London is known for many things. Among the least flattering(最不光彩的) is its reputation as a hotbed(温床，滋生地) for knife crime. Last year Mexico, a country at war with drug cartel(卡特尔，垄断集团)s, updated its travel guidance to warn about knife assaults in Britain’s capital. According to Donald Trump, Londoners live in fear of being “stabbed in the ass”.
伦敦以许多事物闻名。其中最不光彩的，莫过于其作为持刀犯罪温床的名声。去年，墨西哥——一个与贩毒集团交战的国家——更新了其旅行指南，警告游客注意英国首都的持刀袭击事件。据唐纳德·特朗普称，伦敦人生活在被“捅屁股”的恐惧之中。
This was never really true. For six of the past eight years, New Yorkers have been more likely to be stabbed to death than Londoners (and they have been at least ten times as likely to be killed by other means).(过去八年中六年，纽约人被刺死概率高于伦敦人，且其他方式被杀概率至少高十倍。) That doesn’t mean the reputation was a complete fabrication(捏造，虚构). Knife crime rose dramatically in Britain from 2017, especially among teenagers. In the year to March 2018 more than 280 people were stabbed to death in England and Wales, up from the previous five-year average of just over 200 a year. London, the core of the crisis, accounted for(占（比例），解释) 108 of those homicide(杀人，凶杀)s (compared with 62 deadly stabbings in New York that year).
这从来都不符合事实。在过去八年中的六年里，纽约人被刺死的可能性高于伦敦人（而且他们被其他方式杀害的可能性至少是伦敦人的十倍）。这并不意味着这种名声完全是凭空捏造。从2017年起，英国的持刀犯罪急剧上升，尤其是在青少年中。在截至2018年3月的一年里，英格兰和威尔士有超过280人被刺死，高于此前五年平均每年略高于200人的水平。作为危机核心的伦敦，占其中108起凶杀案（相比之下，当年纽约有62起致命刺伤）。
Since then rates of violence have declined precipitously(急剧地，陡然地). Hospitalisations for “assault by sharp object” have fallen by a third(减少了三分之一) in London since their peak. Knife-related homicides have shrunk by a half. Last year teenage homicides in the capital fell to their joint(联合的，共同的) lowest level (similar to 2012) in almost 30 years. In 2025 you were twice as likely to be stabbed to death in New York as in London.
自那以来，暴力犯罪率急剧下降。伦敦因“尖锐物体袭击”而住院的人数自峰值以来下降了三分之一。与持刀相关的凶杀案减少了一半。去年，首都的青少年凶杀案降至近30年来的并列最低水平（与2012年相似）。2025年，你在纽约被刺死的可能性是伦敦的两倍。