The Taipei of thirty or forty years ago still had much of the country village about it--unpaved roads; low houses spread out from one another; and large stretches of rice paddies, orchards, and empty fields.
卅多年前的台北，除大稻埕、萬華一帶是熱鬧的聚落，大部分地區還是鄉村景緻。疏落的平房，大片的稻田、菜園和泥土地、碎石路；今天，它們完全換了一張臉，鋼筋、水泥高樓，大理石華廈，人行道鋪上地磚，柏油路四通八達，地下則充滿水泥製的自來水管、排水溝… … 各種涵管。