Amid the millions of commuters crowding trains and clogging highways each workday is a rare creature: the contented commuter.
每个工作日，在挤在列车里、堵在公路上的亿万通勤者中，有一种少见的怪物：心满意足的通勤者。
How to create the perfect commute? Track down a few happy travelers, and they'll tell you it's not just about length. People can enjoy commutes as long as 45 minutes, studies show -- and men are less frustrated by long commutes than women. But a happy commute is predictable. It is productive -- often enlivened by mobile devices and satellite radio. And it offers clear rewards for the hassle. A person who commutes an hour each way has to make 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as a person who lives near the office, according to research co-authored by Alois Stutzer, an economics professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
怎样的通勤才是完美的？去问一些快乐的旅客，他们会对你说，这不只关系到时间的长短。研究表明，人们可以享受长达45分钟的通勤，而男性比女性更能忍耐长时间通勤。然而快乐的通勤是可预料的；是高效的──常因手机和卫星广播的帮助而变得活跃起来；而且会给通勤中的麻烦带来明确的补偿。据瑞士巴塞尔大学(University of Basel)经济学教授阿卢伊斯・施蒂策(Alois Stutzer)与人合作发表的研究，单向通勤一小时的人必须多挣40%的钱，才会像住在办公室附近的人一样满意。
Mike Venerable plans his 30- to 45-minute car commute from Mason, Ohio, to his job in Cincinnati to gain efficiency and control. If he doesn't have an early meeting at work, he avoids traffic by waiting to hit the road and starts his workday at Starbucks over a grande half-caf with cream. He heeds traffic reports and varies his route to avoid congestion -- taking back streets if necessary. Mr. Venerable, a managing director of CincyTech, a Cincinnati investment group, uses his hands-free phone to stream country music and 'make a ton of calls,' scheduling talks with West Coast clients for the drive home.
迈克・韦纳瑞博(Mike Venerable)从俄亥俄州的梅森(Mason)开车到辛辛纳提上班要花30至45分钟。为取得效率和掌控感，他对这段行程做了一番规划。如果早上不开会，他就暂时不上路以避开车流，并在星巴克(Starbucks)要一大杯低因咖啡加奶油，开始一天的工作。他留意交通广播，调整路线以免拥堵──如有必要就走小道。韦纳瑞博是辛辛纳提投资公司CincyTech的董事总经理。他用搭配蓝牙耳机的手机在线播放乡村音乐，并“打很多电话”，与西海岸地区客户的交谈都安排到开车回家的途中。
He sometimes keeps talking after he pulls into his driveway, even when his three children, ages 11 through 13, peer through the car window. 'The ultimate commuter -- a person who really likes the amenities of commuting -- is somebody like me, who will pull into the driveway and have a conversation going on for 20 minutes without getting out of the car,' Mr. Venerable says.
有时他把车开进回家的车道之后还在讲话，三个11岁到13岁的孩子就隔着车窗往外张望。韦纳瑞博说：“终极通勤者──一个真正喜欢通勤之便利性的人──就像我一样，会把车开进车道，然后不出车门让谈话继续进行20分钟。”
Some of his friends think his commute is long -- and it is by the standards of Cincinnati, where commutes average about 24 minutes. But Mr. Venerable, 51, purposely chose the calm suburb of Mason, which has made Money magazine's best-small-towns list, when he quit his job in northern Virginia several years ago. Congestion in Cincinnati is predictable. His drive takes half as long as the hour to 11/2 hours it took back in Virginia, where 'you can hit a traffic jam at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. or 8 p.m.,' he says.
有些朋友觉得他的上下班距离太远──这是按辛辛纳提平均24分钟的通勤时间为标准来说的。但现年51岁的韦纳瑞博在几年前辞去弗吉尼亚北部一份工作的时候，有意选择了曾经入选《Money》杂志最佳小镇排行的平静郊区小镇梅森。辛辛纳提的拥堵可以预见。相比在弗吉尼亚时的一到一个半小时，韦纳瑞博现在的开车时间只有一半。他说，在弗吉尼亚，上午11点、下午2点或晚上8点都有可能遇到堵车。
A growing number of Americans have very long commutes, new national data show. While the average commute has remained unchanged at 25.5 minutes in recent years, those traveling more than an hour each way rose to 11.1 million in 2012, up 300,000 from 2011, says Alan Pisarski, a Falls Church, Va., transportation consultant and author of a series of national commuting studies.
