World Capitals (WC). The thought of them, all of them, brings a tear to my eye. There are several cities that I would give more than an eye to see, it is true. Foreign metropole, glittering with nostalgia and wanderlust.
世界首都（WC）。 一想到他们，他们所有人，就让我泪流满面。 有几个城市，我愿意多看一眼，这是真的。 外国大都市，闪烁着怀旧和旅行欲望。
The August of 2022 heralds the return of the first wave of intrepid travelers, mostly unscathed, from trips home this summer. Things are looking hopeful. Lukou Airport is gearing up for flights to Europe once more. But this isn’t our first rodeo, and for many this summer has been another weird one, here in Middle Earth. A case in point; I uttered something for the very first time somewhere in the middle of July. “It’s too hot”, I said. I had to sit down. The children eyed each other nervously.
2022年8月预示着今年夏天从回家旅行的第一波无畏的旅行者回归，他们大多毫无所未受。 事情看起来很有希望。 鲁口机场正在为再次飞往欧洲的航班做准备。 但這不是我們的第一次牛仔竞技，对许多人来说，今年夏天在中土世界又是一次奇怪的牛仔竞技。 一个案例；我在7月中旬的某个地方第一次说出了一些东西。 “太热了”，我说。 我不得不坐下。 孩子们紧张地互相看着对方。
Look at us, settling into the rut of weird, making it our own. Decorating, renovating, making memes about it. Humanity and its fantastical ability to adapt and acclimatize. Some of us even thrive in the bizarre and unfamiliar.
看看我们，陷入怪异的套索，把它变成我们自己的。 装饰、翻新、制作关于它的模因。 人类及其适应和适应的奇妙能力。 我们中的一些人甚至在怪异和陌生的地方茁壮成长。
Cursed with impatience and anxiety, the re-entry process still seemed on par with an Apollo Space Mission in terms of uncertainty and danger for my travelling companions and I. The turgid, soupy heat of July on the Yangtze River Plane can have a curious effect on the workings of the mind. Thinking about world capitals in this context is Machiavellian, defiant, almost perverse. Yet within paradox often lie pearls of truth.
被不耐烦和焦虑所诅咒，就我和旅行同伴的不确定性和危险性而言，再入过程似乎仍然与阿波罗太空任务相提并论。七月在长江平面上炎热的热气会对心灵的运作产生奇怪的影响。 在这种情况下，思考世界首都是马基雅维利的、蔑視的、几乎是变态的。 然而，悖论中往往隐藏着真理的珍珠。
National capitals, like quaint old grandpa’s, are bastions of national pride and centers of power. But have you ever heard of the WC of Jeans? Of Underwear? Of Black Dirt? Behold, the wild and whacky world capitals of the weird and wonderful. We’ve got Capitals of Leap Years and Brothels, of Heavy Metal and Frankenfoods, of Zippers and Bathtub Racing, even of Pickpocketing.
国家首都，就像古朴的老爷爷一样，是民族自豪感的堡垒和权力中心。 但你听说过牛仔裤的WC吗？ 内衣的？ 黑色的污垢？ 看哪，狂野而古怪的世界首都怪异而奇妙。 我們有闲年和妓坊的首都，重金屬和弗蘭肯食品，拉鍊和浴缸賽車，甚至扒手。
The Caput Mundi of weird world capitals without a shadow of a doubt, is the U.S.A. World Capitals of Cow Chip Throwing (yes, folks, that’s a cow pat to us Europeans. Ikr?), Hubcaps, Lost Luggage and The Leap Year are but a miniscule representation of the glut of self-proclaimed world capitals in America.
