Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world—bigger than Mexico and Texas combined. Still, with so much room, more than 12 million people choose to live in the capital city of Buenos Aires. Why is this city located where it is? And how did it get to be so big? Here’s a hint: The people of Buenos Aires call themselves “people of the port”.
In the early 1500s, Spanish soldiers built the tiny town of Buenos Aires on the Rio de la Plata. Rio de la Plata is Spanish for “river of silver.” This name gives you an idea of what the Spanish were hoping to find. But dreams of silver and gold near Buenos Aires soon faded, for one simple reason. There was little to be found. Over the years, though, people here began to realize that their town did have something very valuable to offer.
A Perfect Location
On the map, you can see that Buenos Aires is located along the wide Rio de la Plata. This waterway gives the city easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. Now look to the west of Buenos Aires and find the Pampas. This is a vast region of fertile plains. Wheat and other crops thrive2 in the Pampas. The land is also ideal for raising cattle and sheep.
Put this information together, and you will understand why Buenos Aires became a major city. In the 1800s, railroads began transporting farm products from the Pampas to the port town of Buenos Aires. From Buenos Aires, ships loaded with Argentine beef, leather, wool, and wheat sailed to Europe and other parts of the world. Buenos Aires became an important center for international trade.
New Arrivals
As trade boomed3 at the docks of Buenos Aires in the late 1800s, the city simply did not have enough people to keep up with the work. Word spread to Europe that good jobs were available in Argentina. This set off a massive wave of immigration. Millions of new arrivals turned Buenos Aires from a busy port town into one of the world’s biggest cities.
Growing Cities
Today Buenos Aires is the second largest city in South America, and it’s still growing. The population of Buenos Aires is expected to top 13 million by 2015. South America’s biggest city—Sao Paulo, Brazil—will probably be home to more than 21 million people by 2015! The process of urbanization4, or growth of city population, is happening all over South America. A major reason for this is the migration, or movement, of people from rural areas to cities.
Push and Pull Factors
Factors that influence the movement of people are called push and pull factors. Push factors are things that cause people to leave the place they are living. In South America, people are often “pushed” from rural areas because of a lack of jobs and good schools.
Factors that attract or “pull” people to a certain place are called pull factors. One hundred years ago, the hope of finding good jobs pulled people to Buenos Aires. The same is true today. People also move to the city in hopes of finding better school for their children.
Big cities like Buenos Aires can offer families the opportunity for a better life. City life can be difficult, however. When rural families move to the city, they often have to crowd into very poor neighborhoods with no electricity or running water. Because of the bad living conditions, slums5 in Buenos Aires are known as “villages of misery.”
City of Neighborhoods
The famous Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges once said, “Our entire country is imported. Everyone here is really from somewhere else.” The modern city of Buenos Aires reflects the influence of people from many countries. With wide avenues6, sidewalk cafes, and small shops, the center of the city looks a lot like European cities such as Paris, France, or Barcelona, Spain.
Surrounding the downtown area are more than 40 different barrios7, or neighborhoods. Each barrio has a unique personality. La Boca, for example, is an Italian neighborhood that is famous for brightly painted houses. The barrio once was filled with shops owned by Jewish and Korean families.
Packed with theater, dance halls, and all-night bookstores, Buenos Aires is the cultural center of Argentina. Restaurants range from world-famous steak houses to family pizza places, and people here are famous for staying up late to enjoy the culture of their city. As one native said, “We like people, and we are very curious about everything.”
