Lindsey Sacher (L) and Mark Seifert of Cleveland-based non-profit East Side Organizing Project (ESOP) tour foreclosed homes in the city's Slavic Village on February 8, 2008, which has been ravaged by the housing crisis.

克利夫兰获评全美最悲惨城市
Cleveland deemed most miserable city in USA
Cleveland has won the dubious distinction of being the most miserable city in the United States, according to a new poll.

The Ohio city on the Cuyahoga River has high unemployment, dismal weather, hefty taxes, corruption and mediocre sports teams, all of which have propelled it to the No 1 position in the Forbes.com list.

"Cleveland nabbed the top spot as a result of poor ratings across the board. It was the only city that fell in the bottom half of rankings in all nine categories," Forbes said on its website.

"The city has been dubbed with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the Lake," it added.

The rankings are based on jobless rates, inflation, taxes, commuting times, crime rates, performance by the city's sports teams, weather, pollution and corruption by public officials.

The economic downturn with high unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies hit cities across the United States last year particularly in the Midwest section of the country.

Crime and unemployment secured the No. 2 spot for Stockton, which held the top position in last year's ranking. Memphis captured third place thanks to its violent crime rate and the number of convicted officials, while the ailing auto industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five.

"It (the list) is dominated by Midwestern cities that formerly had large manufacturing bases," said Kurt Badenhausen, of Forbes.

"A lot of the cities that showed up on our list are going through hard times right now, dealing with high unemployment, with declining manufacturing bases. Many have experienced strong net migrations out of the city over the last 20 and 30 years."

Despite its enviable weather, Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in commuting time, corruption and violent crime which sent it into sixth place. It also had the 10th worst foreclosure rate in the United States last year at 7.2 percent.

"One of the biggest surprises is Miami. The good weather and no state income taxes blur some of the severe problems that Miami has related to crime and corruption, as well as long commutes," Badenhausen added.

The Florida sunshine mecca was followed in the miserable ranking by St Louis, Buffalo, Canton, Ohio and Chicago, which has the country's highest sales tax at 10.25 percent.

New York, the nation's biggest city, is rich in culture but it lengthy commuting times and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

点击查看更多双语新闻

(Agencies)
 据一项最新民调显示，克利夫兰获评美国最悲惨的城市。

这座位于凯霍加河畔的俄亥俄州城市失业率高、天气阴沉、税收繁重、腐败且体育成绩平平，所有这些因素将克利夫兰推上了《福布斯》网站评选的最悲惨城市排行榜的首位。

《福布斯》在其网站上称：“由于克利夫兰的各项指标排名都不理想，因此名列整个排行榜之首。它是唯一一个在所有九项评比中排名都比较靠后的城市。”

《福布斯》网站称：“这个城市还有一个不太可爱的别名：湖水造就的错误。”

该排行根据城市的失业率、通货膨胀、税收、通勤时间、犯罪率、体育成绩、天气、污染情况和官员腐败情况等指标评比编撰而成。

去年，伴随着高失业率、丧失抵押赎回权和破产的经济衰退重袭美国各城市，尤其是中西部城市。

去年名列该榜首位的斯托克顿市今年因其高犯罪率和失业率成为第二大悲惨城市。孟菲斯市因高暴力犯罪率以及腐败官员数量之多名列第三。此外，密歇根州的底特律和弗林特因汽车工业衰败而进入前五名。

《福布斯》的科尔特•巴登豪森说：“榜单上的大部分城市都是曾经拥有雄厚制造业基础的中西部城市。”

“很多出现在榜单上的城市现在都是艰难度日，面临着高失业率和日趋衰败的制造业基础等问题。很多城市在过去二三十年中经历了大规模的对外净迁移。”

尽管有着令人羡慕的天气，迈阿密因在通勤时间、腐败和暴力犯罪等项中均排在后10%而名列第六大悲惨城市。去年，迈阿密的止赎率高达7.2%，为美国第十大止赎率最高的城市。

巴登豪森说：“迈阿密是最令人意外的城市之一。因为该城气候宜人，又不征收州所得税，掩盖了其在犯罪、腐败和通勤时间长等方面存在的一些严重问题。”

排在佛罗里达州这座阳光之城之后的悲惨城市包括圣路易斯、布法罗、俄亥俄州的坎顿和芝加哥。芝加哥的销售税居全美之首，达10.25%。

美国最大的城市纽约文化生活丰富，但由于通勤时间太长，所得税又很高，使其排在了悲惨城市榜第16名。