Last month, the Lion City hit the headlines again when The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) placed it atop its Worldwide Cost of Living index. However, this index was set up for a specific purpose. It’s designed for human resources departments to figure out the cost of sending employees on business trips or to work overseas, often in a high-paying job.

　　最近，狮城新加坡再次成为全球关注的焦点。上个月，经济学人智库(EIU)最新《全球城市生活成本》榜单出炉，新加坡连续第四年，成为生活成本最高的城市。然而，这个榜单涉及另有目的。它是为人力资源部门设计的，用来计算员工(通常是高薪职位)出差或在海外工作的花销。

　　Arguably, people with expense accounts don’t spend like the rest of us. When Singapore first topped the list in 2014, the city-state’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggested that the basket of goods on which the index was based included “imported cheese, filet mignon, Burberry-type raincoats, four best seats in a theatre, three-course high-end dinners for four people.”

　　然而这些“金领们”的生活必定异于普通老百姓。当新加坡于2014年荣登榜首的时候，新加坡副总理尚达曼指出，这些金领们的日常消费品包括“进口奶酪、菲力牛排、博柏利雨衣、剧院最好的位置、高端晚宴”。

　　The EIU is quite up front about the index’s limitations, and its author Jon Copestake admits there’s some “premiumisation”. “You can find bargains in almost any city around the world, and you can live more frugally than the comparative cost of living which we apply,” Copestake says.

　　EIU也承认该榜单存在一些局限性，作者斯泰克说：“你可以在世界上任何一个城市发现便宜货，在这个榜单里，我们运用的是比较成本分析法。”

　　So how much less does Singapore cost if you don’t throw money around like a banker? A group of academics at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy made their own index, which distinguished between expats and locals. It found that for expats, Singapore was about the fourth most expensive city in the world. But for the ‘ordinary residents’, it was 48th, wedged between Lisbon and Pittsburgh.

　　那么在新加坡，普通人的生活是什么样子呢?据新加坡国立大学李光耀公共政策学院的研究数据表明，外籍人士认为，新加坡约为第4全球最贵城市。但对于新加坡普通居民，排名仅仅是在第48名，位于里斯本和匹兹堡之间。

　　In the EIU’s index, Singapore stands head and shoulders above the world’s other cash gobbling metropolises for one reason: cars cost a fortune. The government has a deliberate policy of jacking up the cost as a means of keeping cars off the road and limiting congestion. You’ll pay about US$70,000 so that you can impress everyone with an entry-level Suzuki Swift.

　　EIU认为，新加坡生活成本傲视群雄的最主要原因是：汽车价格昂贵。政府深思熟虑后决定把汽车成本提高作为防止汽车上路和改善交通拥挤的手段。入门级的铃木 Swift，要价居然高达7万美元。

　　But in a compact city with cheap and reliable public transport and affordable cabs, it’s perfectly reasonable to go without a car. In fact, getting around in other cities can seem expensive by comparison.

　　在一个紧凑型的城市中，公共交通便宜又可靠，出租车经济又实惠，于是没有汽车也无关紧要。相反，在其他城市中，交通费用相当昂贵。

　　Copestake says that if cars were left out, Singapore would only drop down to ninth place on the EIU index.

　　斯泰克说，如果汽车因素被排除在外，那么新加坡只位于榜单的第九位。

　　“As far as I’m concerned it is actually intuitively a fairly good indicator of the cost of living between cities, based in US dollar terms,” He says plenty of other items are expensive in Singapore, particularly groceries, clothing, and food and drink.

　　他说：“就我而言，EIU榜单实际上是一个相当好的城市生活成本指标，在新加坡，很多物品都很贵，尤其是杂货、服装、食品和饮料。”

　　The last category, food and drink, is also a little controversial. It’s easy to pay several hundred dollars a head for a fancy meal here in Singapore, especially if you want to drink wine. But you can also get lunch for comfortably under SGD5 ($3.57). In fact, Singapore boasts the cheapest Michelin-starred meal on earth.

　　食物和饮料颇有争议。在新加坡，一顿饭花几百美元也是司空见惯的，尤其是在点了一些酒水的情况下。但是你也可以用不多的钱吃上一顿午餐。事实上，新加坡拥有最便宜的米其林星级餐。

　　Then, there’s real estate. This category, one that makes up the major headache in personal financial planning for so many people, is not in fact included in the EIU’s study (and it’s possible Hong Kong would top the list if it were included).

　　最后是房价—让多少人望而却步呀，实际上EIU的研究并不包括房价(如果包括在内的话，榜首应该是香港。)。

　　Expats in Singapore do tend to live in privately-owned condominiums, which can be expensive – rents for three-bedroom apartments in popular River Valley start around SGD4,000 ($2,850) and go up to SGD7,000 and above. But more than 80% of Singaporeans live in subsidised public housing blocks known as HDBs (after the Housing Development Board that builds them).

　　新加坡的移民往往生活在私人公寓,在受欢迎的River Valley地区，三室的公寓租金为2850美金到7000美金不等。实际上超过80%的新加坡人住在政府资助的公共住宅区(由住房发展局建设)。

　　There are a few strings attached when buying an HDB, but Shen says doing so is reasonable financially. What’s more, Singaporeans can draw on their mandatory retirement savings to pay for it, so for many it’s a payment that they don’t really feel. “It’s really not a huge part of your life.”

　　在购买政府资助房产的时候，有一些附加条件。但是沈说，新加坡人可以利用强制性退休储蓄去支付这一笔费用，所以经济压力不大。

　　Compare that with buying in London, San Francisco or Sydney, where an uninhabitable terrace just sold for $1.96 million. So, if you’re travelling or moving to Singapore, don’t panic too much about high prices. Singapore’s not cheap, but it doesn’t have to be a giant money fire either.

　　相比之下，在伦敦、旧金山或悉尼买房就贵得多了。所以，如果你打算来新加坡旅行或移民新加坡，不要过分担心物价。虽然新加坡并不便宜，但它不一定是一个烧钱的地方。

（编辑：何莹莹）