新的全国性数据显示，美国通勤时间非常长的人越来越多。虽然近几年平均通勤时间一直保持在25.5分钟不变，但据弗吉尼亚弗尔斯彻奇(Falls Church)交通咨询师、多份全国性通勤研究报告的作者艾伦・皮萨尔斯基(Alan Pisarski)说，2012年单向通勤时间超过一小时的人数已较2011年增加30万，达到1,110万人。
More women are making long commutes than in the past, and a growing percentage drive alone rather than car-pooling or taking mass transit, Mr. Pisarski says. Women tend to be unhappier about long commutes than men, even after controlling for any improvement in income, job satisfaction or housing quality -- perhaps because women tend to shoulder more housework at home, says a 2011 study in the Journal of Health Economics.
皮萨尔斯基说，经历长时间通勤的女性多于以往，并且单独开车而不是拼车或搭乘公共交通的比例也在上升。据《卫生经济学杂志》(Journal of Health Economics)2011年发表的一篇论文，即使排除收入、工作满意度或居住质量这些因素的影响，女性对长时间通勤的不满程度往往也高于男性──这可能是因为女性往往负担了更多的家务。
While a growing number of people bike to work, it is small. More than 75% of commuters travel alone by car, Census data show. Driving is usually faster than mass transit. But it can add stress. In big cities, car commuters waste 52 hours a year stuck in traffic, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas. Mr. Pisarski adds, 'A commuter who says, 'This trip should take 20 minutes and it's taking 30' can get very frustrated.' The desire for predictability drives many commuters to switch to mass transit, says a 2011 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
骑车上班的人在增多，但数量仍然很少。美国人口普查局(Census)数据显示，单独开车上下班的通勤者占75%以上。开车上下班通常比乘坐公共交通更快，但也有可能增加人的压力。据德州农工交通运输研究所(Texas A&M Transportation Institute)数据，在大城市开车通勤的人一年有52小时因为堵在车流里而白白浪费。皮萨尔斯基说，“说‘这一趟本该20分钟走完，结果走了30分钟’的通勤者可能会感到非常恼火”。宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)研究人员2011年发表的一篇论文说，很多通勤者希望通勤路途可以预见，所以改乘公共交通。
Holland Sullivan of Bronxville, N.Y., a close-in suburb of New York City, has what he considers the perfect commute. When he and his wife moved from the city last year, Mr. Griffin swapped a subway ride for a 27-minute train ride, followed by a 10- to 15-minute subway trip, to his job in the city as a managing director at Griffin Securities, an investment-banking firm. But he's happy with the trade-off, having gained 2,000 additional square feet of space in their home, two more bedrooms and a yard, he says.
纽约城近郊小镇布朗克斯维尔(Bronxville，纽约州境内)的霍兰德・沙利文(Holland Sullivan)认为自己的通勤属于完美。在投资银行Griffin Securities任董事总经理的沙利文原来上班只坐一段地铁就到了，去年和妻子一起搬离市区后，他得先坐27分钟的火车然后再坐10至15分钟的地铁才能到达位于城内的公司。但沙利文说，他对这种妥协感到满意，因为他们的住宅增加了2,000平方英尺（约合186平方米）的面积，多了两间卧室和一个后院。
Mr. Sullivan, 35, downloads several newspapers and magazines onto his smartphone each night to get all his reading done on the train. He gets exercise walking to the station -- 0.91 mile, according to his Nike app. He boards the first car, in order to be among the first in line for the subway when he gets off, then stakes out a position on the platform to get closer to a subway-car door. When he carries an umbrella, he makes sure it can hang on his briefcase, so he can keep one hand free for reading while strap-hanging.
现年35岁的沙利文每晚将多份报纸杂志下载到智能手机上，全部拿到火车上去读。步行去车站的路上，他得到了锻炼──Nike应用程度显示的距离为0.91英里（约合1,465米）。他上第一节车厢，以便下车时第一批进入地铁，然后在站台上找一个更加接近地铁车厢门的位置。在带伞的时候，他确保伞能够挂在公文包上，以便在抓紧扶手时还能腾出一只手用于阅读。
'Even when I'm standing in the subway jammed shoulder-to-shoulder, I'm getting something done,' he says.
他说：“哪怕是跟人肩并肩挤在地铁里的时候，我也是在做某件事情。”
Nicole Engelbert, 41, could save time most days by driving from Bronxville to her job in Manhattan as a research-team leader at Ovum, a technology-research company. But she opts for a one-hour commute by train and subway instead.