毫无疑问，世界首都的Caput Mundi是美国。 投掷牛片的世界之都（是的，伙计们，这对我们欧洲人来说是牛拍拍。 Ikr?)、Hubcaps、Lost Luggage和The Leap Year只是美国自称世界首都的过剩的微小代表。
Admittedly, there is a significant variance in the appeal of these WCs, but a truth about humans is that they are as diverse a species as it comes. So, if there is a WC of Frogs to be found (it’s in Rayne, Louisiana) then you can be sure there will be some of your fellow humans flocking there annually to enjoy the Frog Festival and perpetually popular Frog Derby, as well as some others eager to pay homage to the WC of Toilet Paper (sic? Ed.) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, home the very first factory to produce splinter-free TP. Even if I never do actually make a pilgrimage to this particular WC, I thank them from the bottom of my… heart.
诚然，这些WC的吸引力存在重大差异，但关于人类的事实是，它们和人类一样多样化。 因此，如果能找到一个青蛙厕所（在路易斯安那州的雷恩），那么你可以肯定，每年会有一些人类同胞涌向那里，享受青蛙节和永远受欢迎的青蛙德比，以及其他一些渴望向卫生纸厕所致敬的人（原文如此？ Ed.）位于威斯康星州绿湾，是第一家生产无碎片TP的工厂。 即使我从未真正去這個特定的WC朝聖，我也从心底里感謝他們。
Despite the monopoly of WCs, however, there are world capitals of the zany outside of America, some of which you may even have visited, unaware of their alter-ego claim to fame.
然而，尽管WC垄断了，但美国以外还有古怪的世界首都，其中一些你甚至可能去过，却不知道他们的另一个自我名声。
The WC of Jeans, for example, is in Xintang, China. Producing over 800,000 pairs of jeans a day, we passed through on a train ride to Xiamen this summer and marveled at the natural beauty of the countryside, a far cry from the polluted black rivers that hounded the city’s reputation a decade ago when the Jean Capital up and left El Paso, Texas, and became an expat WC.
例如，牛仔裤的WC位于中国新塘。 今年夏天，我们每天生产80多万条牛仔裤，乘火车前往厦门，惊叹于乡村的自然美景，这与十年前Jean Capital离开德克萨斯州的埃尔帕索，成为外籍人士WC时，污染的黑河远远超过了这座城市的声誉。
But that’s not all, China also boasts one of the racier capitals, the WC of Underwear, in Gurao, Guandong Province. Producing over 2oo million bras alone per anum, 80 percent of Gurao’s output is that which is closest to our hearts and other parts; undergarments of all shapes and sizes.
但这还不是全部，中国还拥有更赛车的首都之一，即位于广东省古罗的内衣WC。 仅每年就生产200多万件胸罩，Gurao的产量中有80%是最接近我们心的和其他部位的；各种形状和尺寸的內衣。
At one point, the Tourist Board actually promoted it as the Capital of Sexy, which led to some perplexed looking tourists wandering around underwear factories, wondering when the red lights would appear.
有一次，旅游局实际上将其宣传为性感之都，这导致一些看起来很困惑的游客在内衣工厂徘徊，想知道什么时候会出现红灯。
I’m sure the Middle Kingdom has many other gems yet unknown to me, save Beijing, WC of Roast Duck, and Nanjing, WC of Humidity. Outside of our host country borders, though, several other Capitals of Quirk merit mention.
我相信中王国还有很多其他我不知道的宝石，除了北京，烤鸭厕所和南京，湿度厕所。 然而，在我们东道国的边界之外，还有其他几个Quirk的首都值得一提。
If bathtub racing floats your boat, Nanaimo, Canada, is the place for you.
如果浴缸赛车让你的船漂浮起来，加拿大的纳奈莫就是你的地方。
Since 1967, the home of “bathtubbing” has drawn enthusiasts from around the globe each July. These aficionados make old bathtubs sea-worthy, and race them into the Georgia Strait and back to the finish line in Nanaimo Bay.
