新西兰英语 168 Commuting to Work

　　The Statistics¹ Department has just given us the figures for how people commute² to work. They gave percentages of people who drive, walk, cycle or take public transport to work. These figures come from the census³ in 2006. Every five years, we have a census when we fill in a lot of information about ourselves and our families. The Statistics Department then uses this information to tell us things like the number and ages of people living in different parts of the country.
The information about commuting⁴ to work is interesting because most people do not commute long distances in New Zealand. Even in our biggest city, Auckland which has more than a million people, the median distance that people travel to work is only 6km. More people now drive to work than 10 years ago. In Auckland, only 4% use public transport and in Christchurch, only 1% and those are mostly women. Wellington is unusual because 25% use public transport. The geography of Wellington is different from Auckland. Many people live north of the city near a rail line which is very convenient for them. There is only one motorway⁵ in Wellington from Lower Hutt into the city. Christchurch is flat so it is more attractive for cyclists, but only 6% cycle to work and most of those are men. 4% walk or jog to work.
In the ten years between 1996 and 2006, there has been a 21% increase in the number of workers in the cities but a 14% increase in population. More people now live on the edge of the cities in smaller towns.

1 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

2 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

3 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

4 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

5 motorway   

n.高速公路，快车道

参考例句：

• Our car had a breakdown on the motorway.我们的汽车在高速公路上抛锚了。
• A maniac driver sped 35 miles along the wrong side of a motorway at 110 mph.一个疯狂的司机以每小时110英里的速度在高速公路上逆行飙车35英里。