好英语网步行者比驾车者更聪明？
DO YOU PREFER WALKING OR DRIVING? Your answer may suggest something about your education level, according to a new study.
您喜欢步行还是驱车出行呢？一项最新研究表明，您对这个问题的回答也许会反映您的教育水平。
A report published last month says metropolitan areas in the United States that were found to be more pedestrian-friendly also often had higher levels of GDP — and their citizens were better educated.
上个月发布的一份报告显示，在方便步行的美国大都会地区，国内生产总值和市民教育水平也普遍较高。
The study was conducted by Smart Growth America, an urban advocacy group based in the District of Columbia. It looked at the 30 biggest metro zones in the US, and ranked them by how much office, retail, and residential area was conducive to walking.
这项研究由哥伦比亚特区一家美国城市倡导组织——美国精明增长联盟（Smart Growth America）负责实施。它针对 30 个美国大都市区，按办公区、零售区和住宅区中适合步行区域的多少进行排序。
发布这项研究的新闻稿指出，“城市无计划扩张的后果显而易见，在 60 年间，全美 30 个大都市区中，适合步行地区的市场份额也许第一次超出了适于驱车出行的郊区。”还有什么呢？一个地方的步行方便程度与该地区的劳动力受教育水平有着“显著的正相关关系”。
The question is, why? Do brainier people just like to walk and not drive? It’s a complicated answer.
问题是，这样的原因何在呢？聪明人是否就是偏爱步行而不是驱车出行呢？这个问题回答起来比较复杂。
The more walkable a place, the smarter its population
适于步行的地方，人口聪明程度更高
Christopher Leinberger, professor at the George Washington University School of Business and one of the study’s authors, says that walkable urban places "have a much higher propensity to have highly educated people — about one third higher than drivable metro areas, like Orlando, Tampa, and Phoenix."
该研究报告的作者之一、乔治华盛顿大学商学院教授克里斯托弗·莱因贝格尔（Christopher Leinberger）表示，适于步行的城市地区“受教育程度高的人要比奥兰多、坦帕、凤凰城等适于驾驶出行地区的人多出约三分之一。”
But he says what we don’t know is whether walkable places attract educated people, or whether educated people move to certain places that then become more walkable.
但他还表示，我们并不清楚，是适于步行的地区吸引了受教育程度高的人，还是由于受教育程度高的人搬到某些特定地区，才让这些地区变得适于步行。
This chicken-and-egg quandary aside, what we do know that is highly educated people tend to veer toward pedestrian-friendly places.
抛开这个先有鸡还是先有蛋的难题，据我们所知，受教育程度高的人倾向于搬到方便步行的地区。
For example, the top three cities in the study with the highest percentages of office, retail, and residential spots in walkable areas — New York, Washington, and Boston — had a lot of citizens age 25 and up who hold a least a bachelor’s degree. Washington had the most of those citizens in the entire study (51%), and Boston had third most (42%).
例如，研究中，在方便步行的地区中，办公区、零售区和住宅区最为集中的三大城市——纽约、华盛顿和波士顿，有大量 25 岁及 25 岁以上市民至少拥有学士学位。整个研究中，上述高学历市民华盛顿占比最多（51%），波士顿则居于第三（42%）。
That’s not all: Education levels aren’t just higher in walkable cities. GDP is, too. The gap between the highest and lowest urban metros by GDP in the study is a chasm of 49%, which Leinberger calls a “first and second world gap. This is serious stuff.”
这还不是全部：适合步行的城市不仅市民受教育程度高，而且国内生产总值也高。研究中，城市国内生产总值最高和最低的城市相差 49%，莱因贝格尔称之为“第一世界与第二世界的差距，这并非儿戏。”
Of course, correlation doesn’t equal causation. There’s not enough data to definitively say why these urban areas, which easily allow car-free errands and whose grocery stores are just a strollable jaunt away for many citizens, are filled with educated people.
