中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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The city of Oslo is pictured in the distance on a winters day in this February 9, 2009 file photo.(Agencies) |
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Oil-rich Norway remains the best country in the world to live in, while Zimbabwe, afflicted by economic crisis and AIDS, is the least desirable, according to an annual U.N. rating released on Thursday. The assessment came in a so-called human development index, a measure of well-being published by the U.N. Development Program for the past 20 years that combines individual economic prosperity with education levels and life expectancy. The UNDP placed Norway, Australia and New Zealand at the top and Niger -- last year's back-marker -- the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe at the bottom, as Western countries again led the list while sub-Saharan African nations trailed. Japan headed the field in life expectancy, at 83.6 years, with Afghanistan last at little more than half of that -- 44.6 years. The tiny Alpine state of Liechtenstein had by far the highest per capita annual income -- $81,011, 460 times higher than last-placed Zimbabwe on $176. Overall, the index contained some significant changes near the top compared with last year, with the United States rising to fourth from 13th and Iceland -- hard hit by the global financial crisis -- plummeting to 17th from third. But UNDP officials said the figures were not fully comparable due to changes in calculation methods this year. Per capita gross national income, which includes aid and remittances, has been used instead of gross domestic product, while in education literacy levels have been replaced by average years of schooling. Due to difficulties in obtaining the required figures from some countries, only 169 of the 192 U.N. member states were graded. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
聯(lián)合國本周四發(fā)布“人類發(fā)展指數(shù)”年度排行榜，富產(chǎn)石油的挪威再次穩(wěn)居榜首，飽受經(jīng)濟危機和艾滋病困擾的津巴布韋排名墊底。 聯(lián)合國開發(fā)計劃署發(fā)布“人類發(fā)展指數(shù)”已有20年歷史，該指數(shù)是綜合考慮個人經(jīng)濟狀況、教育水平、平均壽命等因素而得出的一項生活品質(zhì)衡量指標。 在聯(lián)合國開發(fā)計劃署公布的該榜單中，挪威、澳大利亞、新西蘭名列前三甲，去年墊底的尼日爾、剛果民主共和國和津巴布韋排在最末。西方國家再次領(lǐng)跑榜單，撒哈拉以南非洲國家被甩在后面。 日本以83.6歲的人均壽命在該評比中居首，而排在末位的阿富汗人均壽命僅為44.6歲，剛超過日本的一半。阿爾卑斯山小國列支敦士登目前是全球人均年收入最高的國家，為81011美元，比排名倒數(shù)第一、人均年收入僅有176美元的津巴布韋高出460倍。 總體來看，與去年相比，今年榜單上排名靠前的國家有很大變化。美國從第13位上升至第4位，受全球金融危機重創(chuàng)的冰島從第3位下滑至第17位。 但聯(lián)合國開發(fā)計劃署的官員表示，由于計算方法與去年不同，榜單并不完全可比。 今年的計算標準采用了包含援助和匯款的人均國民收入，而舍棄了國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值，教育程度的衡量標準則采用了平均受教育年限，舍棄了識字率。 由于在一些國家收集數(shù)據(jù)存在難度，聯(lián)合國192個成員中僅有169個參加了此次調(diào)查。 相關(guān)閱讀 全球城市生活質(zhì)量調(diào)查 維也納蟬聯(lián)榜首 （中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: back-marker: a competitor who is at the back of a field in a race（被遠遠甩在后面的比賽選手。賽車比賽中，指“被套圈車手”，也就是被超過一圈以上的車手。） |
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