全球爆吐槽:宜居城市=無聊城市大綱

Melbourne: So lovely. So... livable.
墨爾本：如此怡人。如此……宜居。

Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit releases a list of 140 cities and ranks them in terms of their 'livability.' For the third year running, Melbourne has topped the list, edging out Vienna and Vancouver. In fact, there was so little change in this year's rankings that only 13 of all the surveyed cities changed their scores over the past six months, while the rankings of the top 10 cities remained exactly the same as last year.
每年，經濟學人智庫(Economist Intelligence Unit)都會發布一份包含140個城市的榜單，按照“宜居度”對其進行排名。墨爾本連續第三年奪冠，排在其後的是維也納和溫哥華。實際上，今年的榜單與此前幾乎沒有什麼變化，受調查的全部城市中只有13座城市過去六個月的得分出現了變化，而排在前10位的城市排名與去年一模一樣。

Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, the rankings rate 'relative comfort' for more than 30 factors across five categories: stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and culture and environment. The final scores are calculated as a percentage ranging from 1 ('intolerable') to a perfect score of 100 ('ideal').
使用定性及定量分析方法，該排行榜對五大類中的30多個因素進行了“相對舒適度”評估。這五大類是：穩定性、醫療、教育、基礎設施、文化和環境。最終得分從1（“無法忍受”）到滿分100（“理想城市”）。

Tellingly, in addition to being ranked in relation to other cities on the list, they're also ranked relative to New York - a city that everyone, apparently, has an opinion on.
很明顯，從榜單上，既可以看出一座城市相對於其他城市的排名，也可以看出相對於紐約的排名。紐約這座城市貌似每個人都對其有着自己的看法。

So which cities came closest to 'ideal'? Take a look at the top 10:
那麼哪些城市最接近“理想城市”呢？以下爲榜單中的前10名：

1. Melbourne, Australia (97.5)
1. 澳大利亞墨爾本 (97.5)

2. Vienna, Austria (97.4)
2. 奧地利維也納 (97.4)

3. Vancouver, Canada (97.3)
3. 加拿大溫哥華 (97.3)

4. Toronto, Canada (97.2)
4. 加拿大多倫多 (97.2)

5. Calgary, Canada (96.6)
5. 加拿大卡爾加里 (96.6)

5. Adelaide, Australia (96.6)
5. 澳大利亞阿德萊德 (96.6)

7. Sydney, Australia (96.1)
7. 澳大利亞悉尼 (96.1)

8. Helsinki, Finland (96.0)
8. 芬蘭赫爾辛基 (96.0)

9. Perth, Australia (95.9)
9. 澳大利亞珀斯 (95.9)

10. Auckland, New Zealand (95.7)
10. 新西蘭奧克蘭 (95.7)Half of the cities are in Australia and New Zealand, three are in Canada, and two are in Europe. The common denominators: They're all medium-size cities in prosperous countries, with relatively low population densities.
其中一半的城市位於澳大利亞和新西蘭，三座位於加拿大，兩座位於歐洲。它們的共同點是：都是富裕國家中的中型城市，人口密度相對較低。

It's an equation that leads to low crime rates, functional infrastructure and plenty of recreational activities for residents. So, while laid-back Melbourne may lack the glitter and verve of, say, Paris (No. 16, with 94.8 percentage points), Tokyo (No. 18, with 94.7), London (No. 55, with 87.2) or New York (No. 56, with 86.6), it trumps all of them in terms of crime, congestion and public transport (though commuters on the Myki might beg to differ).
這樣的城市犯罪率低，基礎設施完善，居民娛樂活動豐富。所以，悠閒的墨爾本也許缺少巴黎（排名第16，得分94.8）、東京（排名第18，得分94.7）、倫敦（排名第55，得分87.2）或紐約（排名第56，得分86.6）等城市的絢爛活力，但在犯罪率、交通通暢和公共交通方面更勝一籌。

Does that mean non-Melbournians should all pack up and decamp to Australia's most livable metropolis? Not necessarily.
這是否意味着非墨爾本人都應該打好行李，移居到澳大利亞最宜居的都市裏？不一定。

'I find Melbourne a really boring town, so more livable means really dull,' a male police officer in Sydney told us, though he wouldn't give his name because he was working undercover in a park.
悉尼的一位男警察對我們說，我發現墨爾本是一個非常無聊的城市，所以更宜居意味着無聊透頂。不過他不願透露自己的姓名，因爲他當時正在一個公園裏便裝執行任務。

'I live in Sydney because it's interesting, not because it's comfortable,' he added. (Note to readers: We checked his badge, and he's the genuine article.)
他還說，我住在悉尼，因爲這裏有趣，而不是因爲這裏舒適。（讀者請注意：我們查驗了他的警徽，他確實是名警察。）

