义GDP增长率为6.9%。数百万人前往上海工作和旅游，有2446平方英里的巨大面积可供旅游参观。上海是一个巨大的城市，看起来非常发达。上海高楼林立，数十家知名企业和银行在上海设立了分支机构，难怪这里是世界上发展最快的城市之一。现在来看美国。

This *city* even though it is not an official city, has a GDP of over $500 billion dollars a year GDP 2017, is home to just around 3 million people and is considered the tip of the spear for human innovation. This little area is around 20 square miles in total and is the location of choice for many high profile businesses such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Wells Fargo, Visa, Chevron, AMD, HP, and Tesla just to name a few. Any guesses on where this place is? Well this little place is known as Silicon Valley, which is the majority of the San Francisco Bay Area. This might beg questions such as,

这个城市虽然不是一个官方城市，但是2017年的GDP超过了5000亿美元，人口只有300万，被认为是人类创新的前沿。这个小区域总面积约20平方英里，是许多知名企业的首选地点，比如苹果、谷歌、Facebook、富国银行、Visa、雪佛龙、AMD、惠普和特斯拉等等。知道这个地方在哪吗？这个小地方被称为硅谷，占了旧金山湾区的大部分。这可能会引发一些思考，比如:

Why aren’t there high rise buildings?

为什么硅谷没有高层建筑？

Why do so few people live here?

为什么住在这里的人这么少？

How can a place with 12% of the population and less than 1% the area of Shanghai produce nearly $30 billion dollars worth of economic output more?

为什么一个不到上海12%的人口和1%的面积的地方可能比上海还多将近300亿美元的经济产出呢？

Well, looks can be very very deceiving. The notion that a place must have high rise buildings or a large population in order to be considered “developed” is a false idea and where this idea is struck down very quickly when you compare two of the greatest places on earth. You must look at the inner workings of each city, and just because you can put on a good show, doesn’t necessarily translate over into a large GDP or economic output.

所以外表是非常具有欺骗性的。认为一个地方必须有高层建筑或大量人口才能被认为是“发达”的想法是错误的，当你比较世界上最伟大的两个地方时，这个想法很快就被推翻了。你必须了解每个城市的内部运作情况，仅仅因为看起来很壮观，并不一定能转化为巨大的GDP或经济产出。

We associate “developed” with things that look straight out of a sci-fi movie. With tall buildings, lights, and vastness. In order to tell how developed places are, we must look to the HDI scale or Human Development Index. Currently, America has an HDI of 0.924 while China has an HDI of 0.758.

我们总是把“发达”与看起来像科幻电影的东西联系在一起。比如高楼大厦，灯火辉煌，占地辽阔等。但想要了解发达地区的情况，我们必须看看人类发展指数。目前，美国的人类发展指数为0.924，而中国的人类发展指数为0.758。

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3.Raghunandan，出生于印度，2016年开始在美国生活。

I am living in New York right now. Moved into the city less than a month ago. So, take it for what it is worth. Before I moved here New York was my dream city in the USA. I lived in San Antonio and have been to Dallas nad Houston several times.

我现在住在纽约。不到一个月前搬过来的。所以，不管它值不值得，你都要接受。在我搬到这里之前，纽约是我梦寐以求的美国城市。我曾经住在圣安东尼奥，去过达拉斯和休斯顿好几次。

But as soon as I landed in JFK I lost all my enthusiasm. Roads aren''''''''t good and there is trash every where (not on the level of some parts of India but it is extreme to what I have seen in the south). I am from India, I moved for my education into USA two and half years ago. Indian cities are by no means modern. There are newer parts of the cities that look way better than some cities USA but it''''''''s limited to certain modern purposefully redeveloped parts. But I didn''''''''t like how cities operate in USA. You can''''''''t go anywhere without a car. I lived in a small town with less than 20000 people and you need to walk 2 to 3 miles to go get some groceries. Public transportation is worst when compared to other less developed countries. Intercity public transport is almost invisible outside northeast and few parts. You can''''''''t use airplanes everywhere.

但一到肯尼迪机场，我就失去了所有的热情。道路很差，到处都是垃圾(还比不上印度的某些地方，比我在美国南部看到的要差很多)。我来自印度，两年半前为了学业搬到了美国。印度的城市决不是现代化的，但有一些城市的新的部分看起来比美国的一些城市好得多，不过仅限于某些现代化的重新开发的部分。我不喜欢美国城市的运作方式。没有车你哪儿也去不了。我住在一个只有不到20000人的小镇上，你需要步行2到3英里去买些杂货。与其他欠发达国家相比，公共交通是糟糕的。城市间的公共交通在东北部以外几乎看不见。你不能去哪都坐飞机。

But it is how they build their cities, around the car. And they have less people to build the cities for. Except for northeast, rest of the country is very sparsely populated. So, you don''''''''t find the dense infrastructure like in India or China. So, it is very easy to conclude newly built Chinese cities are more modern, but I don''''''''t think people want to live in this city long term. I don''''''''t want to be in NYC for more than a year. If I get a chance I want to move into a less chaotic place.

但这是他们围绕汽车建造城市的方式。而且他们也没有那么多人需要为他们建造城市。除了东北部，这个国家的其他地方的人口非常稀少。所以，你找不到像印度或中国那样密集的基础设施。所以，很容易得出这样的结论：中国新建的城市更加现代化。我不认为人们希望长期居住在这个城市。我不想在纽约住超过一年。如果有机会，我想搬到一个不那么混乱的地方。

In a single sentence, Chinese cities are more dense and newer than American or European counterparts.

