Original Title 原标题 The Pearl River Delta’s Astonishing Megacity Transformation
In the late 1970s, the fertile river delta to the north of Hong Kong’s territory was primarily agricultural land. Shenzhen was an unassuming town of 30,000 people – with only one functioning taxi – and China was still very much a rural country.
在1979年代末，位于香港以北的肥沃的珠江三角洲主要是以农业用地为主。深圳还只是个人口3万的不起眼的小镇，只有一台正常运营的出租车，而中国仍然是一个农业国家。
As the visualization below demonstrates，the sleepy Pearl River Delta was on the cusp of an unprecedented growth spurt that would see cities expand and merge to become the largest contiguous urban region in the world.
正如下面的视觉化图片展示的那样，沉睡的珠江三角洲迸发出前所未有的发展速度，见证了城市的扩张与合并，成为了世界最大的毗邻的都市区。
A trickle becomes a flood
涓滴成洪
In 1979, China created four Special Economic Zones (SEZ) with the intention of attracting foreign direct investment and encouraging private enterprise.
1979年，中国创建了4个经济特区（SEZ），希望吸引外国直接投资和鼓励民营企业（发展）。
The designation of Shenzhen and Zhuhai as SEZs was a strategic move to act as an “overflow” for businesses in Hong Kong, and the impact on the Pearl River Delta was profound and immediate.
将深圳和珠海设置为经济特区是一个承接香港企业“溢出”的战略举措，为珠江三角洲带来深刻又立竿见影的影响。
A number of factors also helped contribute to the meteoric rise of the region: proximity to Hong Kong’s financial sector, a world-class seaport, a huge and inexpensive labor pool, cheap and abundant land, and few regulatory impediments to rapidly growing companies.
一系列的因素也助长珠三角的迅速又辉煌的崛起：临近金融中心香港、一个世界级的海港、拥有大量廉价的劳动力资源、便宜又丰富的土地、对快速成长的公司的较少约束。
In the two decades after market reforms, the GDP of the region grow by more than 10x and urbanization – bolstered by large-scale infrastructure projects – began in earnest.
在市场改革后的20年里，珠三角地区的国内生产总值（GDP）增长了10倍多。在大规模的基础设施项目的推动下，城市化正式开始了。
To put the scale of this population clustering into perspective, here are the populations of cities within the Pearl River Delta in 2020 compared with modern-day metropolitan areas in North America and Europe:
要清晰地理解这个人口聚集的规模，以下图片展示量2020年珠江三角洲的各城市人口数量与北美和欧洲的现代大都市区域的人口数量之间的比较：
Today, this compact region has a GDP equivalent to that of South Korea.
现在，这紧凑的区域拥有相当于韩国的GDP。
Megalopolis at the Gates
作为南大门的都会群
The explosive growth the Pearl River Delta has upended the regional balance of power.
珠江三角洲的爆发式的成长改变了区域的力量平衡。
At the close of the 20th century, Hong Kong was the undisputed economic powerhouse of the region. In fact, just prior to 1997, the city’s economic output was equal to a quarter of China’s entire GDP.
在20世纪末，香港是珠三角地区绝对的经济发动机。在1997年前，香港的经济产出达到全国GDP的四分之一。
Today, the situation is markedly different. Hong Kong's GDP represents a mere 3% of China’s.
现在，情况已经截然不同了。香港只占全中国GDP的3%。
One physical manifestation of China's push for an integrated region is the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. This colossal infrastructure project is a 31 mile (50 km) connection that includes bridges, tunnels, and three man-made islands.
港珠澳大桥是中国推动区域一体化的一个可见的体现。这个巨大的基础设施工程一条31英里（50公里）的连接通道，包括了桥梁、隧道和三个人工岛。
In China, where each project is more ambitious than the next, it’s only fitting that the world’s largest urban area will be connected by the world’s largest sea crossing.
在工程一个比一个更雄心勃勃的中国，用世界最大的跨海通道连接世界最大的都市区是再合适不过了。
more ambitious than the next：一个比一个更雄心勃勃。至于为什么用“next”而不用“last”？经搜索，说是一个idiom，表达一种逐步升级的趋势，表达时间上的递进和持续。
虽然如此，但看到一个论坛在讨论better than the next时，有人说用next是错误的使用，应该用last。
由于没有找到更权威的解释，所以在这里仅作为一个疑惑暂时记下。