Brazil's most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer, celebrated his 102nd birthday December 15 in typical fashion: at work on projects rather than pondering his supercentennial age. “Turning 102 is crap, and there is nothing to commemorate,” he told AFP.
巴西最知名的建築師奧斯卡．尼邁耶12月15日那天，以一貫典型的方式度過102歲生日：他仍埋首工作堆中，無暇顧及他已超過百歲高壽的事實。他告訴法新社：「狗屎102歲生日啦，有什麼好慶祝的。」
Niemeyer, who was born in 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, where he still lives, is famed for designing some of Brazil's most distinctive buildings, among them Rio's Sambodrome and the nearby Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum, and many of the futuristic edifices of the capital Brasilia.
尼邁耶1907年生於里約熱那盧，目前他還住在里約，他以設計巴西最有特色的建築知名，其中包括里約的森巴館及附近的尼特洛伊當代美術館。此外，首都巴西利亞還有很多未來主義的宏偉建築。
His inspiration for the domes, curves and sweeping lines that make up his style he has said is "the body of the Brazilian woman."
他曾說，他建築風格中的圓頂、曲線和橫掃千軍、揮灑自如的線條，靈感得自「巴西女人的胴體」。
Niemeyer has witnessed Brazil's progression from a chaotic new republic, a 1964-1985 military regime that forced him into exile in Paris, and the increasingly prosperous return to democracy that the country now enjoys. Brazil is more "egalitarian since a former worker arrived in power," the former Communist said, referring to Brazil's current president, former trade union leader and steelworker Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
尼邁耶見證了巴西從一個混亂的新共和國進步的歷程，巴西1964至1985年的軍事政權曾迫使他流亡巴黎，如今巴西日益繁榮並回歸民主政體。這位前共產黨員提到巴西前工會領袖及鋼鐵工人出身的魯拉總統時說，巴西「自從工人階級當權後平等多了」。
The architect, sitting in his studio overlooking Copacabana beach, explained that one project he was managing was the renovation of the central avenue of the Sambodrome, where the most famous of Brazil's glitz-and-flesh Carnival parades are held.
這位建築大師坐在俯瞰科帕卡巴納沙灘的工作室中解釋說，他正在著手進行的一項計畫是翻修森巴館的中央通道，巴西遠近馳名的嘉年華會，光彩奪目、令人目迷五色的遊行就在這裡舉行。
Another was a Niemeyer Complex planned for Niteroi, the town across Rio's bay that already proudly hosts many of his buildings. There is also the Aviles International Cultural Center to be opened in Spain next year.
尼邁耶另外計畫在里約灣對面的小鎮尼特洛伊興建一個尼邁耶建築群，當地已經以諸多他的建築為傲。另外，明年阿維萊斯國際文化中心將在西班牙揭幕。
Even in old age, Niemeyer continues to flaunt his love of life. He still enjoys his cigars -- "an old habit that I cultivate with much gusto." Four years ago, at age 98 and a widower, he married his 60-year-old secretary. But nobody lives forever. In September Niemeyer was hospitalized for three weeks to have surgery on his gall bladder and to have a tumor removed from his colon. “I don't fear death,” he said.
即使年紀老邁，尼邁耶仍生龍活虎、熱愛生命，雪茄照抽，「這是我長年的嗜好，我樂在其中。」4年前，這位喪偶的98歲鰥夫娶了他60歲的秘書。但沒有人可以真的長生不老。9月間，尼邁耶住院3星期開刀切除膽囊，另外割除結腸上的腫瘤。但他說：「我不怕死。」
His granddaughter said it was with great joy that the family was celebrating his birthday: “For us it's been a relief to see him get to this age so well, especially after the scare we had (the september hospitalization). He acts like a sweetheart with his wife, smokes his cigarillos and taking his wine, without problem,” she said.
他孫女說，家人很高興慶祝他的生日：「我們看他活到這把年紀還健健康康的，都感到很欣慰，尤其在他9月住院讓家人提心吊膽之後。他和他太太恩愛甜蜜，抽雪茄，小酌兩杯，沒問題。」。
Niemeyer in turn, doesn't seem impressed with his longevity and he is humble when describing his work: “I gave no contribution to the Brazilian architecture. I just tried to be helpful. I'm no better than anyone. I have no fantasies,” he concluded. Though it goes without saying that Niemeyer is a great Brazilian architect who has been referred to worldwide for having turned architecture into a popular subject in his country, and even today at 102 years of age, still continues to gift us with his work.
但尼邁耶對自己長壽似乎不以為意，對自己的工作成就也很低調謙虛，他下結論說：「我對巴西建築界沒什麼特殊貢獻，我只是希望能助一臂之力，我並沒有比任何其他人優秀，也沒什麼幻想。」但毋庸置疑的，尼邁耶是偉大的巴西建築師，他以把建築變成巴西熱門話題聞名於世，即使今天102高齡，他仍不斷推出新作嘉惠世人。
Niemeyer is best known for doing up the brand new Brazilian capital of Brasilia in modernistic and exalted curves of reinforced concrete and symmetrical perspectives in the late 1950s. That approach would culminate in Niemeyer's three best "palaces" in Bras椌lia: the presidential residence, the Foreign Min-istry, and the Supreme Court. “When I make a building, I am not satisfied until I know that it in-spires awe, that it inspires feeling,” he said.
尼邁耶最為人知的，是在1950年代末以鋼筋混凝土現代主義高雅的曲線和對稱的視角，整建翻新巴西新都巴西利亞，那種建築風格也成就了他在巴西利亞的三大最優美的「宏偉建築」：總統官邸、外交部和最高法院。他說：「當我在建造一棟建築時，要到知道它能使人望而生畏，讓人有fu（感覺）才會滿意。」
Building a powerful city with a short execution time, was how Niemeyer and Lucio Costa, his former boss started the project. With the modernist concepts of the city, the stage was being built with Niemeyer's artworks being implemented. Taking full advantage possible from using con-crete, he created works known to the world and they transformed the city into a one of a kind experience. “Whoever goes to Brasilia, may or may not like the palaces, but either way can not say they've seen something like that before. And architecture is this – invention,” said Niemeyer.
尼邁耶和他的前老闆柯斯塔展開這項計畫時，得在短時間內打造一個強而有力的城市。為了賦予這個城市現代主義的視野，尼邁耶有了實現藝術作品的舞台。他充分利用水泥，創造了聞名遐邇的建築作品，它們也使巴西利亞成為舉世獨一無二的體驗。「任何人到巴西利亞可能喜歡也可能不喜歡這些建築，但無論如何，他們總不能說過去曾見過這類作品，而建築首重的是創新。」尼邁耶說。
Niemeyer went around the world with his projects. Germany, Cuba, Lebanon, United States, Israel, Portugal, Congo, France, Algeria, Italy, Mexico, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Bolivia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Nicaragua, Norway, Russia , Spain, Chile and Venezuela, are places where you can contemplate the works of this great master of architecture.
尼邁耶的建築作品散見世界各國，德國、古巴、黎巴嫩、美國、以色列、葡萄牙、剛果、法國、阿爾及利亞、義大利、墨西哥、英國、沙烏地阿拉伯、比利時、玻利維亞、利比亞、阿拉伯聯合大公國、尼加拉瓜、挪威、俄羅斯、西班牙、智利和委內瑞拉等國都可以看到並欣賞這位建築大師的作品。
Photos show Brazil's 102-year-old architect Oscar Niemeyer and one of his masterworks--The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia.
圖為巴西102歲的建築大師尼邁耶和他的代表作之一：巴西利亞大都會教堂。（法新社）