简而言之，中国的城市比美国或欧洲的城市更密集、更新颖。

PS. I''''''''m not saying India is comparable to China, so Chinese keyboard warriors please don''''''''t shit on me in the replies. I get hatred that is almost uncalled for from the Chinese netizens when ever I give my opinion. God knows why.

另外，我并没有说印度可以和中国相提并论，所以中国的键盘侠们请不要在回复中攻击我。当我发表意见的时候，中国网民总是毫无理由地对我发表憎恨言论，天知道为什么。

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4.Alex Piascik
There are many examples outside of China as well. This is the Moscow International Business Center, their new central business district:

在中国以外也有很多这样的例子。这是莫斯科国际商务中心，他们的新中央商务区:

Beautiful, isn’t it? But does it paint an accurate picture of the Russian economy as a whole? Let’s look at some numbers.

很漂亮，不是吗？但它是否准确展示了俄罗斯的整体经济状况呢？让我们来看看一些数字。

Nominal G.D.P. of the Moscow Metropolitan area is around $250 billion, roughly $20,000 per person. If you adjust for purchasing power, Moscow’s GDP per person shoots up to over $50,000, due to the steep decline of the ruble’s nominal value relative to the dollar recently. This is a high number and indicates a first-world level of economic output.

莫斯科城市群的名义gdp约为2500亿美元，约合每人20000美元。如果按购买力进行调整，莫斯科的人均gdp将飙升至5万美元以上，原因是近期卢布兑美元的名义汇率急剧下跌。这是一个很高的数字，处于世界一流水平。
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That doesn’t mean, however, that all of Russia is at this level.

然而，这并不意味着整个俄罗斯都处于这个水平。

It is still below the per capita G.D.P. of the United States (~$62,000) and far below most large American cities, including:

即便如此，它仍然低于美国的人均gdp(约62000美元)，也远远低于大多数美国大城市，包括:
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· New York ($85,000 per capita; $1.7 trillion total)

·纽约(人均8.5万美元；总计1.7万亿美元)

· Seattle ($92,000)

·西雅图(9.2万美元)

· San Francisco ($106,000)

·旧金山(10.6万美元)

· San Jose ($138,000)

·圣何塞(13.8万美元)

· Chicago ($72,000)

·芝加哥(7.2万美元)

· Atlanta ($67,000)

·亚特兰大(6.7万美元)

In Detroit, the city that has more scorn heaped on it than any other, it is just under the national average ($61,000). All those pictures of urban blight taken within the city of Detroit do not necessarily indicate the wealth being produced throughout the Detroit metro area. Go outside of the city limits & you’ll find many nice suburbs, office parks, and shopping centers.

底特律是受到嘲讽最多的城市，但所有那些在底特律市拍摄的城市衰败的照片并不一定代表整个底特律。走出市区，你会发现许多漂亮的郊区，办公园区和购物中心。

Russia’s total nominal G.D.P. is around $1.5 Trillion, less than 8% of the U.S. ($20.4 trillion, nominal). Purchasing power increases this figure to around $4 trillion. In Russia, the ruble retains much of its’ buying power, but because its’ exchange value is low, imports have become much more expensive. Most Russians today are doing O.K., but they don’t have the buying power of the average American, which derives from the astounding amount that the American economy produces each year, part of which goes back to employees in the form of salaries & benefits.

俄罗斯名义gdp约为1.5万亿美元，不到美国的8%(名义gdp20.4万亿美元)。购买力使这个数字增加到大约4万亿美元。在俄罗斯，卢布保留了大部分的购买力，但由于其汇率较低，进口商品的价格要贵得多。今天的大多数俄罗斯人生活得还不错，但他们没有普通美国人的购买力，这种购买力来源于美国经济每年产生的惊人数字，其中一部分会以工资和福利的形式返还给雇员。

In a nutshell, what this means is that Russia has a clean, modern, wealthy capital city, a few other cities that are doing OK (such as St. Petersburg) and large amounts of poverty comparable to Latin American countries like Bolivia, Brazil or Guatamala.

简而言之，这意味着俄罗斯拥有一个干净、现代、富裕的首都，其它一些城市(如圣彼得堡)虽然运行良好，但贫困程度堪比拉丁美洲国家(如玻利维亚、巴西或危地马拉)。
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In addition to the sheer quantity of goods that America produces, the things we produce are, in general, higher up the “value-added chain” than the goods coming out of Russia & China. These include such products as: new cancer treatments; stealth fighter jets; global e-commerce giants like Amazon and startups like Uber; movies & TV Shows that have a worldwide audience (Disney & Netflix). These sorts of activities create more value than, for example, manufacturing products designed elsewhere, which accounts for roughly 20% of the Chinese economy. China is shifting towards being an economy driven by consumption, like the U.S., but the average Chinese is still far behind the average American in their purchasing power.

除了美国生产的商品的绝对数量之外，我们生产的商品比俄罗斯和中国生产的商品的“附加值”也更高。这些商品包括：新的癌症治疗方法;隐形战斗机;亚马逊等全球电子商务巨头和Uber等初创公司;拥有服务于全球观众的电影和电视节目(迪斯尼和Netflix)。它们创造的价值比其他地方的制造业产品更多，而后者约占中国经济的20%。中国正在转变为一个由消费驱动的经济体，就像美国一样，但是中国人的平均购买力仍然远远落后于美国人。

This doesn’t mean that China doesn’t have internet companies; they do, including giants such as AliBaba & TenCent, and they are at the forefront of a number of technologies such as mobile payments. It doesn’t mean that Russia doesn’t build fighter jets; they do, through companies such as Sukhoi & MiG. It just means that the U.S. has more companies at the forefront of such industries. It also means that companies producing high value-added goods make up a greater percentage of the economy in the U.S. than in Russia or China. For example, it’s been estimated that China makes around $8.46 for every iPhone that’s assembled there, while $283 in gross profits on each sale goes straight to Apple.

