美世调查：新加坡基础设施居全球之冠

Singapore has the world's best infrastructure, according to a survey of 221 cities by consulting firm Mercer released Tuesday, using measures such as traffic congestion, availability of flights from local airports, quality of public transportation and availability of water. The Southeast Asian city-state beat its close competitor, Hong Kong, which came in sixth in the world for infrastructure. Ranking second and third were Frankfurt and Munich, respectively, which function as aviation hubs in Europe similar to Singapore's role in Asia, followed by Copenhagen in Denmark and another German city, Düsseldorf.

咨询公司美世(Mercer)周二发布的一份针对221个城市的调查显示，新加坡拥有全球最好的基础设施。调查使用的指标包括交通拥堵程度、当地机场的航班情况、公共交通的质量以及自来水的供应情况。位于东南亚的新加坡击败了和它旗鼓相当的竞争对手香港，后者的基础设施在全球排名第六。排在二三两位的分别是法兰克福和慕尼黑，这两座城市是欧洲的航空枢纽，类似新加坡在亚洲扮演的角色。排在四五两位的则是丹麦的哥本哈根和德国的另一座城市杜塞尔多夫。

On the other end, Dhaka in Bangladesh was deemed to have the poorest infrastructure in Asia, according to Mercer's survey, coming in at 205, behind Yangon, Myanmar, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which also ranked poorly at 180 and 194, respectively. Port-au-Prince in Haiti was placed as the worst in the world for infrastructure.

另一方面，美世的调查显示，孟加拉国的达卡被视为亚洲基础设施最差的城市。其排名为205位，排在缅甸仰光和柬埔寨金边之后。不过仰光和金边的排名也高不到哪儿去，前者为180位，后者为194位。海地太子港是全球基础设施最差的城市。

For the second year in a row, Mercer ranked Singapore as the Asian city with the highest quality of life, followed by four Japanese cities: Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama and Osaka. World-wide, though, Singapore was ranked 25th, with Vienna taking the top spot. The results take into account everything from the political and social environment of a city to the standard of schools and the availability of a range of consumer goods. Health considerations, including air pollution, come into play as well -- a reason why Hong Kong is ranked 70th on Mercer's list, between Prague in the Czech Republic and Detroit, Michigan.

美世连续第二年将新加坡列为生活质量最高的亚洲城市。紧随其后的为四个日本城市：东京、神户、横滨、大阪。但在全球范围内新加坡只能排在25位，而维也纳则拔得头筹。排名考虑的因素可谓无所不包，既有一个城市的政治和社会环境，也考虑到学校的标准以及获得消费品的便利性。而健康因素（包括空气污染程度）也是一项考量指标，这也是香港在美世的名单上只能排在70位的原因。香港的排名位于捷克布拉格和美国密歇根州底特律之间。

The consultancy rates the quality of life in 220 cities against New York, which ranks 47th and is home the headquarters of Mercer's parent company, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Quality of life broken down into categories like law enforcement, crime, political stability, the availability of consumer goods and the like is compared city-to-city between New York and other cities across the world.

美世以纽约为标杆给220个城市的生活质量进行打分。纽约在美世的名单上排名第47位，它也是美世的母公司威达信集团(Marsh & McLennan Cos.)的总部所在地。美世将全球220个城市的生活质量同纽约逐一进行比较，这一指标也被细分为很多类别，其中包括执法水平、犯罪现象、政治稳定性以及获得消费品的便利性等。

Cities in Australia and New Zealand ranked as some of the most desirable places to live and work, with Auckland ranked third in the world for quality of life behind Vienna and Zurich. Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, as well as Toronto and Berlin, all ranked higher than Singapore for overall quality of life, taking into account climate and the socio-cultural environment, including censorship and social freedom.

澳大利亚和新西兰的部分城市被评为最令人渴望生活和工作的地方。奥克兰的生活质量位列全球第三，排在维也纳和苏黎世之后。从整体生活质量看，澳大利亚的悉尼、墨尔本和珀斯，以及多伦多和柏林的排名都比新加坡高。整体生活质量的考量因素包括气候和社会文化环境，后者包含媒体审查和社会自由的程度。

In Southeast Asia, cities like Yangon and Jakarta find themselves inching up ever so slightly. Yangon was ranked 195th for quality of life out of 221 cities, and Jakarta ranked 138, compared with 196 and 140 in 2011. Mercer remains optimistic that many of these Asian cities will continue making improvements on infrastructure--aided, of course, by unprecedented foreign investment coming in to the country--and will grow more desirable to expatriates looking for opportunities outside their home countries.

在东南亚，仰光和雅加达等城市的进步幅度非常校在全球221个城市中，仰光的生活质量排名为第195位，而雅加达排在第138位。去年两者的排名分别为196和140位。但美世仍然感到乐观，它认为很多亚洲城市的基础设施水平还能继续改进，流入亚洲的外国投资达到史无前例的水平会对此起到推动作用。它还认为，对于那些在本国以外寻求机会的外籍人士来说，这些城市会变得更加理想。

Mercer's surveys are designed to help multinational firms decide how to compensate their employees when they go on overseas postings. In the case of cities ranked poorly, 'companies need to provide adequate allowances to compensate their international workers for these and other hardships,' according to Slagin Parakatil, a senior researcher at Mercer. However, the cost of living in some of the top-ranked cities are among the highest in the world.

美世调查的目的是帮助跨国企业决定如何对外派员工进行补偿。美世高级研究员帕拉卡迪尔(Slagin Parakatil)说，如果企业将员工外派到那些排名靠后的城市，企业应该为这些国际员工提供足够的津贴以弥补他们遭受的这样或那样的困顿。但排名靠前的一些城市其生活成本也位居全球最高之列。