对公交车司机的研究（上）

A new study has found that smiling at London bus drivers—an act rarely attempted in the capital except under experimental conditions—increases their happiness.

一项新的研究发现，对伦敦的公交车司机微笑——除了在实验条件下，这种在首都很少有人尝试的行为——会增加他们的幸福感。

The finding feels simultaneously obvious (of course it would) and faintly unexpected: London has been operating a control group in which passengers and drivers greet each other with surly indifference for decades; any affection feels anathema.

这一发现既显而易见(当然会如此)，又有点出人意料:几十年来，伦敦一直在实行一个控制组，在这个控制组中，乘客和司机互相打招呼时都态度粗暴、冷漠; 只表露令人厌恶的感情。

The authors of the research, which was conducted by the University of Sussex and others, hope it will lead to “more interaction and kindness on buses”.

这项研究是由苏塞克斯大学和其他机构进行的，其作者希望这可以引发“公共汽车上更多的互动和友善”。

On the Number 24 bus to Hampstead Heath, Londoners are sceptical.

在前往汉普斯特德希思的24路公共汽车上，伦敦人对此持怀疑态度。

Bus drivers, says Liz Hands, a passenger, are generally a “miserable” lot.

乘客利兹·汉兹说，公交车司机通常是一群“可怜的”人。

It might seem improbable that a report on London’s buses could change behaviour.

一份关于伦敦公交车的报告似乎不太可能改变人们的行为。

But it has happened before.

但这种情况以前也发生过。

For London’s buses have an underappreciated role in the history of medical science.

因为伦敦的公共汽车在医学科学史上的作用被低估了。

In the 1940s, a single study of London’s transport workers transformed epidemiology, medicine and the way we live now.

20世纪40年代，一项针对伦敦交通工人的研究改变了流行病学、医学和我们现在的生活方式。

Every time you go on a run, check your stepcount, or take the stairs instead of the lift, you are treading a path forged by the feet of the workers on London’s buses.

每当你跑步、查看步数、或走楼梯而不是乘电梯时，你都是在踏着伦敦公共汽车上的工人们用脚打造的道路。