这并不意味着中国没有互联网公司;它们有包括阿里巴巴和腾讯这样的巨头，而且它们处于移动支付等一系列技术的前沿。这也并不意味着俄罗斯不制造战斗机;他们通过Sukhoi和MiG这样的公司制造战斗机。这只是意味着美国有更多的公司处于这些行业的前沿。这也意味着，生产高附加值商品的公司在美国经济中所占的比例高于俄罗斯或中国。例如，据估计，在中国组装的每部iPhone手机大约能为中国带来8.46美元的利润，而每部手机的毛利润为283美元，直接归苹果公司所有。

You can guess how much each of the workers assembling those phones are earning (hint: not much). By offloading much of our drudge work to these countries, we’ve made it possible to concentrate more effort on things that create greater value. For the Chinese, it’s allowed millions of them to move away from subsistence farming to the cities. In time, China will have more companies at the forefront of industry, and offload their drudge work to countries such as Burma & Vietnam, helping them lift their standard of living.

你可以猜测组装这些手机的每个工人能挣多少钱(提示:并不多)。通过把我们的大部分苦力活转移到这些国家，我们有可能把更多的精力集中在创造更大价值的事情上。而对于中国人来说，这使得数以百万计的中国人从自给自足的农业生产转移到城市。随着时间的推移，中国也将有更多的公司站在工业的前沿，把他们的苦力活转移到缅甸和越南等国家，帮助他们提高生活水平。

You can easily post a screen grab from the worst neighborhood in Chicago or L.A. or Detroit, or the beautiful skyscrapers in Shanghai and Moscow, and claim that they represent the “real America” or the “real China” or the “real Russia”. But this is false. You can even go to these places yourself and come to the conclusion that America is doomed, or that China will conquer the world. But this is not a given.

你可以很容易地拍到芝加哥、洛杉矶或底特律最糟糕的街区，或者上海和莫斯科美丽的摩天大楼，并声称它们代表了“真正的美国”、“真正的中国”或“真正的俄罗斯”。但这是错误的。你甚至可以亲自去这些地方参观，然后得出结论:美国注定要失败，或者中国将征服世界。但这并不是一个既定的事实。

Images often lie & conceal. And as any good propagandist will tell you, they can be manipulated to serve political ends.

图片往往会说谎。任何一个优秀的宣传家都会告诉你，这些图片和表象可以被操纵来达到政治目的。

There’s a term that’s often used in economics: the “Potemkin Village”. Legend has it that when Russian Empress Catherine II toured the Crimea in the late 18th century, her lover, Grigory Potemkin, had a fake village built along the Dnieper River. When Catherine passed by, she was impressed by the new, bright, freshly painted buildings, leading her to believe that her subjects were prosperous & happy. As soon as she’d gone, Grigory had the construction disassembled, moved downstream, and set up again in a different configuration for when the Empress passed by that section of the river.

在经济学中有一个经常使用的术语:波将金村。传说在18世纪晚期，当俄罗斯叶卡捷琳娜二世游览克里米亚半岛时，她的情人，格里高利.波将金在第聂伯河沿岸建了一个假的村庄。当叶卡捷琳娜经过时，她被这些崭新的、明亮的、新粉刷过的建筑物所吸引，使她相信她的臣民们都很富足和快乐。她一走，格里高利就把建筑拆卸下来，移到下游，然后在女王经过那段河流时，以另一种形式重新安装。

How much of those glitzy skylines are real are how much are Potemkin Villages meant to influence the opinion of the outside world? I doubt anyone really knows.

这些耀眼的天际线有多少是真实的，有多少波将金村是用来影响外界舆论的？我怀疑没人知道。

Best to remember the wise words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them.”

最好记住欧比万·克诺比的智慧之言:“你的眼睛会欺骗你，不要相信它们。”

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5.Joshua A. Riefman
Because looks can be deceiving, and in this case they are.

因为在这种情况下，表象可能具有欺骗性。

In my opinion, the premise of the question is correct; American and other western cities look far behind their seemingly advanced Chinese counterparts. But it’s also wrong in assuming that they are genuinely “more advanced”.

在我看来，这个问题的前提是正确的;美国和其他西方城市的确远远落后于看似先进的中国城市。但是，他们“更先进”这个结论是错误的。

What they are is they are new. One only needs to look at the transformation of Shanghai to see exactly how new most skylines in China are.

它们是崭新的。只要看看上海的变化，就能明白中国的大多数天际线到底有多新。

New things, and more specifically expensive new things—like most skyscrapers in China—look modern and new, and expensive. Most of China has been constructed in the last half century, most of the United States in the last three centuries, and the construction of European cities has been going on for thousands of years—London was founded by the Romans, after all.

新事物，尤其是昂贵的新事物，比如中国大多数的摩天大楼，看起来既现代又新颖，而且造价昂贵。但中国的大部分建筑都是在过去的半个世纪建造的，而美国的大部分建筑是在过去的三个世纪建造的，欧洲城市的建设也已经过去了几千年，毕竟伦敦是由罗马人建造的。

European cities also don’t have the high rise style of America or China, they prefer their stone over glass and concrete; all in all makes for a much older looking city (personally I actually prefer how European cities look, but that’s opinion).