当然，这种相关性并不代表因果关系。目前还没有充分数据能确切说明，这些城市地区为什么会集中受教育程度高的人。在这些城市，步行办事很方便，杂货店举步可及。
But it’s definitely a starting point for conversation: Many socioeconomic and generational trends the world over could help explain why university graduates gravitate toward crowded, subway-lined metropolises these days. In fact, such an intellectual influx has started to change the entire faces of some urban areas.
但这无疑是研究的一个出发点。许多社会经济和时代发展趋势都有助于说明如今大学毕业生往往集中在人口密集、地铁纵横交错的大城市的原因。实际上，知识分子的流入已开始改变某些城市地区的整体面貌。
Cities are ditching cars to cater to the educated
城市为迎合受教育程度高的人口而甩开汽车
Big cities that topped the study’s list in GDP and education level have long been absent of the hallmarks of car-centric suburbia, like freeways and strip malls.
研究中，国内生产总值和国民教育水平领先的大城市一直缺少汽车集中的郊区的特点，如高速公路和公路沿线的商业区。
But Leinberger points to two exceptions that have high GDP, but low walkability scores. They’re both in the state of Texas: Houston and Dallas. The pair, which are America’s fourth and ninth biggest cities by population, respectively, both have aims to lure those car-eschewing, money-making, multiple degree-holders to their cities.
但莱因贝格尔也指出，研究中有两个城市例外：其国内生产总值虽然高，但适合步行程度的评分却不高。它们都在德克萨斯州，分别是休斯敦的和达拉斯。这两个城市分别是美国人口第四大和第九大城市，二者都致力于吸引那些远离汽车、赚钱能力强、拥有多学位的人。
Back in the 1980s oil boom, Dallas’s car-dependent infrastructure (think car parks and strip malls) grew at a rate that was 2.5 times faster than the growth of walkable infrastructure (say, light rail or walking paths downtown).
回到石油热潮高涨的 1980 年代，在达拉斯，依赖汽车的基础设施（想想当时的汽车公园和公路沿线的商业区）的发展速度超出适合步行的基础设施（如轻轨和市中心的步道）的2.5 倍。
Today, however? Those numbers are reversed, says Leinberger: Walkable urban areas in Dallas are the ones seeing 2.5 times faster growth. It’s the same kind of investments places like New York, Boston, and San Francisco have made for years — and they’re three of the cities that placed in the top 5 of the walkability study by GDP and education level.
但今天的情况又是怎样的呢？莱因贝格尔表示，上述数字已被反转：达拉斯适合步行的市区的发展速度要高出 2.5 倍。像纽约、波士顿和旧金山这样的地方，多年来，投资趋势的变化也是如此，在针对适合步行城市的本研究中，这三个城市的国内生产总值和国民教育水平位居前五位。
Meanwhile, Americans and non-Americans alike are moving to Texas in droves: Its economic growth was 5.2% annually in 2014, and if Texas were its own country, it would have the twelfth highest GDP in the world, between Canada and Australia.
与此同时，美国人和非美国人都喜欢成群结队地搬到德克萨斯州：德克萨斯州 2014 年的经济增长为 5.2%，如果德克萨斯州本身是个独立的国家，则其国内生产总值将位居全球第 12 位，处于在加拿大和澳大利亚之间。
The mass arrival of educated talent is bringing in money for the economy — and a demand for car-alternative technology, too. The state is currently trying to build a bullet train based on Japan’s famous shinkansen. Which cities is it set to connect? The state’s two GDP hubs, of course: Dallas and Houston.
正是大量受教育程度高的人口才带来了促进经济发展的资金以及取代汽车的技术需求。目前，德克萨斯州正致力于根据日本著名的新干线建造高速列车。高速列车要连接哪些城市呢？当然是德州国内生产总值两大核心——达拉斯和休斯顿。
Increased urbanisation isn’t the only reason car-eschewing cities see smarter citizens. Young people play a role, too.