Though the top 10 cities in the EIU's rankings may be pleasant and easy to live in, they're not high on most people's lists of top cities to visit (for that, see Bangkok). After all, they can hardly be described as dynamic. Before Melbourne assumed the No. 1 ranking, it was Vancouver that came out on top - a spot it occupied for almost a decade owing to the fact that as a city, it's incredibly stable.
儘管經濟學人智庫發佈的排行榜上排在前10位的城市可能舒適怡人，適宜居住，但在大部分人的旅行目的地城市名單中它們排名並不靠前（有關熱門旅遊城市，請參看有關曼谷的這篇文章）。畢竟，這些城市很難說有什麼動態變化。在墨爾本奪冠之前，溫哥華曾位居榜首。溫哥華這座城市憑藉其令人難以置信的穩定程度，佔據榜首將近10年。

The question is, do you want to live in a livable (read 'tolerable') city or a dynamic one? The answer is entirely personal. Big cities like Tokyo, London and New York suffer in the rankings because of higher crime rates and overburdened infrastructure, dragging down perceptions of how 'comfortable' they are. Yet when it comes to recreational offerings - including nightlife, culture and entertainment - they're hard to beat.
問題是，你是希望住在一個宜居（背後的意思是“可忍受的”）城市還是一個動態變化的城市？答案完全因人而異。東京、倫敦和紐約等大城市由於高犯罪率和負擔過重的基礎設施而拖累了人們對其“舒適度”的感受，因此排名靠後。然而，在包括夜生活、文化和娛樂等消遣活動方面，它們是別的城市難以匹敵的。

Of course, where you live can be unstable or downright dangerous - which brings us to the lower rankings on the list. Below are the 10 least livable cities according to the report, bearing in mind that it was designed to cover cities that people might want to live in or travel to (which is why you won't find Kabul or Baghdad mentioned):
當然，你住的城市可能不穩定，甚至非常危險，排名靠後的城市正是如此。以下爲報告中評出的10座最不宜居的城市，需要注意的是報告意在評估的是人們可能希望居住或遊覽的城市（正因爲如此，榜單中沒有提到喀布爾或巴格達）：

131. Tehran, Iran (45.8)
131. 伊朗德黑蘭 (45.8)

132. Douala, Cameroon (43.3)
132. 喀麥隆杜阿拉 (43.3)

133. Tripoli, Libya (41.7)
133. 利比亞的黎波里 (41.7)

134. Karachi, Pakistan (40.9)
134. 巴基斯坦卡拉奇 (40.9)

134. Algiers, Algeria (40.9)
134. 阿爾及利亞阿爾及爾 (40.9)

136. Harare, Zimbabwe (40.7)
136. 津巴布韋哈拉雷 (40.7)

137. Lagos, Nigeria (38.9)
137. 尼日利亞拉各斯 (38.9)

137. Port Moresby, PNG (38.9)
137. 巴布亞新幾內亞莫爾斯比港 (38.9)

139. Dhaka, Bangladesh (38.7)
139. 孟加拉國達卡 (38.7)

140. Damascus, Syria (38.4)
140. 敘利亞大馬士革 (38.4)

The biggest downward trend was for cities in China due to unrest across the country. Everything from labor disputes to anti-Japanese protests prompted a decline in the livability rankings for Chinese cities overall, cancelling out improvements in other factors that would have otherwise boosted their positions on the list. As a result, 13 cities are at the very bottom tier of livability, with ratings below 50%.
排名下滑幅度最大的是中國的城市，原因是該國各地的不穩定狀態。從勞動糾紛到反日抗議等各種問題導致中國城市整體宜居度排名下滑，抵消了其他因素得分上升可能帶來的排名上升。結果是，中國有13座城市在宜居度方面排名在後50%梯隊。

Between the two poles of the spectrum are plenty of cities considered highly livable, whether their defining qualities are convenience, ease and comfort, or energy, soul and grit. The report points out that more than a third of the cities in the rankings fall within the 'highest tier of livability,' with No. 1 (Melbourne) through No. 64 (Santiago, Chile) considered 'broadly comparable' despite more than 16 percentage points between them.
處於最宜居和最不宜居這兩極之間，有很多被認爲是非常宜居的城市，無論是在便利性、悠閒和舒適性，還是活力方面。該報告指出，榜單中有三分之一以上的城市處於“宜居度最高等級”，第一名（墨爾本）到第64名（智力 地亞哥）被認爲是“大體差不多”，儘管墨爾本與 地亞哥之間有着16%以上的分差。

That may be why these rankings are such a heated source of debate. Embedded within the rankings are micro-rankings, in which cities with longtime rivalries pit themselves against each other: Hong Kong versus Singapore, for instance, or Melbourne versus Sydney (see above).
或許正因爲如此，這份榜單引發了激烈的爭論。榜單之中還有小榜單，素爲對手的城市相互較量：比如，香港與新加坡，或墨爾本與悉尼。

What makes a city livable? Would you want to live in the world's most comfortable city, or the world's most dynamic and interesting?
決定一座城市宜居的要素是什麼？你願意住在全球最舒適的城市，還是最富變化、最有趣的城市？