欧洲城市没有美国或中国那样的高层建筑风格，他们更喜欢用石头而不是玻璃和混凝土;所有这些都使得欧洲城市看起来更古老(我个人更喜欢欧洲城市的样子，但那只是个人观点)。

Shanghai is a beacon of Chinese progress in the previous decades, with its beautiful and extravagant skyscrapers it is a city which—compared to most in Europe or the rest of the western world—appears to be decades or a century in the future. Shanghai has the world’s highest population for a city, at a staggering 24,183,300 people residing inside.

上海是过去几十年中国进步的一座灯塔，与欧洲大多数国家或西方世界其他国家相比，这座城市有着美丽而奢华的摩天大楼，似乎在未来几十年或一个世纪才会出现。它是世界上人口最多的城市，居住人口高达2418.33万。

Shanghai’s economy however, is less impressive with a GDP of $446 billion; giving it a GDP per capita of $19,450. Despite Shanghai’s opulent high rises and skyscrapers, it’s GDP per capita (2nd highest in the whole of China) is only about half of the GDP per capita of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany (all around $44–39,000) and less than a third of the United States ($59,000).

然而，上海的经济就没那么令人印象深刻了，它的GDP为4460亿美元，人均GDP为19450美元。尽管上海高楼遍地，摩天大楼林立，但其人均GDP(全中国第二高)仅为英国、加拿大、法国、德国人均国内生产总值(44000-39000美元)的一半左右，还不到美国人均GDP(59000美元)的三分之一。

New York City is widely known as the financial capital of the world and is the largest—and most impressive American city. With a population of 8,622,698 with an astounding economy of $1.55 trillion, New York City is the 2nd largest city by economy in the world (behind only Tokyo which has close to five times it’s population) and the largest by population in the western world.

纽约市被广泛认为是世界金融之都，也是美国最大、最令人印象深刻的城市。纽约市拥有8622698的人口，经济总量惊人的高达1.55万亿美元，是世界上第二大经济城市(仅次于人口接近它5倍的东京)，也是西方世界人口最多的城市。

New York City, with a fraction of the population rivals South Korea and Canada in economic size, and has a GDP nearly four times that of Shanghai with a third of the population. All in all that results in a GDP per capita of $179,758 or nearly $200,000; nearly four times the American average and close to ten times that of China (~$18,000–$16,000).

在经济规模上，纽约只占韩国和加拿大人口的一小部分，只占上海人口的三分之一，但其GDP几乎是上海的四倍。人均GDP为179758美元，接近20万美元，几乎是美国平均水平的4倍，接近中国的10倍(约18000美元至16000美元)。

New York City is just one of dozens of western cities that prove that just because they don’t look as rich, modern, or new as Chinese cities, doesn’t mean that they don’t punch in an entirely different economic class. Not a single Chinese city strikes above a trillion in GDP—or gets close to it—despite how impressive they look.

纽约只是几十个西方城市中的一个，这些城市证明，仅仅因为它们看起来不像中国城市那样富裕、现代或新潮，并不意味着它们不属于一个完全不同的经济阶层。没有一个中国城市的gdp超过一万亿美元，或者接近这个数字，尽管它们表面上看起来令人印象深刻。

Paris is a city mostly void of high rises of the likes of Shanghai and Beijing, yet has a population density of 21,000/km or 54,000/sq mi. Far much denser in population than either Shanghai or New York City. Paris is also 5th in the world in terms of its economy, with a GDP 688$ billion.

巴黎几乎没有像上海和北京那样的高楼大厦，但人口密度为每公里2.1万人，即每平方英里5.4万人。人口密度远远超过上海或纽约。巴黎的GDP为6880亿美元，在全球经济中排名第五。

That means that with a population of a tenth of Shanghai’s, Paris has a larger economy, GDP per capita and population density than that of it’s Chinese rival; despite looking—literally—centuries older.

这意味着，尽管巴黎的人口只有上海的十分之一，但它的经济规模、人均GDP和人口密度都高于其中国的竞争对手，尽管巴黎看上去确实比上海陈旧了几个世纪。

Paris may lack the aforementioned skyscrapers, and New York City may lack the opulence and modernity, but the numbers don’t lie; only appearances do.

巴黎可能没有前面提到的摩天大楼，纽约市可能没有看起来那么富裕和现代化，但数字不会说谎，只有外表才会。

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6.Murray Godfrey，美国历史学教授，退伍军人
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

People saying the U.S. spends its money more efficiently just makes me laugh.

那些说美国花钱更有效率的人只会让我发笑。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

The U.S. “invested" $5.6 Trillion in its post 9/11 wars. That''''''''s just on the wars as of 2018. The veteran health care will cost us trillions more for decades.

美国在911之后的战争中“投资”了5.6万亿美元。这还只是2018年的战争。在未来的几十年里，我们将在医疗保险上花费数万亿美元。

To quote Carl Sagan who, when asked about the cost of space exploration, would point to defense spending figures and say, “You could have bought a lot for that.”

引用卡尔.萨根的话，当被问及太空探索的成本时，他会指着国防开支数字说，“你可以用这些钱买很多东西。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

It''''''''s true that U.S. taxpayers have little tolerance for public projects these days. They''''''''re too busy putting $3.6 Trillion a year into the pockets of health insurance companies for an inefficient, mercenary health care system that doesn''''''''t even come close to covering everyone.

