房委會即將推出新一期居屋共2160個單位。政府將不遺餘力地推出居屋,以照顧中間階層的住屋需求。事實上, 在目前樓價居高不下的情況下,居屋已經成為不少市民置業的重要階梯。然而,面對未來十年龐大的建屋目標,房委會恐怕獨力難支。當局應重新啟動私人參建居屋計劃,引入具實力的發展商共同興建居屋。
房委會近年財赤不斷加劇,將來既要應付公屋及居屋的興建,又要承擔現行公屋單位的維修及營運工作,將對房委會造成沉重的壓力。私人發展商有豐富的建屋經驗,可避免公營機構的大量行政程序,將可縮短居屋興建年期至約36個月。而且,不少私人發展商擁有大量土地儲備,例如新界地區的農地,當局可考慮透過補地價機制,規定發展商在更改農地用途建樓時,須提供若干比例的居屋單位。此舉既有助釋放閒置的農地資源,又可增加大量居屋單位供應,值得當局研究。
Private sector to boost supply of HOS flats
The Housing Authority will soon release a new batch of 2,160 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) units up for sale. The government is sparing no effort to supply HOS units to take care of the housing needs of the sandwich class. In fact, under the present circumstances where property prices are persistently high, HOS is an important stepping stone for many citizens to own a flat. Yet it seems impossible for the authority alone to meet the target of building this huge number of flats. The government should relaunch the Private Sector Participation Scheme and invite well-established developers to join hands in HOS.
The authority has had increasing deficits over the past few years. The pressure will be very heavy if it undertakes the development of public housing and HOS estates, and meanwhile shoulders the duties of public housing maintenance and management. Private developers have rich experience in property development. They can cut the red tape that a public organization must go through. The development period for HOS estates can then be shortened to about 36 months. In addition, many private developers possess abundant land resources, such as farmland, in the New Territories. When they apply for land use rezoning to change farmland to property development areas, the authorities may consider stipulating reservation of a certain part of the built units for HOS through the land premium mechanism. This will release some fallow farms as well as supply substantial HOS flats. The authorities should explore the possibility more thoroughly. ■Translation and Learning Point by
Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]
Learning Point:
要表達 「不少、龐大、大量」,可用不同的字眼,譯文的第一段用了many、huge number of描述citizens和flats這些可數名詞。除此以外,亦可運用一些形容詞,如文中第二段中的abundant、substantial,這些字可用於可數或不可數名詞。
Practice:
下列句子用了上面提到的字眼,試說出哪些是錯的。
1. She puts many pressure on her son.
2. He has got tremendous potential to be a footballer.
3. There are substantial reasons for his failure.
4. We have got a great number of evidence related to the case.
5. The shop supplies abundant cheap electronic products.
Answers:
1. She puts tremendous pressure on her son.
2.√ ��
3. √
4. We have abundant /substantial evidence related to the case.
5. √
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