THE RED PHOnE BOXES THaT RInG nO MORE不再响起的红色电话亭

by Justin Parkinson

乔皙 译

THE RED PHOnE BOXES THaT RInG nO MORE不再响起的红色电话亭

by Justin Parkinson

乔皙 译

红色电话亭是一个很有纪念意义的英国特色标志。但随着移动通信设备的普及，这些电话亭已失去了最初的使用价值，大部分已经从这个国家的街头挪走，而更多的已经消失了。它们都去哪了呢？

They’re1)battered, rusting and faky, some having stood in the sun, rain, wind and snow without any attention for three decades.

A few have weeds poking through gaps that once housed glass panels.Row after row of retired red telephone boxes remain in a yard near Merstham, Surrey, awaiting their fate.In a few weeks, maybe a few years, they will begin an afterlife—abroad, or, more likely, in British gardens.

Staff at Unicorn Restorations spend up to 30 hours stripping old2)kiosks, repainting them in the same shades of red once3)stipulatedby the General Post Offce and putting in new glass.Finished booths are packed into wooden crates, looking a little like enlarged coffns, for shipping.“The reanimated corpse emerges from a case at the other end,” jokes Christian Lewis, the company’s restorations manager.

In 2002 there were 92,000 BT payphones across the UK.Today 57,500 remain, of which just 9,400 are traditional red models.Mobile phones mean most of those are now little used.

Yet they still inspire affection.The classic red kiosk was voted the greatest British design of all time earlier this year, beating the Routemaster double-decker bus and the union fag into second and third places.

“I think the appeal of the red telephone box is based on two things,” says design critic Stephen Bayley.“First, the very pleasing4)neo-classicalproportions and details which, in some mysterious way, are always satisfying wherever they are found.Second, perhaps at another unconscious level, it reminds us of a moment, alas long passed, when public service companies maintained a notion of civic responsibility and used beauty and utility to meet that end.”

1 ) battered ['bætəd] adj.破旧的，磨损的

2 ) kiosk ['kiːɒsk] n.亭子

3 ) stipulate ['stɪpjʊleɪt] v.规定，约定

4 ) neo-classical adj.新古典的，新古典主义的

它们变得破旧不堪、锈迹斑斑、支离破碎，部分电话亭无人照看，在日晒雨淋中度过了三十年。

有些电话亭的玻璃已剥落，缝隙中长出了杂草。成排成排的废旧红色电话亭立在萨里郡梅尔萨姆附近的一个院子里，等待着命运的宣判。几周后，也可能是几年后，它们会有一个新的使命——被运送出国，或者，很可能被放置在英国的公园里。

独角兽修复公司的员工要花长达30个小时来给这些残旧的电话亭剥去旧漆，重新涂上一样的红色（邮政总局规定的红色）和装上新的玻璃。修复好的亭子会被装在木箱里等待运送，这些木箱有点像大号棺材。”这些翻新过的尸体将在另一个地方从箱子里出来，”该公司的修复经理克里斯琴·刘易斯开玩笑道。

在2002年，英国有92,000个电信收费电话。今天还有57,500个，其中只有9,400个是传统的红色电话亭。移动电话使得大部分公共电话失去使用价值。

但它们仍然讨人喜欢。在今年早些时候，这些经典的红色亭子在大众投票中得分最高，被认为是英国历史上最伟大的设计，排在第二、第三位的分别是“街头霸主”双层巴士和英国国旗。

“我认为红色电话亭有两个吸引之处，”设计评论家斯蒂芬·贝利说。“首先，赏心悦目的新古典成分和细节使得它们无论放在哪里都让人觉得合适，其中的原因很难说清楚。第二，也许是在我们潜意识的另一层次中，它让我们想起了很久以前，那时候公共服务公司有承担公共责任的意识，同时兼顾了美观和实用。”

There are about 70 red phone boxes in the Merstham yard.Costing between £2,000 and £10,000 when fully restored, they are not a cheap5)adornment.Renovated boxes have gone to Greece, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi and the U.S.