诚然，如今美国纳税人对公共项目的容忍度很低。他们忙于每年向医疗保险公司的口袋里投入3.6万亿美元，而这是一个效率低下、唯利是图的医疗保健系统，这个系统甚至无法覆盖所有人。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

I would gladly pay some taxes toward a rail project or something, but 20% of my paycheck is deducted for healthcare, so now I''''''''m not so enthusiastic.

我很乐意为一个铁路项目或其他项目缴纳一些税款，但是我薪水的20%被扣除用于医疗保健，所以现在我没有那么热情了。

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7.Nikki Berwal
It’s all about doing the right at the right time.

他们都只是在正确的时间做了正确的事情。

Ever heard of small European country called Luxembourg? When I show you how this country looks like, you won’t really believe it being a high income country.

听说过一个叫卢森堡的欧洲小国吗？当我向你展示这个国家是什么样子的时候，你不会真的相信它是一个高收入国家。

Well it surely is picturesque but not something you’d expect for a Large economy? Right?

当然，这里风景如画，但对于一个大型经济体来说，这并不是你所期待的，对吧？

Well guess what? This is one of the highest earning countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita.

你猜怎么着？就人均gdp而言，这是世界上收入最高的国家之一。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Now according the World Bank reports, USA and Luxembourg, both fall into High income UN members (1987).

根据世界银行的报告，美国和卢森堡都是高收入的联合国成员国(1987年)。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

In 19th century, the U.S. grew into a huge, integrated, industrialized economy that made up around one-fifth of the world economy. As a result, the U.S. GDP per capita converged on and eventually surpassed that of the UK, as well as other nations that it previously trailed economically. The economy maintained high wages, attracting immigrants by the millions from all over the world.

19世纪，美国发展成为一个庞大的、一体化的工业化经济体，约占世界经济的五分之一。美国的人均gdp也逐渐接近并最终超过了英国，以及其他以前在经济上超过它的国家。美国的经济保持了高工资水平，吸引了数百万来自世界各地的移民。

In the early 1800s, the United States was largely agricultural with more than 80 percent of the population in farming. Most of the manufacturing centered on the first stages of transformation of raw materials with lumber and saw mills, textiles and boots and shoes leading the way.

在19世纪早期，美国主要是农业国，80%以上的人口从事农业。大多数制造业集中在原材料转化的第一阶段，由以木材为原料的锯木厂和以纺织品为原料的靴子和鞋子制造厂为主导。

At the beginning of the twentieth century new innovations and improvements in existing innovations opened the door for improvements in the standard of living among American consumers. Many firms grew large by taking advantage of economies of scale and better communication to run nationwide operations. Concentration in these industries raised fears of monopoly that would drive prices higher and output lower, but many of these firms were cutting costs so fast that trends were towards lower price and more output in these industries. Lots of workers shared the success of these large firms, which typically offered the highest wages in the world. During the world wars of the twentieth century, the United States fared better than the rest of the combatants because none of the First World War and relatively little of the Second World War was fought on American territory (and none on the then 48 states). After that, the American economy phased rather slowly. The U.S. economy grew by an average of 3.8% from 1946 to 1973, while real median household income surged 74% (or 2.1% a year). In mere 150 years, Unites States became this from ^that^.

二十世纪初，新的创新和对现有创新的改进为提高美国消费者的生活水平打开了大门。许多公司通过利用规模经济和更好的沟通来运营全国性的业务，从而发展壮大。这些行业的集中引发了人们对垄断的担忧，这种垄断会推高价格，降低产量，但是这些公司中的许多公司削减成本的速度太快，以至于这些行业的趋势是降低价格，增加产量。许多工人分享了这些大公司成功的红利，因为这些大公司通常提供世界上最高的工资。在二十世纪的世界大战期间，美国的表现好于其他参战国，因为第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战都不是在美国领土上进行的(当时美国有48个州)。而在那之后，美国经济的发展相当缓慢。从1946年到1973年，美国经济平均增长率为3.8%，而家庭实际收入平均增长了74%(每年增长2.1%)。

Well, this came with advancements and major improvements with infrastructure. USA did not play upon generic European looks, they rather took things to higher level, literally. Skyscrapers weren’t really a thing before USA paved the way with a 10 story Home insurance building building in Chicago (completed in 1885). They later began using concrete and steel reinforcements instead of hard bricks realizing that skyscrapers would need to have twice thinker walls if they wanted to go higher than 15–20 floors.

随之而来的是基础设施的进步和大规模改建。美国并没有参照普通的欧洲城市的外表，而是提高到了更高的水平。在美国于1885年在芝加哥修建了一栋10层的住宅保险大楼之前，摩天大楼并不存在。后来他们开始使用混凝土和钢筋来代替坚硬的砖块，因为他们意识到如果摩天大楼想要超过15-20层的高度，那么它们就需要有两倍厚的墙。

They paved the way for infrastructure because they had enough resources and were developing at the time where Europe already was years ahead by over-all living standards. They marked themselves as a new world power by the beginning of the 20th century.

他们有能力进行基础设施建设，因为他们有足够的资源，而当时欧洲的总体生活水平已经领先多年。在20世纪初，美国宣称自己为一个新的世界强国。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

By late 20th century, Americans started to fear Japan for it’s rise as the tech hub of the world, but it never emerged to compete with USA but encountered a great recession by the beginning of the 21st century.

