In every direction just beyond the watermelon patch, office parks and houses and apartment complexes were going up, forming a cordon around the farmland that was drawing inexorably tighter.

• 在西瓜地的前面，四周很多办公楼、公园、房屋和复合式公寓正在建造，像一条冷酷无情的绳索，紧紧地将这块农田包围住。