城市化水平高并非远离汽车的城市市民更聪明的惟一原因。年轻人也发挥了重要作用。
‘Millennial magnets’ draw smart young people
‘千禧年磁铁’吸引聪明的年轻人
Millennials — those born between around 1981 and 1996 — are the most educated generation in history. Nearly half of them hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. They’re also all moving to cities, unlike their parents. These spikes in the workforce translate into metros with higher GDP and higher overall education levels.
千禧世代（出生于 1981-1996 年的一代）是历史上受教育程度最高的一代。他们中近一半都拥有学士学位或更高的学历。与父辈不同，他们都在向大城市迁移。这个趋势突出反映在劳动力人口的变化中，它带来大城市国内生产总值和国民整体教育水平的提高。
“This is being driven more than anything else by millennials,” Leinberger says.
莱因贝格尔表示，“千禧世代对此的推动比任何因素都大。”
Nowadays, twenty- and thirtysomethings are delaying marriage, children, and home-ownership, even as they’re becoming established in their careers. So a big house in the suburbs with front and back lawns — and a driveway with two cars — just aren’t as important. So they’re taking their university degrees and headed to the cities, and all the subways and walkable areas that come with them.
如今，二三十岁的年轻人结婚、生子、买房子都在推迟，即使他们事业有成也不例外。郊区中带前后草坪、车道上停两辆车的大房子也是如此，它们对这些年轻人已不再重要。这些年轻人取得大学学位，纷纷涌入大城市，那里有地铁和适合步行的地区。
What happens when millennials finally do start a family? “One of the things we are seeing evidence of is that those millennials that are finally settling down are the ones moving to urbanising suburbs,” Leinberger says. “They want the better schools in a walkable urban place.”
千禧世代最终结婚成家后情况又怎样呢？莱因贝格尔说，“我们注意到，有证据表明，千禧世代中最终安顿下来的人正在向城市化的郊区迁移，他们希望在适合步行的地方也会有好的学校。”
He points to Arlington, Virginia, as an example. Just five miles outside Washington, DC, it’s a suburb that sports sidewalks on 90% of its streets, miles of bike paths, and easy access to Metrorail, Washington’s rapid-transit system. (Reminder: Washington placed first in the study for education level, and second for overall walkability.)
他以弗吉尼亚州的阿灵顿为例。阿灵顿距离华盛顿特区仅五英里，在其郊区，90% 的街道上都有运动人行道，还有众多自行车道，能轻易接入华盛顿特区的地铁和快速公交系统。（提示：在研究中，华盛顿特区为受教育程度最高的城市，整体适合步行程度则居于第二。）
Between cities like Dallas and Houston (whose robust economies are attracting top talent and who are trying to reimagine themselves as pedestrian hotspots) and suburbs like Arlington, well-educated, young professionals seem to make any urban centre in the US more walkable.
在达拉斯和休斯顿这样的城市（其繁荣的经济吸引着顶级人才，同时也积极致力于成为步行热点城市）与阿灵顿这样的郊区，受过良好教育的年轻专业人员似乎要将美国的城市中心变得更便于步行。
Looking ahead
展望未来
Again, there isn’t enough data to pinpoint an exact reason that explains the correlation between walkability and high education levels. But there are other truths we can look at. Large cities are adding walkable infrastructure to lure educated money-makers. Young adults with multiple degrees are living in cities that provide public transit and walkable spaces — and those same young adults are changing places that don’t.
目前，仍没有充分数据能确切说明适于步行与市民教育程度之间的关系，但我们可以着眼于其他事实。大城市正在加强基础设施建设，吸引受教育程度高的、善于赚钱的人。拥有多个学位的年轻人生活在有公交系统和适合步行空间的城市中，而生活空间不具备这些条件的年轻人则正谋求迁移。
Do people who walk more tend to be brighter, harder working, better educated? It's tough to say. One thing is for sure, though: If cities want to be filled with smart people ready to boost the GDP, there better be enough sidewalks to go ‘round.
步行多的人更聪明、工作更勤奋、教育程度更高，情况果真如此吗？很难这样说。但有一点是确信无疑的：要想多多吸引聪明人来、促进国内生产总值提高，城市就要修建充足的步道便于人们随意出行。