到20世纪末，美国人开始担心日本崛起为世界科技中心，但它从未能与美国竞争，而且在21世纪初遭遇了大衰退。

Believe is or not, China is doing the same thing.

信不信由你，中国现在也在做同样的事情。

By 2005, the domestic private sector first exceeded 50% of GDP in 2005 and has further expanded since. Also in 2005, China was able to surpass Japan as the largest economy in Asia.

到2005年，中国国内私营部门gdp首次超过全国gdp的50%，此后进一步扩大。也是在2005年，中国超过日本成为亚洲最大的经济体。

China is used today’s perks in order to become a world power, it’s using the best infrastructure, best available technology in order to strengthen its roots. Also, China is not the only one to do so, and USA has already established itself since then. It has lived to be the ‘Cool kid’ in the class and now that title has to go to China for a few years.

中国利用他们的优势成为了一个世界强国，它建设最好的基础设施，使用最好的技术来巩固它的根基。而且，中国不是唯一一个这样做的国家，美国从很早起就已经建立了自己的国家。它已经成为班上的“酷孩子”，现在这个头衔已经转移到中国好几年了。

There’s a trend,Europe “started”,America “took over”,Asia will “rise”,Africa will “emerge”.

这是一种趋势，那就是欧洲”开始了”，美国“接管了”，亚洲将“崛起”，非洲将“崛起”。

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8.Miles Negrete，读了很多没用的书

Because your perspective is wrong.

因为你的观点是错误的。

These new cities (and they are new, around 20 years old) aren''''''''t really better than their US counterparts, despite what others are telling you. For starters, the average living space even compated to NY is tiny. Yes, these buildings look pretty, but inside you find that everything is really, really small. Elevators will fit only 2 or 3 people, hallways will fit maybe 2 people, and the ceilings are very low.

不管别人怎么说，这些新兴城市(它们都是新兴城市，只有20年左右的历史)并不比美国的城市好多少。它们的平均居住空间甚至比纽约还要小。是的，这些建筑看起来很漂亮，但是在里面你会发现所有的东西都非常非常的小。电梯只能容纳2到3个人，走廊可能只能让2个人并行，而且天花板很低。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

The reason that the Chinese government invested so much into public transportation isn''''''''t because of pollution, or at least, not entirely: it''''''''s because its citizens really can''''''''t afford cars and because they are so packed in that there is just no room for cars. So they have to invest in public transpo because that''''''''s the only option they have.

中国政府之所以在公共交通上投资如此之多，并不是因为污染，或者至少不完全是因为污染，而是因为中国公民真的买不起汽车，而且因为过于拥挤，根本没有停车位。所以他们必须投资公共交通，因为这是他们唯一的选择。

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9.Gary Hoover
I think there are some reasonable answers here and a lot of silly ones.

我认为这里有一些合理的答案和许多愚蠢的答案。

As noted, adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity, the Chinese economy in total is already bigger than the US. If you don’t adjust for the cost of living, the US economy is bigger, but China will at some point also become number one.

正如前面提到的，经过购买力平价的调整，中国经济总量已经超过了美国。如果不考虑生活成本，美国的经济规模会更大，但中国在某个时候也会成为世界第一。

Any measure of GDP is the number of people multiplied by per capita production. China has three times the number of people as the US. Ambitious people, investment in education, and new factories and infrastructure all serve to relatively rapidly increase the productivity of the Chinese. It is harder to increase from the already high levels in the US.

任何衡量国内生产总值的指标都是人口数量乘以人均生产值。中国的人口是美国的三倍。人们有远大的目标，对教育的投资，新的工厂和基础设施，都相对迅速地提高了中国人的生产力。而美国已经处于很高的水准了，在这个基础上再增长就更加困难。

None of this has anything to do with the appearance of cities or architecture.In market economies like the US, construction of tall buildings is strictly a matter of land value, unless legally restricted, as in Washington and Paris. I think New York City likely still has more skyscrapers than any city in the world.

这些都与城市或建筑的外观没有任何关系。在美国这样的市场经济国家，除非像华盛顿和巴黎那样受到法律限制，否则高层建筑的建设完全是一个土地价值的问题，而且我认为纽约可能仍然比世界上任何一个城市拥有更多的摩天大楼。

Both countries have many wealthy people. China’s rural areas still have a great many poor people. The US has a huge middle class. China has less middle class history, but their middle class is growing rapidly.

这两个国家都有很多富人。中国农村仍然有大量的贫困人口。美国有庞大的中产阶级。中国的中产阶级较少，但他们的中产阶级正在迅速增长。

Societies put different emphases on different things. The wealth of the American people is in their land and houses. Home and land ownership are set up very differently in China.

社会对不同的事物有不同的侧重点。美国人民的财富在于他们的土地和房屋。而在中国，房屋所有权和土地所有权的规定和美国完全不同。

Having been to 45 countries, my observation is that many (not all) Chinese put more emphasis on autos and status goods like Rolex and Gucci, perhaps because they went without for so many years. While Americans vary greatly, large numbers of rich people are happy with a Toyota or Honda. Each of us has our own priorities. I drive a Kia Soul with 102,000 miles on it, but own 57,000 books. Others use all their disposable income to travel the nation or the world.

