Question

求这篇文章的内容概要，要是英文的就更棒啦，翻译一遍也可以啊，拜托啦

For most city people,the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the enthusiasm or interest that Americans afford trains,jets,and even bicycles.Dr.Christopher Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a misunderstanding.Without the elevator,they point out,there could be no downtown skyscrapers or tall buildings,and city life as we know it would be impossible.In that sense,they argue,the elevator’s role in American history has been no less significant than that of cars.In fact,according to Wilk,the car and the elevator have been locked in a “secret war” for over a century,with cars making it possible for people to spread horizontally(水平地),and elevators pushing them toward life in close groups of towering vertical(垂直的)columns.
If we tend to ignore the significance of elevators,it might be because riding in them tends to be such a brief,boring,and even awkward experience—one that can involve unexpectedly meeting people with whom we have nothing in common,and an unpleasant awareness of the fact that we’re hanging from a cable in a long passage.
In a new book,Lifted,German journalist and cultural studies professor Andreas Bernard directed all his attention to this experience,studying the origins of elevator and its relationship to humankind and finding that riding in an elevator has never been a totally comfortable experience.“After 150 years,we are still not used to it,”Bernard said.“We still have not exactly learned to cope with the mixture of closeness and displeasure.”That mixture,according to Bernard,sets the elevator ride apart from just about every other situation we find ourselves in as we go about our lives.
Today,as the world’s urban population explodes,and cities become more crowded,taller,and more crowded,America’s total number of elevators—900,000 at last count,according to Elevator World magazine’s “2012 Vertical Transportation Industry”—are a force that’s becoming more important than ever.And for the people who really,really love them,it seems like high time that we looked seriously at just what kind of force they are.

Answer 1

对于大多数城市人，电梯是一个不起眼的机器，激不起美国人像坐车，买喷气机甚至只是购买区区一辆自行车那样的热情或兴趣。 Christopher Wilk博士是一个小型电梯团体的成员之一，这个团体在关心这问题。他们指出没有电梯， 就不会有摩天大楼和高层建筑。我们所认知的城市生活也会变得不可能。在这个意义上，他们为电梯在美国历史上的作用已经不比汽车重要争论不休。事实上，维尔克认为，在过去的一个世纪汽车和电梯都被锁在一个“秘密战争”里，汽车使人们有可能水平移动，而电梯推动人们在高耸垂直的紧密群体的高塔生活。
如果说我们忽略了电梯的意义，这可能是因为乘坐电梯在他们来说往往是这样一个简单的，无聊的，甚至是有时让人处于“得和一些与自己不合且说不到一块的人一起吊在一条长长的电缆通道中‘’的尴尬经验，
在新书《举起》中，德国新闻与文化研究教授Andreas Bernard他非常关注这方面的经验，研究电梯的由来，与人类的关系，发现搭电梯从来就不是一个完全的舒适体验”。150年后，我们仍然对他不习惯，”伯纳德Bernard说。“我们还是没有完全学会应付这样一个充满亲近和不满的混合空间。”，根据伯纳德所说的混合空间，乘坐电梯有别于几乎所有在我们平常生活中所遇到的情形。
今天，随着世界都市人口的爆炸，和城市变得更拥挤，更高，根据电梯世界杂志的“2012垂直运输业”美国有超过总数90000部电梯，这些电梯是一种力量，这种力量变得比以往更加重要。对于一些真正喜爱电梯的人们来说，这看起来正是时候让我们认真地看待他们到底是什么样的一种力量。

Answer 2

对于大多数城市人，电梯是一个不起眼的机器，激发热情或兴趣的美国人负担的火车，飞机没有，甚至bicycles.Dr.Christopher Wilk的一个小群体的人认为电梯专家成员…