克利夫兰获评全美最悲惨城市

 　　Cleveland has won the dubious¹ distinction of being the most miserable² city in the United States, according to a new poll。

　　The Ohio city on the Cuyahoga River has high unemployment, dismal³ weather, hefty taxes, corruption⁴ and mediocre⁵ sports teams, all of which have propelled it to the No 1 position in the Forbes.com 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 dubbed⁶ with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the Lake," it added。

　　The rankings are based on jobless rates, inflation, taxes, commuting⁷ 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 bankruptcies⁸ 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 ailing⁹ auto¹⁰ industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five。

　　"It (the list) is dominated by Midwestern cities that formerly¹¹ 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, dealing¹² with high unemployment, with declining manufacturing bases. Many have experienced strong net migrations¹³ 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 blur¹⁴ 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, Buffalo¹⁵, 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 lengthy¹⁶ commuting times and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place。

　　据一项最新民调显示，克利夫兰获评美国最悲惨的城市。

　　这座位于凯霍加河畔的俄亥俄州城市失业率高、天气阴沉、税收繁重、腐败且体育成绩平平，所有这些因素将克利夫兰推上了《福布斯》网站评选的最悲惨城市排行榜的首位。

　　《福布斯》在其网站上称：“由于克利夫兰的各项指标排名都不理想，因此名列整个排行榜之首。它是唯一一个在所有九项评比中排名都比较靠后的城市。”

　　《福布斯》网站称：“这个城市还有一个不太可爱的别名：湖水造就的错误。”

　　该排行根据城市的失业率、通货膨胀、税收、通勤时间、犯罪率、体育成绩、天气、污染情况和官员腐败情况等指标评比编撰而成。

　　去年，伴随着高失业率、丧失抵押赎回权和破产的经济衰退重袭美国各城市，尤其是中西部城市。

　　去年名列该榜首位的斯托克顿市今年因其高犯罪率和失业率成为第二大悲惨城市。孟菲斯市因高暴力犯罪率以及腐败官员数量之多名列第三。此外，密歇根州的底特律和弗林特因汽车工业衰败而进入前五名。

　　《福布斯》的科尔特?巴登豪森说：“榜单上的大部分城市都是曾经拥有雄厚制造业基础的中西部城市。”

　　“很多出现在榜单上的城市现在都是艰难度日，面临着高失业率和日趋衰败的制造业基础等问题。很多城市在过去二三十年中经历了大规模的对外净迁移。”

　　尽管有着令人羡慕的天气，迈阿密因在通勤时间、腐败和暴力犯罪等项中均排在后10%而名列第六大悲惨城市。去年，迈阿密的止赎率高达7.2%，为美国第十大止赎率最高的城市。

　　巴登豪森说：“迈阿密是最令人意外的城市之一。因为该城气候宜人，又不征收州所得税，掩盖了其在犯罪、腐败和通勤时间长等方面存在的一些严重问题。”

　　排在佛罗里达州这座阳光之城之后的悲惨城市包括圣路易斯、布法罗、俄亥俄州的坎顿和芝加哥。芝加哥的销售税居全美之首，达10.25%。

　　美国最大的城市纽约文化生活丰富，但由于通勤时间太长，所得税又很高，使其排在了悲惨城市榜第16名。

1 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

2 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

3 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

6 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

8 bankruptcies   

n.破产( bankruptcy的名词复数 )；倒闭；彻底失败；（名誉等的）完全丧失

参考例句：

• It's a matter of record that there were ten bankruptcies in the town last year. 去年这个城市有十家破产是事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. 破产企业的数量比前一年增加５０％。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

9 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

10 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

11 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网

14 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

15 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

16 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。