我去过45个国家，我观察到许多(不是所有)中国人更加重视汽车和劳力士、古驰等象征身份的商品，可能是因为他们很多年都买不起这些东西了。虽然美国人之间差异很大，但大多数富人对丰田或本田汽车就已经感到满意。我们每个人都有自己的优先事项。我只有一辆行驶了102000英里的起亚Soul，但是我拥有57000本书。而另一些人用他们所有的可支配收入周游全国或全世界。

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10.John Murphy
It is the largest economy in the world. It is likely to remain so. It is also the most productive economy. US GDP per capita is about $62,000. Chinese GDP per capita is about $8,800 - about 1/7 of the US. Put another way, the US is, on average, about 7 times as efficient at turning resources into useful goods and services.

美国是世界上最大的经济体。这种情况很可能会持续下去。它也是最具生产力的经济体。美国的人均GDP约为62000美元。中国的人均GDP约为8800美元，约为美国的七分之一。换句话说，在将资源转化为有用的商品和服务方面，美国的效率平均约为中国的7倍。

As for the buildings. What do you expect? They were all constructed starting in the last 30 years or so, using US designs (mainly). It would be very strange if the newest building in Shanghai looked like the Empire State Building, which was the wonder of its age when it was completed in 1931.

至于建筑物。你对它们能有什么期待？它们都是在过去30年左右开始建造的，而且主要采用美国的设计。如果上海最新的建筑看起来像帝国大厦，那将是非常奇怪的，帝国大厦在1931年就建成了，曾是时代的奇迹。

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11.Daniel Finn
There are many reasons, but it is not only China that looks more advanced it is numerous places. America is literally falling apart. The most authoritative report of the country’s infrastructure gave the country’s crumbling roads, bridges, dams, schools and other essential underpinnings an overall D. Not a single element of America’s frxwork received an A grade. Now that is certainly very concerning, and the amount of funding to repair everything is ridiculous, honestly the USA simply cannot afford to do it! Just to keep the Infrastructure at acceptable standards (currently they are not) the USA would require an additional 3 trillion each year…

原因有很多，但不仅仅是中国看起来更先进，还有很多其他国家。美国正在分崩离析。关于美国基础设施的最权威的报告给了这个国家支离破碎的道路、桥梁、大坝、学校和其他重要的基础设施一个D的评分，没有一个分项得到A的评分。这当然是非常令人担忧的，修复一切的资金数额是天文数字，老实说，美国根本承担不起！仅仅为了使基础设施保持在可接受的标准(目前还不是)，美国每年就需要额外支付3万亿美元...

So when the USA isn''''''''t even able to maintain the simply infrastructure of course the appearance isn''''''''t going to be "advanced"..

因此，当美国甚至不能维护简单的基础设施时，外观当然不会是“先进的”。.

These type of things are going to be more common.

这种事情以后将会变得更加普遍。

The following are 11 deeply alarming facts about America’s crumbling infrastructure…

以下是关于美国破败的基础设施的11个令人震惊的事实...
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

#1 According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, nearly 56,000 bridges in the United States are currently “structurally deficient”. What makes that number even more chilling is the fact that vehicles cross those bridges a total of 185 million times a day.

#1据美国道路运输建筑商协会统计，目前美国有近56000座桥梁存在“结构缺陷”。让这个数字更加令人不寒而栗的是，每天总共有1.85亿辆汽车通过这些桥梁。

#2 More than one out of every four bridges in the United States is more than 50 years old and “have never had major reconstruction work”.

#2美国每四座桥中就有一座超过50年的历史，而且“从未进行过重大的重建工作”。

#3 America does not have a single airport that is considered to be in the top 25 in the world.

#3美国没有一个机场能进入世界前25名。

#4 The average age of America’s dams is now 52 years.

4.美国水坝平均有52年的历史。

#5 Not too long ago, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the condition of America’s dams a “D” grade.

#5不久前，美国土木工程师协会给美国水坝的状况“D”的评分。

#6 Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers said that the condition of America’s infrastructure as a whole only gets a “D+” grade.

#6美国土木工程师协会表示，美国基础设施的整体状况只能得到“D+”的评分。

#7 Congestion on our highways costs Americans approximately 101 billion dollars a year in wasted fuel and time.

#7高速公路的拥堵每年浪费美国大约1010亿美元的燃料，还有大量时间。

#8 According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, over two-thirds of our roads are “in dire need of repair or upgrades”.

#8据美国交通部称，超过三分之二的道路“急需维修或升级”。

#9 In order to completely fix all of our roads and bridges, it would take approximately 808 billion dollars.

#9为了完全修复我们所有的道路和桥梁，需要大约8080亿美元。

#10 Federal spending on infrastructure has decreased by 9 percent over the past decade.

#10联邦政府在基础设施方面的开支在过去十年里减少了9%。

#11 According to Bloomberg, it is being projected “that by 2025, shortfalls in infrastructure investment will subtract as much as $3.9 trillion from U.S. gross domestic product.”

#11据彭博社报道，预计“到2025年，基础设施投资的短缺将使美国国内生产总值减少3.9万亿美元。”

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12.Larry Park，前国际贸易部长

The USA is very POOR country now, they don’t have money to keep government open/function, no money to repaire and rebuild outdated infrastructures, no money to build new airports and bridges, no money to build high speed trains, no money to take care of so many homeless who live on the streets, no money to secure borders , no money to dispatch more police to curb crimes , you name it ……. , The USA could be a very rich country with its resources and wealth where every citizen should have house, car, bank deposit, free college education, universal medicare but something have been going wrong and nobody can or want to correct it. The country is ruled by stupid leaders and bunch of congressmen who are older than your grandpapa and did not understand modern tech, didn’t know how to manage the country and did not do their jobs. The money have been spent at wrong places with wrong purpose , all those has made the USA going downhill.

