克利夫蘭獲評全美最悲慘城市
Cleveland has won the dubious distinction of being the most miserable city in the United States, according to a new poll.
The Ohio city on the Cuyahoga River has high unemployment, dismal weather, hefty taxes, corruption and mediocre sports teams, all of which have propelled it to the No 1 position in the list.
"Cleveland nabbed the top spot as a result of poor ratings across the board. It was the only city that fell in the bottom half of rankings in all nine categories," Forbes said on its website.
"The city has been dubbed with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the Lake," it added.
The rankings are based on jobless rates, inflation, taxes, commuting times, crime rates, performance by the city's sports teams, weather, pollution and corruption by public officials.
The economic downturn with high unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies hit cities across the United States last year particularly in the Midwest section of the country.
Crime and unemployment secured the No. 2 spot for Stockton, which held the top position in last year's ranking. Memphis captured third place thanks to its violent crime rate and the number of convicted officials, while the ailing auto industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five.
"It (the list) is dominated by Midwestern cities that formerly had large manufacturing bases," said Kurt Badenhausen, of Forbes.
"A lot of the cities that showed up on our list are going through hard times right now, dealing with high unemployment, with declining manufacturing bases. Many have experienced strong net migrations out of the city over the last 20 and 30 years."
Despite its enviable weather, Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in commuting time, corruption and violent crime which sent it into sixth place. It also had the 10th worst foreclosure rate in the United States last year at 7.2 percent.
"One of the biggest surprises is Miami. The good weather and no state income taxes blur some of the severe problems that Miami has related to crime and corruption, as well as long commutes," Badenhausen added.
The Florida sunshine mecca was followed in the miserable ranking by St Louis, Buffalo, Canton, Ohio and Chicago, which has the country's highest sales tax at 10.25 percent.
New York, the nation's biggest city, is rich in culture but it lengthy commuting times and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place.
據一項最新民調顯示，克利夫蘭獲評美國最悲慘的城市。
這座位於凱霍加河畔的俄亥俄州城市失業率高、天氣陰沉、稅收繁重、腐敗且體育成績平平，所有這些因素將克利夫蘭推上了《福布斯》網站評選的最悲慘城市排行榜的首位。
《福布斯》在其網站上稱：“由於克利夫蘭的各項指標排名都不理想，因此名列整個排行榜之首。它是唯一一個在所有九項評比中排名都比較靠後的城市。”
《福布斯》網站稱：“這個城市還有一個不太可愛的別名：湖水造就的錯誤。”
該排行根據城市的失業率、通貨膨脹、稅收、通勤時間、犯罪率、體育成績、天氣、污染情況和官員腐敗情況等指標評比編撰而成。
去年，伴隨着高失業率、喪失抵押贖回權和破產的經濟衰退重襲美國各城市，尤其是中西部城市。
去年名列該榜首位的斯托克頓市今年因其高犯罪率和失業率成爲第二大悲慘城市。孟菲斯市因高暴力犯罪率以及腐敗官員數量之多名列第三。此外，密歇根州的底特律和弗林特因汽車工業衰敗而進入前五名。
《福布斯》的科爾特•巴登豪森說：“榜單上的大部分城市都是曾經擁有雄厚製造業基礎的中西部城市。”
“很多出現在榜單上的城市現在都是艱難度日，面臨着高失業率和日趨衰敗的製造業基礎等問題。很多城市在過去二三十年中經歷了大規模的對外淨遷移。”
儘管有着令人羨慕的天氣，邁阿密因在通勤時間、腐敗和暴力犯罪等項中均排在後10%而名列第六大悲慘城市。去年，邁阿密的止贖率高達7.2%，爲美國第十大止贖率最高的城市。
巴登豪森說：“邁阿密是最令人意外的城市之一。因爲該城氣候宜人，又不徵收州所得稅，掩蓋了其在犯罪、腐敗和通勤時間長等方面存在的一些嚴重問題。”
排在佛羅里達州這座陽光之城之後的悲慘城市包括聖路易斯、布法羅、俄亥俄州的坎頓和芝加哥。芝加哥的銷售稅居全美之首，達10.25%。
美國最大的城市紐約文化生活豐富，但由於通勤時間太長，所得稅又很高，使其排在了悲慘城市榜第16名。
Vocabulary:
hefty: (of an amount of money)large; larger than usual or expected（錢的數額）很大的；超出一般的
nab: to take or get something 獲得；拿取
across the board: involving everyone or everything in a company, an industry, etc. 全體；整體；全面
bottom half:下半部分
foreclosure: the act of foreclosing on money that has been borrowed; an example of this 抵押品贖回權的取消
mecca: a place that many people like to visit, especially for a particular reason 熱門地方
