上下班同行有利於婚姻美滿？

Shared dreams and ambitions can help make a successful relationship. But it seems the rather less romantic link of a shared commute can also help.
共同的夢想和抱負可以幫助戀愛成功。但是似乎上下班同行也有一樣的效果，儘管沒那麼的浪漫。

Married couples are happier if they travel to work in the same direction, says a study. Experts believe it makes couples feel they share wider goals in life.
一項研究顯示夫妻如果通勤的方向相同，會更幸福。專家認爲這讓夫妻感到兩人共同擁有的更爲遠大的人生目標。

They say the findings suggest newlyweds should consider choosing a home that requires them both to commute in one direction, rather than one located at the midway point between their two work places.
他們表示研究發現新婚夫婦應該選擇住在能夠讓兩人通勤方向相同的地方，而不是在兩人工作單位連線的中間。

'Couples’ marital satisfaction can depend on whether they commute to work in the same or different directions,' said lead researcher Irene Huang, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
香港中文大學首席研究員黃艾琳（Irene Huang）表示：夫妻的婚姻滿意度會受到通勤方向是否相同的影響。

'Physically moving in a particular goal-relevant direction (e.g. commuting to work) might become associated with more general goal-related concepts.'
實際意義上向特定目標方向移動（比如:上下班）會與抽象意義上的目標概念相聯繫。

The researchers say physical actions are metaphorically linked to wider beliefs and this is exemplified by the use of phrases such as 'going our separate ways' to describe couples who separate due to differences in their goals.
研究員表示身體的動作通常比喻在我們慣知的短語裏。例如短語“各走各的路”就被用來形容夫妻兩人因爲目標的不同而分道揚鑣。

They quote the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, who said: 'Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but looking in the same direction together.'
他們同時引用小王子的作者、法國作家聖-德克旭貝里的話：愛情不是四目交接，而是兩人共同眺望同一個方向。

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, involved two surveys of married working adults, with participants asked how happy they were with their marriage and how satisfied they were with their spouse on a scale of one to nine.
這項發表在實驗社會心理學期刊上的研究涉及兩項調查，包括從一到九評級的已婚工作男女婚姻幸福度及對伴侶的滿意度。

The first survey involved 280 adults in the US, who were aged 33 on average and had been married for an average of eight years.
第一項調查參與者主要有280名平均年齡33歲，平均婚齡8年的美國成年男女。

Huang and her colleagues found a clear correlation between commuting in the same direction and higher marital satisfaction. They also found that this link existed independent of other factors such as number of years married, number of children, income level and differences in actual time spent commuting.
黃和她的同事發現通勤方向相同和高婚姻滿意度之間存在着明顯的相關關係。他們同時發現這樣的關係不受其他的因素如婚齡、育兒數、收入水平、通勤時間的影響。

Furthermore, the link did not depend on whether or not couples sometimes left home for work together, meaning it was not due to having the chance to talk together while commuting.
並且，這種關係與夫妻是否時常一起上下班沒有關係，也就是說高婚姻滿意度與上下班同行帶來的更多交談機會沒有關係。

The second survey involved 139 married adults in Hong Kong, who were 42 years old on average and had been married for an average of 13 years.
第二項調查主要涉及139名平均年齡42歲，平均婚齡達13年的香港成年男女。

It showed a similar correlation to the US results, which also held independent of other relevant factors.
調查結果出現了與美國組相似的相關性，並且這種關係是不受其他相關因素干擾的。

A further study involving 80 strangers arranged into pairs showed that they also rated each other more positively if they walked in the same direction to carry out a task. The experts say this proves the influence of moving on the same direction on 'interpersonal attraction' and means the results on marriage could not be simply down to couples who travel the same way to work being more likely to meet for drinks or dinner afterwards.
另一項更進一步的調查將80名互不相識的陌生人搭配成對，結果顯示如果他們在執行任務時，行走方向相同，對對方的評價來得更爲積極。專家表示這證實了同向性對人際吸引力的影響，說明通勤方向相同的夫妻婚姻滿意度更高不僅僅是因爲他們有更多可以見面吃飯的機會。

Huang said choosing a home that is midway between two work places might be a mistake because 'mere similarity in the direction of commuting to work increases marital satisfaction'.
黃說因爲通勤的同向性可以提升婚姻的滿意度，那麼將家安在兩人工作單位連線的中間將會是個錯誤。