美国现在是一个非常贫穷的国家，他们没有钱来维持政府的开放和运作，没有钱来维修和重建过时的基础设施，没有钱来建造新的机场和桥梁，没有钱来建造高速铁路，没有钱来照顾那么多住在大街上的流浪汉，没有钱来确保边境安全，没有钱来派遣更多的警察来遏制犯罪，还有所有你能想到的...美国可能是一个非常富有的国家，拥有资源和财富，每个公民都应该有房子，汽车，银行存款，免费的大学教育，普遍的医疗保险，但有些地方出了问题，没有人能够也不想去纠正它。这个国家被愚蠢的领导人和一群国会议员统治着，他们比你祖父还年长，他们不懂现代科技，不知道如何管理这个国家，也不做他们的工作。这些钱花在了错误的地方，所有这些都使美国在走下坡路。

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13.Alexander Rose
Because those cities in China were specifically built for “face" to create a misleading image, because “face” is very important in Chinese culture.

因为中国的那些城市是专门建造的......m子在中国文化中非常重要。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Big flashy gaudy high rise cities that are new and that can be quickly built don''''''''t mean anything. and they have nothing to do with the economy, just like it doesn''''''''t matter how many billionaires with flashy cars a country has if everyone else is poor.

新建的高楼大厦并不意味着什么。它们和经济没有任何关系，就像如果其他人都很穷，一个国家有多少拥有豪车的亿万富翁也无关紧要。

It doesn''t matter if China has big flashy cities because the GDP per capita is lower than the US even if you don''t include millionaires and billionaires.

即使不算百万富翁和亿万富翁，中国的人均gdp也低于美国。

people in the poorest parts of the US are still better off than people in the poorest parts of China, and homeless people in the US are still better off than homeless people in China, and that''''''''s why China has negative net immigration, and the highest rate if illegal immigration to the US is from Eastern Asia, and especially China, and not fron Mexico or Latin America.

美国最贫穷地区的人民仍然比中国最贫穷地区的人民富裕，美国的无家可归者仍然比中国的无家可归者富裕，这就是为什么中国的净移民是负数，非法移民到美国最多的是来自东亚，特别是中国，而不是来自墨西哥或拉丁美洲。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

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14.Max Roberts，美国公民。我读了很多历史书。

China’s older cities have received a lot of modernization since 1980.

自1980年以来，中国的老城市进行了大量的现代化建设。

Since 1980, China has built modern cities from scratch, like Shenzhen for one.

自1980年以来，中国从零开始建设现代化城市，比如深圳。

Since 1980, China has developed a lot of property for which there was no demand. Empty buildings and houses abound.

自1980年以来，中国开发了大量没有需求的房地产。空荡荡的建筑和房屋比比皆是。

Chinese cities often look a lot more advanced than US cities. But you will find the older cities that got spruced up have little parking space and choked roads. Shenzhen was planned and built from scratch so it has broad avenues and manageable parking elsewhere. Generally Chinese take public transport.

中国的城市往往看起来比美国的城市先进得多。但是你会发现那些被修饰一新的老城市几乎没有停车位，道路拥挤。深圳是从零开始规划和建设的，所以它才能有宽阔的道路和便于管理的停车位。所以中国人一般乘坐公共交通工具。

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15.Alex Ross
I’ve never been to China, but let me ask a question.

我从来没有去过中国，但是让我问一个问题。

Is it realistic for an average Chinese citizen to be able to take a two week vacation, jump in their car and drive to any domestic city they choose, spend a week there and drive home?

对于一个普通的中国公民来说，如果他有两周的假期，他能跳上车，开车到他们选择的任何一个国内城市，在那里呆上一周，然后开车回家吗？

Or, how about this? Is it realistic for an average Chinese citizen to be able to spend a few months getting their pilot certification, then rent an airplane and fly themself to any of those destinations?

或者，对于一个普通的中国公民来说，他能花几个月的时间获得飞行员证书，然后租一架飞机，自行飞往任何一个目的地吗？

Could they pick any address in the country, ship a package and have it arrive in a day or two?

他们可以在这个国家选择任何一个地址，运送一个包裹，并让它在一两天内到达吗？

With the infrastructure in the United States, anyone can do this. And anyone could afford to do this, if they want to.

有了美国的基础设施，任何人都能做到这一点。只要愿意，任何人都有能力做到这一点。

And although the idea of high speed trains sounds really cool, it’s just — really not a need. Just about any area has an airport nearby that can accommodate commercial aircraft. Or you can hop in your car, jump on an interstate and go.

尽管高速列车的想法听起来很酷，但实际上并没有必要。几乎任何地区附近都有能容纳商用飞机的机场。或者你也可以跳上你的车，开上州际公路出发。

How is this all possible? 4 million miles of interstate highways, state roads, city roads, rural roads and over 5000 airports with paved runways (that’s an average of 100 airports per state, with paved runways). And fuel availability pretty much everywhere.

这一切是怎么实现的？因为美国有400万英里的州际高速公路、州际公路、城市公路、农村公路和5000多个铺设了跑道的机场(平均每个州有100个铺设了跑道的机场)。到处都有燃料供应。

As you could imagine, this all requires quite a bit to build and maintain. Do you want a few cool looking cities? Or the ability to affordably travel anywhere you choose, any time you choose?

可以想象，所有这些都需要相当多的构建和维护。你是想要一些看起来很酷的城市，还是可以在任何时间去你想去的任何地方旅行的能力？