日常口语中我们可能经常要表达这样的意思：我住在某某小区，那么“小区”用英文应该怎么说？
一些人会用community来指“小区”，但这一说法并不准确，因为community强调的是“人”的概念。比如剑桥词典对community的定义就是：
the people living in one particular area or people who are considered as a unit because of their common interests, social group or nationality
community的意思更加接近于“群体”，比如：There’s a large black community living in this area. 在该地区有一个大的黑人团体。
而我们说的“小区”是指封闭或半封闭的，由公寓楼组成的居住区，英文里面比较接近的一个说法是：apartment complex
柯林斯词典对它的定义是：An apartment complex is a group of buildings that contain apartments and are managed by the same company.
这个定义也比较符合国内“小区”的定义，外媒报道涉及到国内的小区时也用过这个说法。比如BBC在报道中国农村居民从村庄搬到小区住时有这样的句子：
The government has relocated millions of people from remote villages into apartment complexes. Sometimes these were built in towns and cities, but sometimes new villages were built near the old ones.
又比如油管有海外博主发了一期关于中国小区的介绍视频，标题就是：Apartment Complexes in China
如果要表达“我住在XX小区”，我们可以直接说：I live in XX，然后做进一步解释。比如“我住在天通苑小区”，用英文可以说：
I live in Tiantongyuan, a huge apartment complex in Beijing.
此外，我们说的“小区”有时候除了表达建筑群的概念之外，还可以指人群。比如这个句子“这一事件在我们小区引发了激烈的讨论”。此时的“小区”并不是指物理概念上的小区，而是指“小区居民”。这种情况下应该怎么翻译呢？
英语里面也有一个概念可以表示“小区居民”：apartment community，国外网站对它的定义是：
While an apartment complex provides you with a place to live, an apartment community makes it feel like home. A community is alive. It’s the residents, pets, guests and staff that live and work in the complex.
因此“这一事件在我们小区引发了激烈的讨论”可以说：The event has provoked a heated debate in our apartment community.
如果是要表达“街区，临近地区”，可以用一个词：neighbourhood，它的意思相当于：the area of a town that surrounds someone’s home, or the people who live in this area，比如：They live in a wealthy neighbourhood. 他们住在一个富裕的街区。
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