In a crowded country that is short of public money, any expansive(宽敞的；广阔的) public building that seems underused(未充分利用的) in any way is vulnerable(脆弱的；易受攻击的). Professional critics of state spending can claim taxpayers’ money is being wasted. Managers of the building who are under financial pressure can argue it needs to be used more intensely, perhaps that some spaces should be commercialised and offered for rent. The original open, uncommodified(非商品化的), egalitarian(平等主义的) quality of the building can be steadily sliced away(逐步削去；削减).
在一个拥挤且公共资金短缺的国家，任何看起来未被充分利用的宽敞公共建筑都容易成为目标。专业的政府开支批评者可以声称纳税人的钱被浪费了。面临财务压力的建筑管理者可以辩称，建筑需要更密集地使用，或许某些空间应该商业化并出租。建筑原本开放、非商品化、平等主义的特质可能会被逐步削去。
The British Library in London is in danger of(面临……的危险) that fate. A huge brick battleship(砖砌战舰（比喻）) moored(停泊的) on the Euston Road since 1997, it claims to be the largest public building constructed in the UK in the 20th century. Its both forbidding(令人生畏的) and exhilarating(令人兴奋的) exterior conceals 11 unusually elegant and comfortable reading rooms and one of the world’s most extensive print and digital collections, free to use for anyone who is over 18. Last week, these readers received an email with the subject line, “Transforming your Library”. Next summer, the library would “begin work on repurposing(改变用途) our [three] Science and Social Sciences Reading Rooms to become a flexible workspace … available for hire(可供租用) by workers and businesses for co-working, collaboration and meetings”. The reason given for removing more than a quarter of the library’s much-loved research space was “ensuring we generate the necessary revenue to keep our core services free”.(移除超过四分之一备受喜爱的研究空间，给出的理由是“确保我们创造必要的收入，以保持核心服务免费”。)
伦敦的大英图书馆正面临这种命运的危险。这座巨大的砖砌“战舰”自1997年起停泊在尤斯顿路，号称是20世纪英国建造的最大公共建筑。它那既令人望而生畏又令人兴奋的外观，隐藏着11间异常优雅舒适的阅览室，以及世界上最丰富的印刷和数字馆藏之一，18岁以上任何人都可免费使用。上周，这些读者收到一封主题为“改造您的图书馆”的电子邮件。明年夏天，图书馆将“开始动工，将我们的[三个]科学与社会科学阅览室改造为灵活的工作空间……可供工作者和企业租用，用于共享办公、协作和会议”。移除超过四分之一备受喜爱的研究空间，给出的理由是“确保我们创造必要的收入，以保持核心服务免费”。
The library has a current annual budget of about £170m – a third the size of my local London hospital’s – 84% of which comes from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The rest is from donations, investments and “charitable and other trading activities”, such as the private parties and ticketed exhibitions already frequently held in the sweeping interior connecting its reading rooms. Even with these multiple income streams, the library’s financial reserves are perilously low – according to its latest accounts – thanks to inflation and austerity, which mean its state funding has in real terms declined to two-thirds of what it was in 2010, and also a devastating cyber-attack in 2023, from which the library has still not fully recovered.(即使有这些多重收入来源，根据最新账目，图书馆的财政储备仍低得危险，原因是通货膨胀和紧缩政策——这意味着其国家拨款实际已降至2010年的三分之二——还有2023年一场毁灭性的网络攻击，图书馆至今尚未完全恢复。)
图书馆目前年度预算约为1.7亿英镑——是我所在伦敦本地医院预算的三分之一——其中84%来自文化、媒体和体育部。其余来自捐款、投资以及“慈善和其他贸易活动”，例如已经经常在连接阅览室的宽敞内部空间举办的私人派对和售票展览。即使有这些多重收入来源，根据最新账目，图书馆的财政储备仍低得危险，原因是通货膨胀和紧缩政策，这意味着其国家拨款实际已降至2010年的三分之二，还有2023年一场毁灭性的网络攻击，图书馆至今尚未完全恢复。