VOA慢速英语--Find Your Best Place to Live
时间：2019-01-12 作者：英语课 分类：2016年VOA慢速英语(四)月
Find Your Best Place to Live
Some people can live wherever they want. But all of us can dream.
Perhaps you want to move somewhere else and make a change. Maybe you just want to shake things up a little.
Some jobs let us live almost anywhere. Today many positions require only an Internet connection.
If you want to find the perfect place to live, you might spend weeks doing research on cities around the world. Or you could use the Teleport website. It is set up to help you discover the best place for you. The website’s developers once worked for Skype.
Teleport helps you search for places to live based on personal preferences – your own likings and dislikes.
Teleport may help you decide where to go or dream about where to move some day. It can also make you better appreciate – and value -- the area where you are living now.
Using Teleport
To get started, go to the Teleport website and create an account. Users 1 can choose from among different preferences to find the best city for them to live in.
The search for ideal 2 cities is based on you telling Teleport what is important to you. The site gives 20 categories to choose from.
The groupings include:
Cost of living
Job market
Climate
Language
Pollution
Safety
Traffic
and Internet speed
No city will likely be a perfect match for you. One issue or another might influence the website’s results. But Teleport can show you which cities are the best, based on your preferences.
Teleport lists over 150 places. If an area is not listed, you can vote to add it to the site.
Start by completing the Personal Data information. You tell Teleport where you are living now, the kind of job you have, your monthly 3 earnings 4 and budget requirements.
You will be asked to list the earnings and budget requirements in United States dollars or other currencies, such as euros, British pounds, and Chinese yuan.
This might seem like a lot of personal information to share with strangers. But Teleport says it does not share the information with others unless the account holder 5 agrees, the website is sold, or when required to by law.
The site also says it may contact the account holder for marketing 6 purposes, but the person can stop its emails at any time.
With Teleport’s help, you can decide whether you want to live in an area that has a higher or lower cost of living than where you live now. Or choose a place with costs similar to your current location.
Within each preference are choices for you to identify. For example, under Traffic you can let Teleport know how much you hate traffic and how you like to travel: by car, public transportation, riding a bicycle and/or walking.
The housing 7 choices are limited. You will have a choice of either a one- or three-bedroom rental 8 home. But the results will give you a general idea of housing costs in cities.
If a category is not important to you, do not mark any of the choices within that preference.
Results
Teleport uses the information to create a bar graph 9 showing you a list of your ideal cities. The picture has colors showing you how closely 10 matched each preference is for that city.
If the results do not show areas where you would like to live, you may want to change the preferences.
You can also remove whole continents where you do not want to live.
If you have chosen Living Costs as one of your preferences, you will see a column 11 to the right of the bar graph. The column shows how much more or less each city will cost you to live in, compared to where you live now. You can see the relative cost of living in each city in your chosen currency.
If cost of living is your most important consideration, use the Best Budget tab at the top of the page to see cities rated in order of their costs.
Search
If you are interested in living in a city that did not make the list based on your preferences, you can search for it on Teleport.
Enter the name of the city and the site will show you information about living there.
Compare Cities
Use the Compare Cities tool to see two cities side-by-side and compare places to live. You can see which of the two cities will best meet your needs.
Teleport will show you how both cities compare to your preferences and cost of living. You can also compare issues such as weather and the average pay for your job. Under the Score Data section, you can see how each city compares to where you live now.
Words in This Story
preference - n. something that is liked or wanted more than another thing
appreciate - v. to be grateful for (something)
account - n. an arrangement in which a person uses the Internet or e-mail services of a particular company
match - n. two people or things that are suited to each other
currency - n. the money that a country uses
location - n. a place or position
rental - n. something that can be rented
category - n. a group of people or things that are similar in some way
column - n. a group of printed or written items (such as numbers or words) shown one under the other down a page
budget - n. an amount of money available for spending that is based on a plan for how it will be spent
- The new software will prove a boon to Internet users. 这种新软件将会对互联网用户大有益处。
- Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。
- The weather at the seaside was ideal—bright and breezy.海边的天气最宜人，风和日丽的。
- They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever. 他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。
- The rent on his apartment was his biggest monthly expense.他的房租是每个月最大的开支。
- The monthly rent is $15,inclusive of light and water.每月租金15美元，包括水电费在内。
- That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
- Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
- The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
- That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。
- They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
- He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。
- Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
- The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。
- The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
- We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。
- Such a graph is defined to be a contact network.我们把这样的图定义为一个接触网络。
- Our soundings are displayed in the form of a graph.我们的调查结果已用图表列出。
- We shall follow closely the development of the situation.我们将密切注意形势的发展。
- The two companies are closely tied up with each other.这两家公司之间有密切联系。