Hong Kong (CNN)It's usually all about the top cities to live in when the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) publishes its annual livability ranking -- but this year the picture is rather more gloomy.
And that's because of a surge in global instability over the past 12 months, from terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia, to ongoing conflicts across the Middle East, Ukraine and Libya.
| livable | adj. | 適於居住的 | gloomy | adj. | 陰鬱的 | |
| EIU | 經濟學人信息社 | surge | n. | 波濤, 洶湧 | ||
| livability | n. | 可居住性 | instability | n. | 不穩定性(現象) | |
| ranking | n. | 等級, 順序 | ongoing | adj. | 不間斷的 |
In any event, it's as you were for the "haves" at the top of list, with Melbourne taking the top spot for a fifth year running, with Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto and Adelaide/Calgary (tied at 5) completing the top five most livable cities in 2015.
According to the EIU, these cities have "relatively few challenges to living standards," and enjoy a good infrastructure, healthcare system and a low murder rate.
| Calgary | n. | 卡爾加里(加拿大) | infrastructure | n. | 基礎建設 |
Unsurprisingly, Damascus remains the least livable city, with Syria embroiled in a bloody civil war.
| Damascus | n. | 大馬士革(敘利亞首都) | deterioration | n. | 惡化 | |
| embroil | v. | 使捲入糾紛,使混亂 | fuel | v. | 給~加油,激起 | |
| bloody | adj. | 血腥的 | ||||
READ: Tunisia struggles with jihadist groups
"The EIU ranking, which provides scores for lifestyle challenges in 140 cities worldwide, shows that since 2010 average liveability across the world has fallen by 1%, led by a 2.2% fall in the score for stability and safety. While this may seem marginal, it highlights that 57 of the cities surveyed have seen declines in liveability over the last five years," this year's report stated.
| lead | v. | 導致 | marginal | adj. | 微小的 |
Bucking the trend
By contrast, some regions have bucked the trend -- seven Chinese cities improved their ranking over the last 12 months "largely because of a lower threat from civil unrest," the report said. "Chinese cities saw liveability fall in the wake of riots and unrest in 2012, most notably due to widespread anti-Japanese sentiment."
China's top-ranked city, Beijing, moved up five places to 69 in the global ranking.
| buck the trend | 逆勢潮流 | notably | adv. | 尤其,特別 | ||
| by contrast | 相較之下 | sentiment | n. | 情操 | ||
| riot | n. | 暴亂 |
But Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests last year resulted in a 3.2% decline in livability. Though the protests were largely peaceful, some parts of the city were brought to a standstill for several months.
However "Asia's World City" still remained three places above city rival Singapore -- 46th and 49th place respectively.
"Hong Kong's liveability has been hit by the disruptive protests that took place last year. The city retains bragging rights over its regional competitor Singapore, but by a tiny margin. In fact both cities can still lay claim to being in the top tier of liveability where few, if any, aspects of life are restricted. This has not been the case in other parts of the world, with instability and unrest features undermining the scores of a number of cities globally," said Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU survey.
| protest | n. | 抗議 | lay claim to | 對~提出權利要求 | ||
| standstill | n. | 停滯不前 | tier | n. | 等級 | |
| rival | n. | 對手 | restrict | n. | 限制,約束 | |
| respectively | adv. | 分別地 | feature | v. | 起重要作用 | |
| brag | v. | 誇耀 | undermine | v. | 逐漸損害 | |
| margin | n. | 幅度 |
Top five most livable:
1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, British Columbia
4. Toronto
5. Adelaide, Australia
5. Calgary, Alberta
Least five livable:
136. Tripoli, Libya
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Damascus, Syria
| Papua New Guinea | 新幾內亞 | Bangladesh | 孟加拉 | |||
資料來源: CNN
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