【外刊】
今日导读
最近，经济学人智库公布了 2019 年全球生活成本调查报告。今年的第一名由两座亚洲城市和一座欧洲城市共享，三座城市并列第一在该榜单上的历史上还真是前所未有。究竟是哪三个城市获得了如此殊荣呢？中国有哪几个城市上了这份榜单呢？今天，Daniel 老师为大家带来《经济学人》对这份榜单的解读。
新闻原文
The world’s most expensive cities
For the first time in its 30-year history, the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from The Economist Intelligence Unit gives the title of the world’s most expensive city to three places. Singapore marks its sixth straight year at the top of the rankings, and is joined there by Hong Kong and Paris. The survey, which compares prices across 160 products and services, finds that living costs in all three cities are 7% higher than in New York, the benchmark city. Two Swiss cities, Zurich and Geneva, and Osaka in Japan also have higher prices than New York; Copenhagen and Seoul cost the same as the Big Apple.
Strong economic growth in the United States in 2018 led to a sharp appreciation of the dollar and a rise up the rankings for 14 of the 16 American cities for which prices are collected. The highest climbers were San Francisco (up 12 places to 25th) and Houston (up to 30th from 41st); New York itself moved up six spots to seventh and Los Angeles rose by four places to tenth. These movements represent a sharp increase in the relative cost of living compared with five years ago, when New York and Los Angeles tied in 39th position.
Elsewhere, inflation, devaluations and economic turmoil caused the cost of living in Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and Venezuela to plunge. Turkey’s currency crisis and surging consumer-price inflation saw Istanbul drop 48 places to joint 120th. But Caracas in Venezuela claims the title of the least expensive city in the world, thanks to hyperinflation and the plummeting bolívar.
带着问题看讲解
全世界居住成本最高的城市有哪些？
文中提到了哪几个表示“下跌”的单词？
为什么阿根廷、巴西和委内瑞拉等国家的生活成本暴跌？
新闻正文
The world’s most expensive cities
全世界居住成本最高的城市
For the first time in its 30-year history, the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from The Economist Intelligence Unit gives the title of the world’s most expensive city to three places. Singapore marks its sixth straight year at the top of the rankings, and is joined there by Hong Kong and Paris. The survey, which compares prices across 160 products and services, finds that living costs in all three cities are 7% higher than in New York, the benchmark city. Two Swiss cities, Zurich and Geneva, and Osaka in Japan also have higher prices than New York; Copenhagen and Seoul cost the same as the Big Apple.
经济学人智库发表的全球生活成本调查报告给三个地方冠以了“全球生活成本最高城市”的称号，这是该调查三十年历史上的头一回。新加坡连续六年蝉联第一，今年香港和巴黎与其并列。在对比了 160 项商品和服务的价格之后，该调查发现，上述三座城市的生活成本比纽约这座基准城市高出 7%。两座瑞士城市——苏黎世和日内瓦，还有日本大阪市，它们的物价也高于纽约。哥本哈根和首尔的生活成本则与“大苹果”相当。
Strong economic growth in the United States in 2018 led to a sharp appreciation of the dollar and a rise up the rankings for 14 of the 16 American cities for which prices are collected. The highest climbers were San Francisco (up 12 places to 25th) and Houston (up to 30th from 41st); New York itself moved up six spots to seventh and Los Angeles rose by four places to tenth. These movements represent a sharp increase in the relative cost of living compared with five years ago, when New York and Los Angeles tied in 39th position.
美国 2018 年强劲的经济增长，不仅导致了美元大幅升值，还让参与调查的 16 座美国城市中的 14 座城市的排名上升了。名次上升最快的城市是旧金山（上升 12 名，目前位列 25 名）和休斯敦（从 41 名上升至 30 名），基准城市纽约自身也上升了 6 名，位列第 7，洛杉矶则上升了 4 名，位列第 10。这些名次的变化表明，生活的相对成本和五年前相比有明显的增加，彼时纽约和洛杉矶并列第 39 名。
Elsewhere, inflation, devaluationsand economic turmoil caused the cost of living in Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and Venezuela to plunge. Turkey’s currency crisis and surging consumer-price inflation sawIstanbul drop 48 places to joint 120th. But Caracas in Venezuela claims the title of the least expensive city in the world, thanks to hyperinflation and the plummetingbolívar.
