‧英語島 2014/12/11
London and New York topped the global list of the world's most influential cities, largely thanks to history, tradition and "inertia" – they are the most dominant principally because they always have been. The British capital (1) clinched top spot in part (2) thanks to its position as a global transport hub with a high number of company headquarters, loose regulatory environment and judicial and political systems, which have proved a model for the rest of the world.
Forbes based its city rankings on eight factors, including the level of foreign direct investment, the number of corporate headquarters, the amount of business types it dominates, ease of air travel to other global cities, the strength of financial services, technology and media power, and racial diversity.
Rising stars were named as Singapore, currently in fifth place, Dubai in seventh and San Francisco, which is in equal 10th. Cities which could leap into the top 10 in future include Seoul, currently number 16, Abu Dhabi, now in 20th, and Sao Paulo in 23rd.
1. London: London has the most start-up Internet firms in Europe and is host to 68 of the world's top 2,000 companies.
2. New York: Visitors spend more money in New York than any city in the world thanks to its iconic landmarks.
3. Paris: A distant third, Paris claims its place only thanks to its domination of the still-important French market with virtually all of the country's homegrown companies basing their headquarters there.
4. Singapore: It has the highest level of foreign direct investment and is the top location for European companies with an Asia-Pacific HQ.
5. Tokyo: It gains most of its ranking due to its domination of its own domestic markets.
6. Hong Kong: Most of the world's banks, asset managers and insurance companies have Asia-Pacific headquarters there.
7. Dubai: Dubai has put itself the center of the world thanks to its airport, which boasts the largest terminal on the globe, making it the most well-connected city in terms of air travel.
8. Beijing: As well as hosting the HQs of most of China's state-owned companies, Forbes said it is "home to the country's elite educational institutions and its most innovative companies."
9. Sydney: Australia's largest city is dominant in a country that has seen a resources-fuelled boom in the last two decades.
10. San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco has leapt from relative obscurity to become hugely "necessary" thanks largely to its domination of the tech field.
倫敦和紐約在全球最具影響力城市榜單遙遙領先，歸功於歷史、傳統和「慣性」的作用——主要原因是他們一直以來都處於領先地位。英國首都領先其他城市，因其居交通樞紐的地位，這裡有大量的企業總部、寬鬆的監管環境以及完善的司法政治體系，已為世界樹立典範。
《富比士》城市排行評選主要基於八個因素：外商直接投資水準、企業總部數量、企業類型數量、國際航運便利度、金融服務實力、技術和媒體掌控力以及種族多元 化程度。後起之秀新加坡目前排名第五，杜拜第七，舊金山排名第十。未來有望躋身前十名的城市包括，目前排名第十六的韓國首爾，排名二十的阿布達比，以及排 名第23巴西的聖保羅。
十大影響城市:
1. 倫敦: 歐洲大量的高科技及新興網路公司來自倫敦。全球前2000強企業中，68家總部設在倫敦。
2. 紐約: 紐約擁有眾多地標性建築，遊客在紐約的消費世界第一。
3. 巴黎: 巴黎名列第三，但與倫敦、紐約差距較大。巴黎還能位居第三名，主要是內需市場仍發揮著關鍵作用，且幾乎所有法國國內知名企業總部都設於巴黎。
4. 新加坡: 新加坡是外國直接投資水準最高的地區，並且是歐洲企業在亞太地區域總部的首選。
5. 東京: 排名第五主要依賴於自身國內市場的發展。
6. 香港: 全球大多數的世界銀行、資產管理公司和保險公司都把他們的亞太地區總部設在香港。
7. 杜拜: 杜拜擁有全球最大航站樓的杜拜國際機場，是全球航空旅行的最佳樞紐城市。
8. 北京: 許多中國國有企業總部坐落於此，《富比士》稱北京為「菁英教育與創新企業的故鄉」。
9. 雪梨: 雪梨是澳洲最大、最領先的城市。二十年來，雪梨資源能源行業迅速發展。
10. 舊金山灣區: 從默默無聞一躍成為極其「 顯要」城市，這很大程度上要歸功於其科技領域的主導地位。■
KEY USAGES
1.
clinch top spot
奪冠
E.g. Tokyo has taken top spot from Shanghai as the top spot for next year's real estate investment prospects among big Asian cities, a survey showed on Wednesday.
據週三發佈的調查顯示，東京已取代上海成為下一年亞洲大城市地產投資的最佳地點。
2.
thanks to
多虧了; 幸好
E.g. It was thanks to your timely help that we accomplished the task on time.
幸虧你及時幫忙，我們才按時完成了任務。