阿根廷是世界第8大国，它的面积比墨西哥和得克萨斯州加起来还要大。但是，尽管国土面积如此广袤，却有1,200多万人选择居住在首都布宜诺斯艾利斯。这座城市为什么会坐落在这里？它怎么会变得如此庞大？给你一个提示：布宜诺斯艾利斯居民自称为“港口人”。
早在16世纪初期，西班牙士兵就在拉普拉塔河岸修建了一座名叫布宜诺斯艾利斯的小镇。西班牙语里，拉普拉塔河的意思是“白银之河”——冲着这名字，你一定能想到西班牙人当年企图寻找什么。但是，在布宜诺斯艾利斯附近寻觅黄金和白银的梦想很快就破灭了，道理很简单：几乎找不到。可是，随着岁月的流逝，人们开始意识到这座小镇能够奉献一样非常宝贵的东西。
理想的地理位置
打开地图，你可以看到布宜诺斯艾利斯位于宽阔的拉普拉塔河两岸。这条水道提供了进入大西洋的便利通道。现在，来看看布宜诺斯艾利斯的西边——潘帕斯草原。这是一片广阔无垠的肥沃草原。草原上适宜小麦和其他作物生长，也适合放牧牛、羊。
把这些信息综合起来，你就会明白为什么布宜诺斯艾利斯能够发展成大都市。到了19世纪，铁路开始把潘帕斯大草原上的农产品运送到港口小镇布宜诺斯艾利斯。从布宜诺斯艾利斯出发，满载阿根廷牛肉、皮革、羊毛和小麦的船舶驶往欧洲和世界其他地区。布宜诺斯艾利斯成为国际贸易重地。
新移民
19世纪末随着布宜诺斯艾利斯港口贸易的蓬勃发展，这个城市出现劳动力短缺。阿根廷到处可以找到好工作的消息传到欧洲，立即触发了一场大规模的移民浪潮。数百万新移民使布宜诺斯艾利斯从一个繁忙的港口小镇一跃而成为世界上最大的都市之一。
都市在膨胀
今天的布宜诺斯艾利斯是南美第二大城市，而且仍在膨胀。到2015年，预计布宜诺斯艾利斯的人口将突破1,300万。南美洲最大的城市——巴西的圣保罗，2015年人口可能超过2,100万！都市化进程，也就是城市人口增加的进程，正在席卷整个南美洲。其中一个重要原因就是移民，也就是人口从农村涌向城市。
推力与引力因素
影响人口流动的因素包括推力因素和引力因素。推力因素指促使居民离开所居住地的各种诱因。在南美洲，由于农村缺少就业机会和接受良好教育的机会，人们被“推挤”出乡村地区。 吸引或诱惑人们前往某一地区的因素称为“引力因素”。100年前，能够找到好工作的吸引力诱使人们前往布宜诺斯艾利斯。今天同样如此。另外，人们迁居大城市，希望为子女找到更好的学校。
像布宜诺斯艾利斯这样的大城市能为家庭提供更好的生活。当然，城市生活也可能很艰难。当农村人口迁到城市时，往往被迫挤到条件极差的社区，没有电、没有自来水。由于生活条件恶劣，布宜诺斯艾利斯的贫民窟被称为“苦难村”。
城市圈
阿根廷著名作家乔治·路易斯·博尔赫斯曾经说过：“我们整个国家都是进口的。这里每个人都来自异国他乡。”今天的布宜诺斯艾利斯再现了多国移民的影响。宽阔的街道、露天咖啡馆和小商店，使布宜诺斯艾利斯市中心与欧洲的大城市，如法国巴黎或西班牙巴塞罗那相比几无二致。
布宜诺斯艾利斯市中心周围环绕着40多个行政区，或称社区。每个行政区各具特色。例如，拉博卡是一个意大利式社区，以区内房屋色彩明亮的外墙而出名。这一社区一度挤满了犹太人和韩国人经营的商店。
剧场、舞厅以及通宵营业的书店随处可见，使布宜诺斯艾利斯成为阿根廷的文化中心。餐厅中有的是世界闻名的牛排屋，有的是家庭式比萨饼店。这里的人们都热衷于整夜享受他们的城市文化，这种习惯远近闻名。有位本地人说：“我们喜欢每个人，我们对一切都感到好奇。”
A Day in Buenos Aires
布宜诺斯艾利斯的一天
What’s a typical day like in Buenos Aires? For Diego, who lives with his parents and grandmother in an apartment building in Buenos Aires, a normal school day starts early. If his mother doesn’t wake him up at 6:00 a.m., his dog Luna will. Diego gets dressed quickly and takes Luna for a walk.
Then it’s time to get ready for school. Diego puts on his school uniform and eats a quick breakfast of toast and tea. He slings8 his heavy backpack over his shoulder and crowds onto the city bus for the 25-minute ride to school. When his stop approaches, he shoves his way toward the door and gets ready to jump off. He knows the bus drivers don’t always come to a complete stop at every bus stop!
Diego is in the seventh year of primary school, which runs from grades one through nine in Argentina. Classes start at 8:00 a.m. with math, followed by history and music. At 1:00 p.m., Diego and his friends eat a big lunch of pasta9 and tomato sauce.
After lunch, Diego heads to English class. This is one of his favorites, because the students practice English by writing e-mails to students in other countries. Diego’s e-pal in New York City is complaining about snow, but it’s summer here in the Southern Hemisphere!
When the last class ends at 4:00 p.m, Diego and his friends take the bus to a city park to play soccer. Then he’s back home to start on homework before dinner. If he finishes in time, Diego helps his grandmother cook. His parents come home from work about 8:00 p.m., and they sit down to dinner at 9:00 p.m. After dinner, Diego does some reading or watches a little television before getting ready for bed.
布宜诺斯艾利斯典型的一天是什么样呢？以迭戈为例——他和父母及祖母住在布宜诺斯艾利斯一幢公寓里。平时学校上课他起得很早，如果早晨6点母亲没有叫醒他，没关系，还有他的狗“努娜”呢！迭戈迅速穿好衣服，带狗遛上一圈。
然后他得准备去上学。迭戈穿好校服，迅速就着茶吃了一片烤面包，算是快速早餐吧。他把重重的背包甩在肩上、背在背后，挤进公汽，坐25分钟的车到达学校。到站了，他必须“杀”出一条血路挤向车门，准备跳车。他知道，巴士司机每站未必都会停稳！
迭戈上的是小学七年级——阿根廷小学九年级学制。早上8点开始上课，先上数学，接着是历史和音乐。下午1点，迭戈和同学们吃着拌着番茄酱的意大利面，算是一顿大餐。
午饭后，迭戈奔向英语教室。这是他的最爱之一，因为他们学习英语的方式，是给远在他国的网友发电子邮件。迭戈远在纽约市的网友抱怨下雪了，但在南半球却是夏天！
下午4点结束了最后一堂课，迭戈和朋友们坐巴士到公园踢足球。踢完球，他要回家做功课、然后吃晚饭。如果能及时做完作业，迭戈会帮祖母做饭。他的父母晚上8点才下班回家，9点才坐下来一起吃饭。吃了晚饭后，迭戈可能看会儿书，或者看一小会儿电视，然后准备休息。
Summing up
概况
One-third of Argentina’s entire population lives in the capital city of Buenos Aires. The neighborhoods and culture of Buenos Aires reflect the city’s long history of immigration. Throughout South America, cities are growing rapidly as people migrate from rural to urban areas.
阿根廷全国三分之一的人口居住在首都布宜诺斯艾利斯。布宜诺斯艾利斯今天的社区和文化再现了悠久的移民史。在整个南美洲，随着人口从农村涌向城市，城市正在迅速膨胀。
1. bustle v. 喧闹
2. thrive v. 茁壮成长
3. boom v. 繁荣
4. urbanization n. 都市化
5. slum n. 贫民窟
6. avenue n. 林荫道
7. barrio n. 地方行政区域
8. sling v. 扔
9. pasta n. 意大利面