罗利获评美国生活质量最高城市

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 Portfolio.com 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.

一项最新民调显示，美国北卡罗来纳州的罗利市超过华盛顿、西雅图和波士顿，被评为全美生活质量最高的城市。

这项由Portfolio.com网站开展的调查对美国67个经济健康发展的城市区域进行了排名，评选依据包括生活成本、住宅存量、教育体制和交通状况等。罗利市在评选中得分最高。

人口统计学家G．斯科特．托马斯分析说：“罗利是全美唯一一个快速发展壮大的主要市场，自2000年以来城市扩张达37%，它登上榜首主要受到几个因素的推动。”

他在一项声明中说：“罗利的劳动力素质高，高端职位多，失业率低，大房子数量多。”

华盛顿名列第二，其次是明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗地区以及康涅狄格州的布里奇波特-斯坦福地带和盐湖城。

加利福尼亚的贝克尔斯菲尔德和弗雷斯诺在排行榜中垫底，因为这两个城市的贫困率高，在主要评比项中得分较低。

托马斯解释说：“贝克尔斯菲尔德的贫困率居美国主要地区市场之首，此外该地区管理和专业类工作少，大房子数量少；在三个教育项评选中，拥有高中文凭、本科学历和高级学历的成年人比例最低。”

新奥尔良和孟菲斯的得分也较低。丹佛排名第六，其它跻身前十位的城市还包括西雅图、波士顿、奥斯丁和圣何塞。

华盛顿从事管理和专业类工作的人口比例最高。奥马哈市的通勤时间最短，平均为19.3分钟，纽约市最长，为34.5分钟。

Vocabulary:

array: a group or collection of things or people, often one that is large or impressive 大堆；大群；大量

inventory: all the goods in a shop stock （商店的）存货，库存

round out: make complete 完成