譯/陳韋廷
米凱爾·波索金還記得少年時期「五號雜貨店」內好吃到爆的展示品，而他的家人是在1955年時搬進莫斯科七座新建哥德式摩天大樓之一。
Mikhail Posokhin still remembers the lip-smacking displays in Grocery Store No. 5 from his boyhood, when in 1955 his family moved into one of Moscow's seven new, gothic skyscrapers.
雜貨店有大理石地板和柱子、挑高天花板、精美吊燈及彩色玻璃窗，雖是商場，卻更像大教堂。魚在一個大水族箱內盤旋，而明亮的展示櫃則陳列了像堆滿水晶碗的魚子醬之類稀有物品。
More cathedral than marketplace, the grocery boasted marble floors and pillars, high ceilings with elaborate chandeliers and stained glass windows. Fish circled inside a large aquarium, while brightly lit display cases presented rarities like caviar heaped in crystal bowls.
跟其他莫斯科商店不同的是，牛奶、香腸與巧克力棒從來不缺。
Unlike other Moscow stores, milk, sausage and chocolate bars were never scarce.
莫斯科人成群結隊前來開開眼界，而買得起的主要還是那些無償獲贈高樓公寓的特權菁英階級。
Muscovites came to gawk in droves, even if it was mostly the privileged elite — handed the high-rise apartments for free — who could afford to shop.
父親設計了這棟建築的知名莫斯科建築師波索金說：「這些綜合大樓呈現給人們前所未見的新生活。它們要表達的是勝利精神和時代壯麗。」
"These complexes presented a new life never seen by people before," said Posokhin, a prominent Moscow architect whose father designed the building. "They were supposed to express the victorious spirit and the grandeur of the era."
那是當時。
That was then.
設於庫德林廣場塔樓內的五號雜貨店，如今灰塵處處已被棄置，破掉的一些窗戶則為三合板所取代。
Grocery Store No. 5, in the Kudrinskaya Square tower, now sits dusty and abandoned, some of its broken windows replaced with plywood.
在大樓入口上方豎起了隔板，以保護行人不為剝落的磚石所傷，趨近一看，肌肉男及像聖母般母親的雕像則顏色斑駁。
Screens erected above the building's entrance shield pedestrians from tumbling masonry. Up close, statues of muscular men and Madonna-like mothers look mottled.
這座城市大部分所謂的「史達林高樓」，無論是住宅還是政府建築都迫切需要翻新，卻因為由誰支付這麼大筆費用的問題而一籌莫展。
Most of the city's "Stalin High-rises" — both residential and government buildings — desperately need renovating. They are stuck in limbo, however, over who will foot the substantial bill.
由於住宅公寓已在1990年代私有化，政府認為屋主應該負責。居民們，尤其是從已遭廢黜的蘇聯時代菁英手中繼承公寓的那些貧困老人，則認為市政府或克里姆林宮應修復被視為歷史遺蹟的這些建築物。
Since the residential apartments were privatized in the 1990s, the government considers the owners responsible. The residents, particularly the impoverished elderly who inherited apartments from the now deposed Soviet elite, believe that City Hall or the Kremlin should restore structures considered historical monuments.
舒塞夫國家建築博物館館長伊莉莎白．李哈喬瓦說，「俄羅斯仍然沒有擁有房地產的文化」，並指出即便是花了相當於百萬美元高價買了一套公寓的人，也往往不願意為打掃庭院而支付分文。
"In Russia, there is still no culture of owning real estate," said Elizabeth Lihacheva, director of the Schusev State Museum of Architecture, noting that even people who spend $1 million for an apartment often don't want to pay one kopeck toward cleaning its courtyard
意識形態啟發了史達林高樓的建造，並為遊客重新取了「七姐妹」這更受歡迎的名字。
Ideology inspired the construction of the Stalin High-rises, rechristened for tourists with the more palatable name of the Seven Sisters.
第二次世界大戰結束時，莫斯科有大片土地淪為廢墟。史達林認為，紀念建城800周年的莫斯科缺乏一個勝利首都應有的雄偉氣勢。
When World War II ended, large swaths of Moscow lay in ruins. Stalin thought the city, marking its 800th anniversary, lacked the grandeur required of a triumphant capital.
李哈喬瓦說：「史達林基本上是在建立一個蘇維埃帝國。它需要以建築語彙來表達。」
"Stalin was basically building a Soviet Empire," Lihacheva said. "It needed to be expressed in architectural terms."
戰前原有建一座既怪且醜的「蘇聯宮」的計畫，上方是個較自由女神像高出一倍的列寧像、計劃後遭捨棄，因為這片濕軟的土地無法支撐它。
Prewar plans for a monstrosity called the Palace of the Soviets, topped by a statue of Lenin twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, were abandoned because the swampy ground would not support it.
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