第2839期:One euro homes

Imagine you're the mayor of a small, rural town. Over the years the houses have become empty as people move to the city for employment. An earthquake 50 years ago caused terrible damage and forced more families to leave their homes.想象一下，你是一座偏远小镇的市长。多年来，随着人们为了工作迁往城市，镇上的房屋逐渐空置。而且在五十年前，一场地震造成了严重破坏，迫使更多家庭离开家园。And you find yourself facing the possibility of living in a ghost town but in a most beautiful area. We look at the strategy that one local council used to reverse their decline. So where are we, Jackie? On the Italian island of Sicily in a small town called Sambuca.于是你发现自己正面临着一个可能——生活在一座风景优美却濒临“鬼城”的地方。我们来看一个地方政府是如何扭转这种衰退的。那么，我们现在在哪儿呢，杰基？在意大利西西里岛，一个名叫桑布卡（Sambuca）的小镇。Sounds great. So what was Sambuca like in the past then? Very different, Richard. It was a bustling town of about 9,000 people.听起来不错。那么，桑布卡过去是什么样的呢？完全不一样，理查德。那时它是一个热闹的城镇，约有九千名居民。It was, well, and still is, on the top of a hill. And it's in a nature reserve about an hour's drive from the capital. Right, OK.它坐落在一座山顶上，现在依然如此。小镇位于一个自然保护区内，距离首都大约一个小时车程。好的，明白了。So what happened? Basically, Richard, farming practices changed. And following the industrialisation of the agricultural sector, farm workers simply left. So they didn't need so many farm workers.那么后来发生了什么？基本上，理查德，是农业方式发生了变化。随着农业产业化的发展，农场工人不再被需要，因此纷纷离开了。They all left to the city to find jobs then. Yeah, I mean, there's just no human labour needed in the fields anymore. And that left the mayor and his deputy needing to decide what to do.他们都去了城市找工作。是的，因为农田里再也不需要人工劳作了。于是市长和副市长不得不面对一个问题——该怎么办。Exactly, with only about 5,000 people now. So what they decided to do was to sell the homes that the council owned because they wanted people to buy the homes and do them up, live in them and then provide a community once more. Actually, they had an interesting marketing strategy.没错，如今镇上只剩约五千人。所以他们决定出售镇政府名下的房屋，希望吸引人们购买、修缮、居住，从而重建一个社区。事实上，他们采用了一种非常有趣的营销策略。They wanted to sell the houses, but they also wanted to attract media attention. So they decided to advertise the homes for €1 each. €1.他们不仅想卖房子，还想吸引媒体关注。于是，他们决定以每套1欧元的价格对外宣传这些房屋。1欧元！So you can imagine, right, huge reaction and interest from around the world. And just a few weeks after the announcement, the council received almost 100,000 emails. Right, OK, but I still can't believe all these houses were for sale for just €1.你可以想象，来自世界各地的反响有多大。公告发布仅几周后，镇政府就收到了近十万封电子邮件。好的，但我还是难以相信这些房子真的只卖1欧元。They'd all be gone now, surely. Actually, it was an auction. The houses did indeed start at €1, Richard, but of course if there was competition, the price went up.这些房子现在肯定早就卖光了吧？其实并不是——那是一场拍卖。房价确实从1欧元起拍，理查德，但当然，如果有人竞争，价格就会上涨。So was it a success then? Was it a successful initiative? Well, five months after the scheme was advertised, the mayor announced the sale of the first 16 houses. The cheapest went for €1,000, so still very cheap. Very cheap.那么这个计划成功了吗？是一次成功的尝试吗？在计划公布五个月后，市长宣布首批16套房屋售出。最便宜的一套卖了1000欧元，依然非常便宜。非常便宜。The most expensive for €25,000. So what's the latest then, Jackie? What's happening now? Well, I've had a look at the Sambuca council site, Richard, and it looks like there are another 44 houses up for sale right now and people are bidding for them. And some of them still only have €1 bids on and some of them have higher bids on.最贵的一套卖了2万5千欧元。那么，杰基，现在最新的情况如何？我看了桑布卡镇政府的网站，理查德，目前又有44套房屋在出售，正在接受竞标。其中一些仍然只有1欧元的出价，而有些已经更高了。And do you know who's bought these houses? It's a whole mixture of people. Among the new owners are British, Russian, Chilean,Israelifamilies. Wow.你知道是谁买下这些房子的吗？买家可谓五花八门——包括英国人、俄罗斯人、智利人和以色列家庭。哇！So then from a business perspective then, it sounds like it's been quite successful. Yeah, I mean the mayor, he said we did not expect it to be so successful. What, selling houses for €1? Yeah, but I mean it's still a remote area of Europe, Richard, and the houses still need to be worked on.从商业角度来看，这似乎相当成功。是的，市长也说他们没想到会这么成功。卖1欧元的房子还能这么火？没错，但毕竟这里仍是欧洲的偏远地区，这些房子还需要修缮。These aren't houses you can just move into. They need to be rehabilitated. So this sounds great for the mayor, but what about the locals? What do they think about this? Well, interesting question, Richard.这些房子不是买来就能直接入住的，必须整修。因此，这对市长来说听起来很好，但当地居民怎么看呢？这是个有趣的问题，理查德。Many have feared that Sambuca will fall into decline, like many towns in southern Italy. So if the scheme prevents that from happening, I think they're willing to accept their new neighbours. It's certainly an interesting survival strategy.许多人担心桑布卡会像意大利南部的其他小镇一样继续衰落。因此，如果这个计划能阻止那种命运，他们愿意接受这些新邻居。这确实是一种有趣的生存策略。We'll just have to wait and see what happens.我们只能拭目以待，看看结果如何。

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