在其他地方，通胀、货币贬值和经济混乱使得阿根廷、巴西、土耳其和委内瑞拉的生活成本暴跌。土耳其的货币危机和飙升的消费价格通胀使得伊斯坦布尔下跌了 48 名，与其他城市并列第 120 名。但是委内瑞拉城市卡拉卡斯获得了全世界生活成本最低城市的称号，背后原因是极其严重的通胀和飞速贬值的货币博利瓦。
重点词汇
补充词汇知识
The Economist Intelligence Unit
经济学人智库
title
n. 头衔，称谓
the Big Apple
纽约市
sharp
adj. 急剧的
up
prep. 上升
rise
n. 上升
to
prep. 抵达，到达
move up
上升
rise by
上升
spot
n. 名次
place
n. 名次
movement
n. 位置的变化，名次的变化
英文释义：a change of position
relative cost
相对成本
compared with sth.
和……做比较
tie
v. 不分胜负，打成平手
surge
v. 陡增，剧烈上升
currency crisis
货币危机（一个国家的汇率变动幅度超出了自己可承受的范围）
consumer-price inflation
消费价格指数的涨幅
相关词汇：Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Consumer Price Index（CPI）是观察通货膨胀的重要指标，反映了居民家庭一般购买的消费品和服务项目价格水平的变动情况。
see
v. 见证某事的发生
英文释义：witness
例句：The city has seen plenty of violence over the years.
joint 120th
并列 120 名
claim
v. 获得，赢得某物
英文释义：to gain, win or achieve sth.
搭配短语：claims the title of sth.
thanks to sth.
原因在于……
长难句解析
Strong economic growth in the United States in 2018 led to a sharp appreciation of the dollar and a rise up the rankings for 14 of the 16 American cities for which prices are collected.
美国 2018 年强劲的经济增长带来的结果是美元大幅升值，以及参与调查的 16 座美国城市中有 14 座城市的排名都上升了。
主句为 Strong economic growth led to sth.，in the United States in 2018 作地点状语修饰 economic growth，led to 引导了两个 and 连接的并列短语，说明强劲的经济增长导致的两个结果，第一个是 a sharp appreciation of the dollar，第二个是 a rise up the ranking for 14 of the 16 American cities。后半句的 for which prices are collected 是介词 for 加关系代词 which 引导的定语从句，for 和定语从句中的谓语动词 collected 构成搭配 collected for，意思是“收集”， 因此，... and a rise up the rankings for 14 of the 16 American cities for which prices are collected 把这句拆成简单句，就是：...and a rise up the rankings for 14 of the 16 American cities. Prices are collected for the 16 American cities.
学习资源
推荐的查音标网站：https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com（牛津学习者词典）
拓展阅读
为什么纽约城的昵称是“大苹果”？
Big Apple 可能是纽约最出名的昵称之一了，该昵称最早可追溯至 20 世纪 20 年代。在当时，《晨讯报》（The Morning Telegraph）的体育记者约翰·费兹杰拉德（John Fitz Gerald）在和几位来自新奥尔良的非洲裔马夫闲聊时发现，他们将纽约称为“Big Apple”，这是因为在马夫们眼里，纽约是一个大城市，赚钱机会非常多，就像一个大苹果一样，既好看又好吃，每个人都想咬上一口。之后，约翰·费兹杰拉德就频繁地在自己的文章中用 “Big Apple”来代指纽约，从此以后，这个名号就推广开来。如今，在纽约的百老汇大道和西 54 街交界处，你可以看到一块 写着“Big Apple Corner”的路牌。费兹杰拉德的逝世地点在附近的一家酒店，美国政府为了纪念他，在酒店附近立了这块路牌。
关于“Big Apple”的得名还有另外一种说法：在 20 世纪 30 年代，爵士乐的圈子特别流行这样一句话：“There are many apples on the tree, but only one ‘Big Apple’.”（“苹果树上有很多苹果，但是只有一个大苹果。”）在这句话中，纽约被比喻成了“Big Apple”，因为纽约机会非常多，每个爵士乐家都心之向往。
后来，纽约的别名“Big Apple”慢慢被人们所遗忘。直到 20 世纪 70 年代，时任纽约会议及旅游局（New York Convention & Visitors Bureau） 负责人的查尔斯·吉列特（Charles Gillett）策划了一起非常成功的活动，永远地将“Big Apple”和纽约城联系到了一起。