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NOBODY can be messing with our embassy, declared Barack Obama in mid-July, after a pro-government mob pelted Americas mission in Damascus with stones, eggs and tomatoes. Thatis not true, however, of the put-upon architects who have to design Americas embassies: theyare constantly being hit with new restrictions, from both their own government and the hostcountry. 任何人都不能滋扰我们的大使馆， 美国总统奥巴马七月中旬向外界如是宣布。此前，大马士革亲政府民众曾向美国大使馆投掷石头、鸡蛋和西红柿。然而对于那些受雇于美国，迫于无奈才设计美国大使馆的建筑师来说，他们可没这样的好运：他们经常因为本国政府和东道主国家施加的种种新限制而苦恼不已。 Ever since the bombing of the American embassy in Beirut in 1983, security has been theoverarching concern when designing new embassies. Safety rules have been tightenedrepeatedly, and incorporated into a standard embassy design that dictates which officesshould be adjacent to which , how far embassybuildings should be set back from nearby roads , what materials can beused for walls and windows and so on. The result,critics say, is a dull series of near-identical, boxy bunkers. As John Kerry, who heads theSenate foreign-relations committee, put it in 2009, We are building some of the ugliestembassies Ive ever seenI cringe when I see what were doing. | 