One resides on the fourth foor of a Manhattan offce building, a British theatrical agent having bought it.China and Russia are growing markets, but the UK remains the biggest.

“They’re a reminder of a time when things were built to last and to show the pride people had in their communities and the things that they had to share, including public telephones,” says Lewis.

“Up to 90 years later they’re still standing.Everyone in the world knows them.If you went to New York and didn’t see a yellow cab, it would be a total let-down.It’s the same with red phone boxes if someone came to visit Britain.”

Many of the red boxes, the most common of which is the K6 model, were6)decommissionedin the mid-1980s when newly privatised British Telecom replaced them with the aluminium-framed KX100.

在梅尔萨姆的院子里大概有70个红色电话亭。完成全部修复需要花费2千至1万英镑，这些装饰品并不便宜。翻新好的亭子有些已经送到了希腊、澳大利亚、意大利、法国、瑞士、阿布扎比和美国。

曼哈顿办公大楼四楼摆放了一个电话亭——一家英国戏剧代理公司买下的。在中国和俄罗斯，销量正在上升，但英国仍是最大的市场。

“在那个时期，有些东西是为长期存在而建的，为展示一个团体的自豪感而建的，这些东西是大家必须分享的，而公共电话就是这样的东西，它们让人想起那个时代，”刘易斯说。

“长达90年的时间过去了，它们仍然存在着。全世界的人都知道它们。如果你到了纽约没看到黄色出租车的话，你会感到很失望。如果别人来到英国没有看到红色电话亭也会有同样的感受。”

很多红色电话亭在上世纪80年代时已经停止使用，最普遍的是K6型电话亭，当时刚私有化的英国电信公司以铝结构的KX100型电话亭取而代之。

5 ) adornment [ə'dɔːnmənt] n.装饰品

6 ) decommission [,diːkə'mɪʃən] v.正式停止使用

7 ) unwieldy [ʌn'wiːldɪ] adj.笨重的

8 ) vandalism ['vændəlɪz(ə)m] n.故意破坏

9 ) necessitate [nɪ'sesɪteɪt] v.使需要，使成为必需

In 2012, BT again began selling them off.“Numbers of red and modern kiosks are set to continue to shrink, as we cut their numbers to match demand,” a spokesman says.

Telephone kiosks first appeared in the 1900s.These were usually inside shops and hotels, providing a quiet area from which to make calls.

Localised designs for outdoor kiosks came into use, but it was not until 1921 that the first standardised version, the cream-coloured K1, was put into use.In 1924, the General Post Offce (GPO) ran a competition to design a new uniform kiosk.The winner was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s K2, the first one made currently standing outside London’s Royal Academy of Art.

It was said to have been inspired by the tomb in St Pancras, London, by architect Sir John Soane, who designed the Bank of England.Square-based, it has a similarly rounded roof.

But the K2, which stood 9ft 4in (2.8m) tall and measured 3ft 6in (1m) wide, was considered expensive and7)unwieldy.The GPO tried various other types until Gilbert Scott’s update, the K6—which most people would today consider the traditional phone box—appeared on the streets in 1935.After a few modifcations to prevent8)vandalism, a total of 70,000 were made.Wooden-doored, standing 8ft 4in (2.5m) tall and measuring 3ft (0.9m) wide, they weigh around three-quarters of a tonne (1,650lb),9)necessitatinga crane to move them.