自1967年以来，“浴缸”的故乡每年7月都会吸引来自世界各地的爱好者。 这些爱好者让旧浴缸适合航海，并将它们驶入乔治亚海峡，回到纳奈莫湾的终点线。
Some spend upwards of $30,000 getting their tub race-ready and come from as far as Australia to fulfil their dream of captaining their bathtub to glory, being first across the finish line.
有些人花了超过30,000美元为他们的浴缸比赛做好准备，并远道而来澳大利亚，以实现他们的梦想，带领他们的浴缸走向荣耀，率先越过终点线。
Speaking of “finish”, The WC of Heavy Metal is Helsinki, Finland. “With 54.3 heavy metal bands per 100,000 of the population, Finland has become the Mecca of Heavy Metal”, according to wanderlust.co.uk. Whilst the math of that explanation may escape me (the Finish population is approximately 5.5 million for the more mathematically minded of readers), that does seem like a lot of headbangers concentrated into one small country, and suggests at least some correlation between excellence in education systems and a liking for sick guitar licks. Finland has the best education system in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, so it is interesting to me, as an educator, that they have gone, “No, Heavy Metal. We will be the heavy metal WC, thank you very much.” Priorities. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, after all.
說到「完成」，重金屬WC在芬蘭的赫爾辛基。 据wanderlust.co.uk报道：“芬兰每10万人口中有54.3个重金属乐队，已成为重金属的圣地。” 虽然这种解释的数学可能让我无法理解（对于更注重数学头脑的读者来说，Finish人口约为550万），但这似乎确实有很多头脑集中在一个小国，并表明教育系统的卓越与喜欢病态的吉他舔之间至少存在一些相关性。 根据世界经济论坛的全球竞争力报告，芬兰拥有世界上最好的教育体系，所以作为一个教育工作者，我很有趣的是，他们去了，“不，重金属。 我们将是重金属WC，非常感谢。” 优先事项。 毕竟，只有工作，没有游戏，让杰克是个沉闷的男孩。
With that in mind, alongside the truism that correlation does not mean causation, the intersection of weird and actual capital cities came to pass in the first place because of something one of my family said watching Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkhaban last night. As Hogwart’s Express puffed through a dark and stormy night, with sheets of rain assaulting the train window, Dublin, with its horizontal rain and squat skies, and peat-briquette-4am-jet-lag-winter mornings hijacks my thoughts.
考虑到这一点，除了相关性并不意味着因果关系的真理外，奇怪和实际首都的交叉首先发生了，因为我的家人昨晚在看《哈利·波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒》时说了些什么。 当霍格沃茨快车在黑暗和暴风雨的夜晚呼呼大时，雨片袭击了火车窗户，都柏林，水平的雨和矮小的天空，以及泥炭煤球-4am-时差-冬季早晨劫持了我的思绪。
“I miss the cold and rain”, I said, before my brain finished thinking it. The children checked the back of my head for a zipper (The WC of Zippers is Kurobe City, Japan), to see if Mamá has been replaced by a usurper or an alien. We understand that finally, it is time to mentally prepare for an Apollonian re-entry if necessary.
“我想念寒冷和雨，”我说，在我的大脑思考完之前。 孩子们检查了我的后脑勺是否有拉链（Zippers的WC是日本黑部市），看看Mamá是否被篡位者或外星人取代了。 我们明白，最后，如果有必要，是时候为阿波罗的重新进入做好心理准备了。
Of course, language falls flat when it comes to the heart’s paradoxical truths. Going away makes returning sweet. It is sometimes necessary to miss a thing to appreciate its worth.
当然，当谈到内心自相矛盾的真理时，语言是平淡无奇的。 离开让回来变得甜蜜。 有时有必要错过一件事来欣赏它的价值。
The seed of love may lie in its polar opposite. The contrary is also true.
爱的种子可能位于它的两极对立面。 恰恰相反也是事实。
These are but a few of the wonderfully oddball world capitals of things other than countries and letters.
除了国家和信件之外，这些只是几个奇妙古怪的世界首都。