WOMAN: I’m very pleased to welcome this evening’s guest speaker, Mark Logan, who’s going to tell us about the recent transformation of Minster Park.

女：很高兴迎来今晚的特约发言人——马克·罗根。他将为我们介绍敏斯特公园最近的变化。

Over to you, Mark.

交给你了，马克。

MARK: Thank you. I’m sure you’re all familiar with Minster Park.

马克：谢谢。我相信大家已经对敏斯特公园十分熟悉了。

It’s been a feature of the city for well over a century, and has been the responsibility of the city council for most of that time.

过去100年间，这座公园一直是这座城市的标志，大部分时间由市政局管理。

What perhaps isn’t so well known is the origin of the park: unlike many public parks that started in private ownership, as the garden of a large house, for instance, Minster was some waste land, which people living nearby started planting with flowers in 1892.

不为人知的一点也许就是这座公园的前身了。许多公共公园的前身是私人花园，比如，大房子的花园。和这类花园不同，敏斯特公园的前身是一片废弃的土地。1892年，附近居民开始在这里种植花草。

It was unclear who actually owned the land, and this wasn’t settled until 20 years later, when the council took possession of it.

人们并不确定土地的主人是谁，直到20年后，市政局接管了它，这一问题才得到解决。

You may have noticed the statue near one of the entrances.

你们也许已经注意到了一个入口旁的雕塑。

It’s of Diane Gosforth, who played a key role in the history of the park.

那是黛安·戈斯福思。她在这座公园的历史中扮演了重要的角色。

Once the council had become the legal owner, it planned to sell the land for housing.

市政局刚一成为这里的合法主人，就想要将它以房屋用地卖掉。

Many local people wanted it to remain a place that everyone could go to, to enjoy the fresh air and natural environment - remember the park is in a densely populated residential area.

许多当地居民希望将它保留为公共区域，所有人都可以到这里享受新鲜的空气和美好的自然环境——别忘了，这个公园位于人口密集的住宅区。

Diane Gosforth was one of those people, and she organised petitions and demonstrations, which eventually made the council change its mind about the future of the land.

黛安·戈斯福思就是当时的居民之一，她组织了请愿和示威游行，最终迫使议会改变了对这片土地的未来规划的决策。

Soon after this the First World War broke out, in 1914, and most of the park was dug up and planted with vegetables, which were sold locally.

不久之后，第一次世界大战在1914年爆发了，公园的大部分都被翻整，种上了用于在当地售卖的蔬菜。

At one stage the army considered taking it over for troop exercises and got as far as contacting the city council, then decided the park was too small to be of use.

在某一时期，军队曾考虑过接管这个地方用于军事训练。相关事宜已经进行到与市政厅商议的环节，但是却因为这个公园面积太小而放弃了。

There were occasional public meetings during the war, in an area that had been retained as grass.

战争期间，在被保留作为草坪的区域，偶尔会举行公众集会。

After the war, the park was turned back more or less to how it had been before 1914, and continued almost unchanged until recently.

战争结束后，公园大体上回归到1914年之前的样子，直至今日几乎没有改变。

Plans for transforming it were drawn up at various times, most recently in 2013, though they were revised in 2015, before any work had started.

改造公园的计划经常被提起，最近一次是在2013年，但是在工程开始之前的2015又修订了计划。

The changes finally got going in 2016, and were finished on schedule last year.

整个修整项目在2016年得以实施，按照计划于去年完工。