现年41岁的妮科尔・恩格尔贝特(Nicole Engelbert)是科技研究公司Ovum一支研究团队的带头人，家住布朗克斯维尔(Bronxville)，上班地点在曼哈顿。大多数时候，如果她开车上班的话都能节省时间，但她仍然选择火车加地铁的上班方式，时间为一个小时。
She walks to and from the station every day, taking her 2-year-old son to preschool in the morning and doing errands in the evening. She avoids chatting with other passengers, using the ride as 'an in-between space' to read or think. Sketching on a note pad during a recent ride, she came up with a new idea for analyzing technology markets. 'Driving could take half as much time, but I could be cursing at the driver in front of me and not getting a chance to read my book or relax,' she says.
她每天都是步行进出车站，早上顺路把两岁的儿子送到托儿所，晚上顺路买些东西。她避免跟其他乘客交谈，把这段路途当作一种用于阅读或思考的“过渡空间”。前不久在路上用记事本写写划划的时候，她就想出了一条分析科技市场的新方法。她说：“开车的时间或许只占一半，但我可能是在咒骂前面的司机，而没有机会阅读或放松。”
Predictability is worth a lot to Bobby Brancazio when he commutes -- $174 a month, to be exact. Mr. Brancazio became so frustrated by long lines and delays on his bus commute from Hoboken, N.J., to New York City that he switched a year ago to the ferry. The cost is $272 a month, compared with $98 for the bus, says Mr. Brancazio, 29, a civil engineer. But his new route takes 30 to 45 minutes, compared with 11/2 to 2 hours on the bus. He loves standing on the ferry's top deck, taking photos of the skyline. 'It's like an eight-minute vacation every day, a mini-cruise in the middle of the concrete jungle,' he says.
通勤的可预见性对于鲍比・布兰卡奇奥(Bobby Brancazio)来说十分重要──具体而言价值每月174美元（约合人民币1,067元）。他坐巴士从新泽西州的霍博肯(Hoboken)到纽约城上班的时候要排很长的队，而巴士又经常晚点，一气之下他在一年前改坐渡轮。这位29岁的土木工程师说，坐渡轮的成本是一个月272美元（约合人民币1,667元），坐巴士是一个月98美元（约合人民币600元），但新的路线只需耗时30到45分钟，而坐巴士要一个半到两个小时。他喜欢站在渡轮的顶层甲板上拍摄城市的天际线。他说：“这就像每天度假八分钟，像混凝土丛林中的一次小规模巡游。”
There are signs that more people are enjoying their commute. 'I'm amazed at how often people say the commute is pleasurable,' Mr. Pisarski says. Many regard it as 'a positive bridge' between work and home, he says. For others, cellphones and social media ease the frustrations of the past, such as feeling cut off or surprised by traffic jams.
从一些迹象来看，享受上下班路途的人越来越多。皮萨尔斯基说：“说上下班路途心情舒畅的人之多，让我感到惊奇。”他说，很多人将通勤路途视为工作与家之间的“积极桥梁”。对于另一些人来说，手机和社交媒体减轻了过去的焦躁，比如在堵车时的隔绝感或意外感。
A six-year study of 27,556 British rail passengers, published earlier this year, found 37% fewer commuters felt their travel time was wasted in 2010, compared with 2004. One reason, researchers hypothesized, was a doubling of passengers listening to music, radio or podcasts on mobile devices in the six-year period and an 83% rise in commuters browsing the Internet or checking email during the ride.
今年早些时候发表的一项针对英国27,556名轨道交通乘客、为期六年的调查发现，2010年感到上下班时间被浪费掉的通勤者相比2004年少了37%。研究人员猜测，原因之一是这六年期间在手机上听音乐、广播或播客的乘客数量翻了一倍，路上浏览网页、查看邮件的通勤者也增加了83%。
Janice Berlik, a 34-year-old ski-apparel buyer, drives 35 minutes from her home in Eagle, Colo., to her job in Vail. Traveling rugged terrain, she packs water, a blanket, boots, jumper cables and flares. But she looks forward to the journey, she says, because she can tune in to the Howard Stern show on Sirius satellite radio. Listening to interviews and music, she says, 'gets me through the morning drive.'
34岁的滑雪装备采购员贾尼丝・贝尔利克(Janice Berlik)从她位于科罗拉多州伊格尔(Eagle)的家中开车去韦尔(Eagle)上班要花35分钟时间。由于要穿越崎岖地带，她在车上放了水、毯子、靴子、跳接线和照明弹。但她说，这段旅程她很期待，因为她可以调到Sirius卫星广播听霍华德・斯特恩(Howard Stern)主持的节目。她说，听访谈和音乐“让我熬过了早上的驾驶旅程”。