Best in the world: The Upper Belvedere Palace in Vienna in one of the sites greeting tourists in the city, which has again been voted number one in a survey. |
It is the so-called city of dreams that counts some of the greatest luminaries of music and art among its erstwhile inhabitants. And it seems Vienna still has plenty to boast about, as it has been named the best place to live in the world – for the third year running. The Austrian capital, which was home to Mozart, Beethoven and Klimt, among others, and has a population of 1.7million, has the best living standards in the world, according to an annual quality of living survey. It is the third year in a row that the city has topped the survey. European cities represent more than half of the top 25 cities in the rankings, which are based on factors such as crime, food and climate. Zurich was ranked second, followed by Auckland, New Zealand, and Munich and Dusseldorf. But just one UK city makes it into the top fifty, with London coming in at 38th – one place up from last year and ahead of New York in 47th. Other UK cities, including Birmingham, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Belfast, crept into the top 100. This year, the survey included for the first time a list of the safest cities. Luxembourg topped the list, followed by Bern, Switzerland, Helsinki, Finland, and Zurich, Switzerland. London came 68th, joint with New York, highlighting the crime rates in the capital. At the bottom of the 221-strong list, for the second year in a row, was Baghdad, in Iraq, which had the lowest standard of living and was ranked the least safe city by the Mercer survey. Other cities with poor living standards include N’Djamena, Chad, at number 220, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, at number 219, and Bangui, Central African Republic at number 218. Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said: ‘European cities in general continue to have high standards of living, because they enjoy advanced and modern city infrastructures combined with high-class facilities.’ ‘But economic turmoil, high levels of unemployment and lack of confidence in political institutions make their future positions hard to predict.’ (Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
维也纳堪称梦幻之都,一些最伟大的音乐家和艺术大师都曾经居住在这里。 已经连续第三年被评为世界最宜居城市的维也纳似乎有很多值得夸耀的地方。 根据一项年度生活质量调查,人口170万的奥地利首都维也纳拥有全世界最高的生活水平。它也是莫扎特、贝多芬和克林姆等名人的故乡。 这是维也纳连续第三年在该调查的排名中荣登榜首。 该排行的前25名中,欧洲城市占据了大半,排名因素包括犯罪率、食物和气候等。 苏黎世排在第二名,其后是新西兰的奥克兰、德国的慕尼黑和杜塞尔多夫。 不过只有一个英国城市跻身前50名,就是排在第38名的伦敦,比去年上升了一位,领先于纽约(47名)。其他入围前100名的英国城市还有伯明翰、阿伯丁、格拉斯哥和贝尔法斯特。 今年该调查首次发布了最安全城市榜单。 卢森堡在最安全城市榜单中居首,其后是瑞士的伯尔尼、芬兰的赫尔辛基和瑞士的苏黎世。伦敦和纽约并列第68位,突出反映了英国首都的高犯罪率。 排行列出的221个城市中,连续第二年垫底的是伊拉克的巴格达,该城市生活水平最低,还在Mercer公司的调查中被评为最不安全城市。 其他生活水平低的城市包括乍得的恩贾梅纳(排在第220名),科特迪瓦的阿比让(第219名)和中非共和国的班吉(第218名)。 Mercer公司的高级研究员斯拉金•帕拉卡提尔说:“欧洲城市总体上依然拥有较高的生活水平,因为他们享有先进的现代城市基础设施和一流的设备。 “但是经济动荡、高失业率和政府失信于民让欧洲城市未来的地位难以预料。” 相关阅读 (中国日报英语点津 陈丹妮 编辑:Julie) |
Vocabulary: luminary: 杰出人物;才智出众的人 erstwhile: 从前的,往昔的 Klimt: Gustav Klimt,古斯塔夫·克林姆,生于维也纳,是奥地利知名象征主义画家。他的画作特色在于特殊的象征式装饰花纹,并在画作中大量使用性爱主题。 |