羅利獲評美國生活質量最高城市
Raleigh, North Carolina surpassed Washington, Seattle and Boston to be named the American city with the best quality of life in a new poll.
It scored top marks in the survey by the website Por that ranked 67 metropolitan areas with healthy economies on cost of living, housing stocks, educational systems and traffic.
"There are several factors that pushed Raleigh to the top of the list, with it being the only major market that's expanding and growing at a rapid pace, resulting in a metropolitan increase of 37 percent since 2000,' said G. Scott Thomas, a demographer who created the analysis.
"Raleigh has a well-educated workforce and an impressive supply of high-level jobs, not to mention its low unemployment rate and its impressive array of big houses," he added in a statement.
Washington came second in the survey, followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul, Bridgeport-Stamford in Connecticut and Salt Lake City.
Bakersfield and Fresno in California came in at the very bottom of the list because their high poverty rate and low scores in the major categories.
"Bakersfield has the highest poverty rate of any major market, as well as the lightest concentration of management and professional jobs, weakest inventory of big houses, and smallest percentages in the three educational categories that track adults with high school diplomas, bachelor's degrees and advanced degrees," Thomas explained.
New Orleans and Memphis also scored low in the poll, while Denver came in at No. 6, followed by Seattle, Boston, Austin and San Jose, which rounded out the top 10.
Washington D.C had the highest percentage of the population with management and professional jobs. But Omaha had the shortest commuting times to work, with an average of 19.3 minutes, while New York City had the longest with 34.5 minutes.
一項最新民調顯示，美國北卡羅來納州的羅利市超過華盛頓、西雅圖和波士頓，被評爲全美生活質量最高的城市。
這項由Por網站開展的調查對美國67個經濟健康發展的城市區域進行了排名，評選依據包括生活成本、住宅存量、教育體制和交通狀況等。羅利市在評選中得分最高。
人口統計學家G•斯科特•托馬斯分析說：“羅利是全美唯一一個快速發展壯大的主要市場，自2000年以來城市擴張達37%，它登上榜首主要受到幾個因素的推動。”
他在一項聲明中說：“羅利的勞動力素質高，高端職位多，失業率低，大房子數量多。”
華盛頓名列第二，其次是明尼阿波利斯-聖保羅地區以及康涅狄格州的布里奇波特-斯坦福地帶和鹽湖城。
加利福尼亞的貝克爾斯菲爾德和弗雷斯諾在排行榜中墊底，因爲這兩個城市的貧困率高，在主要評比項中得分較低。
托馬斯解釋說：“貝克爾斯菲爾德的貧困率居美國主要地區市場之首，此外該地區管理和專業類工作少，大房子數量少；在三個教育項評選中，擁有高中文憑、本科學歷和高級學歷的成年人比例最低。”
新奧爾良和孟菲斯的得分也較低。丹佛排名第六，其它躋身前十位的城市還包括西雅圖、波士頓、奧斯丁和聖何塞。
華盛頓從事管理和專業類工作的人口比例最高。奧馬哈市的通勤時間最短，平均爲19.3分鐘，紐約市最長，爲34.5分鐘。
Vocabulary:
array: a group or collection of things or people, often one that is large or impressive 大堆；大羣；大量
inventory: all the goods in a shop stock （商店的）存貨，庫存
round out: make complete 完成