在2012年，英国电信公司再次出售这些亭子。“红色现代亭子的数量不可避免地会持续缩减，因为我们要减少其数量以应对需求变化。”一位发言人说道。

电话亭最早出现在20世纪初。它们通常是在商店和酒店里，提供一个安静的地方打电话。

各个地方设计的户外电话亭渐渐投入使用，但直到1921年，第一代统一的电话亭样式——淡黄色的K1型——才开始投入使用。1924年，邮政总局举行了一场设计全新的统一样式电话亭的比赛。贾尔斯·吉尔伯特·斯科特爵士设计的K2型胜出，第一个K2电话亭目前摆放在伦敦皇家艺术学院外。

据说灵感来源于位于伦敦的圣潘克斯墓，由英国银行的设计师约翰·索恩爵士设计。基本形状是方形，顶部接近圆形。

但人们觉得这个高9英尺4英寸（2.8米），宽3英尺6英寸（1米）的K2型电话亭造价昂贵而且很笨重。经吉尔伯特·斯科特改良后的K6面世前，邮政总局尝试了好几次修改。K6于1935年出现在大街上，是现今人们认为最传统的电话亭。为了预防恶意毁坏而稍作修改后，英国总共制造了七万个电话亭。木门，高8英尺4英寸（2.5米），宽3英尺（0.9米），重约四分之三吨（1,650磅），得用起重机才能搬得动。

In 1968, the more modern-looking K8—with three large single panes of glass, rather than the small barred windows of the K6, which became a target for vandals—came into use.At first it was painted yellow, but this didn’t catch on and it moved to red.

Not all red phone boxes end up in restoration yards, of which there are several around the UK.In fact, Lewis says the supply is dwindling, which is likely to push up costs for collectors.

Part of the reason is BT’s Adopt-a-Kiosk scheme, in place since 2012, which allows councils and charities to purchase a red phone box for £1, ensuring it stays in place.

Several now house10)defibrillators.Two phone boxes near Brighton’s Pavilion have been turned into a street cafe.Villagers in Draughton, North Yorkshire, used a vacant red box, as a replacement when the local shop closed down.It operated on an “honesty” basis, users leaving money after taking goods stored inside.

And the greenhouse-like qualities of a red box in Cumbria, allowed villagers to use it to grow tomatoes.Others in central London have been used as mobile phone-charging points, powered by solar panels on the roof.

“It’s great what they’re doing to keep them in use,”says Lewis.“If you wanted a three-foot square space on a pavement to set up a business or anything else, you’d never get planning permission.It provides a great vantage point, because it’s so distinctive and visible.”

“They used to be the only way lots of people could use a phone,” says Lewis.“For a long time you had to go on the waiting list to get a home phone, so seeing a phone box was reassuring.You used to have to queue to use them, though.”

10) defbrillator [dɪ'fɑɪbrɪleɪtə(r)] n.心脏除颤器，电击器

1968年，外观更现代化的K8投入使用。K8的三面整体玻璃代替了更容易受到破坏的K6的细条状玻璃块。刚开始K8被涂成黄色，但并不受欢迎，后来还是换回红色。

并不是所有的红色电话亭最终都能放在英国的几个待修复院子里。实际上，供应量正在下降，这意味着收藏者要花更多的钱来购买。

原因之一是英国电信公司从2012开始实施的“收留一个电话亭”计划。该计划允许一些机构和慈善组织以1英镑的价格购买一个红色电话亭，让电话亭得以保留下来。

一些电话亭现在安置了心脏电击器。在布莱顿穹顶宫附近的两个电话亭变成了街边咖啡室。在北约克郡的德拉夫顿，当地的商店倒闭后，村民们把一个电话亭作为临时商铺。这是一个“诚信商铺”，人们拿走里面的商品时自觉把钱放下。

在坎布里亚郡的一个改造成温室的红色亭子可以让村民在里面种西红柿。在伦敦中心的电话亭则成了移动电话充电站，电力由亭顶的太阳能板提供。

“人们让这些亭子继续发挥用处的做法很好，”刘易斯说。“要是你想在人行道上申请一个3平方英尺的地方做生意或做别的事情肯定是不会被允许的。但电话亭很有优势，因为它很突出，很显眼。”

“这里曾是许多人唯一能打电话的地方，”刘易斯说。“很长一段时间，你只能排着长长的队伍等着打电话回家，因此这些电话亭给人以慰藉。虽然曾经打电话只能排队等候。”