Passage One

On the night of September 2, 1666, a fire broke out in a baker’s shop near Fish Street Hill in Lon- don. Before the flames were finally extinguished (扑灭), nearly the entire cid, had been reduced to ashes. Over thir thousand homes, fifty churches, and numerous public buildings and hospitals were lost in the fire. For all practical purposes, London was destroyed. The Great Fire was not seen as a total tragedy, however. The deplorable (糟糕)conditions of the city had been attacked by physicians and humanitarians for years before the fire; thus, with the opportunity clearly presented to create a shining new city, artists and craftsmen from all over England hurried to submit their designs for the rebuilding of London. Among those who submitted plans was Sir Christopher Wren, one of England’s leading architects and the Surveyor General of London. The task of rebuilding the city was given to him. Wren realized that the Great Fire would not have been so damaging if the city bad been better laid out: broader streets were needed to replace the twisted, narrow alleys overhung with disrepaired wooden houses and shops. He also felt that redesigning the main thoroughfares (大街) of London would result in increased and more effective transportation within the city. Shortly after Wren began working on his first drafts for the rebuilding, King Charles I issued a statement prohibiting the construction of any house or shop within the city limits until after the plans were completed. When the plans were known to the citizens of London, however, they were overwhelmingly rejected. The most vocal leaders of the opposition were the landlords, who feared that such a drastic widening of the streets would reduce the amount of land available for development. Winter was approaching; consequently, it was necessary for the rebuilding to proceed at once. Per- mission was, therefore, granted for the townspeople and landlords to commence reconstruction of their houses and shops at the sites where they had been before the fire. Had the need for immediate action not been so pressing, some kind of compromise could likely have been reached. This was not to be, however, and the ideas that could have made London one of the world’s most beautiful cities never came to pass.

Why was it necessary to rebuild London quickly