蝶恋花谁道闲情抛弃久:中国vs美国：幸福生活哪里找？

在北京繁华的商业中心地带居住了18个月之后，我感觉，今天中国的“文房四宝”早已不再是笔墨纸砚了，对这个国家新生代的唯物主义来说，新的文房四宝似乎是车、房、电脑以及42寸的宽屏LCD大彩电。

Those "essentials"may help explain why the Chinese middle class believes its cost of living percentage is higher than in the US' largest cities.

这些“生活必需品”似乎能帮助我们理解，为什么中国的中产阶级认为，中国的生活成本占比已经超过了那些美国的大型城市。

That's true if you concentrate only on housing, electronics and automobiles.

这种观点的确是对的，如果你只考虑房子、电器以及车子的话。

For almost everything else, living in China is so much cheaper than in the US that the Middle Kingdom may become America's next big overseas retirement community.

然而，除了这些之外，对于其它所有的东西来说，在中国的生活成本都要比在美国的生活成本低得多得多，因此，这个“中央帝国”很有可能会成为美国第二大的海外养老国。

Let's start with disposable income, your paycheck after taxes; in other words, the money you actually have in your pocket to buy things. 

首先，让我们看看可支配收入，也就是你的税后收入，换句话说，就是你荷包里面实际能有的可以用来消费的钱。

The average disposable monthly income in New York right now is $3,596 compared to $591 in Beijing, a difference of more than 508 percent. At first glance, it may seem that New York expats in Beijing are living like maharajahs. Consumer prices in New York, including rent, are 136 percent higher than in Beijing. 

现如今，在纽约，人均的可支配月收入是3596美金，而在北京，则是591美金，两者之间相差了508%还要多。这样看来，纽约人如果来到北京，应该能过上王公贵族般的生活。要知道，纽约的物价水平，包括房租算下来的话，要比北京高出136%。

Rent is 286 percent higher. Restaurant menus are 209 percent higher. Groceries cost 78 percent more, except for items like milk and cheese, which most Chinese don't consume anyway.

细细算一算，纽约的房租要比北京贵286%，上馆子要贵209%，如果不算中国人一般不怎么买的那些东西，比如牛奶和奶酪的话，那么日用品也要贵78%。

My Chinese friends argue that if the median salaries are $60,000 in New York and $7,500 in Beijing, prices in China should reflect the fact that the Beijing paycheck is only 12.5 percent of the New York salary. Percentage-wise, if a three-course meal for two people in a mid-range New York restaurant now costs $73.44, it should cost $9.18 in Beijing. In reality, the same meal in Beijing costs $18.99, more than double what it should be.

我的中国朋友们不同意我的这个算法，他们认为，如果按纽约的人均收入是6万美金，而北京的人均收入是7500美金来看，北京的收入水平是纽约的12.5%，那么中国的物价水平也应该处于这一水平。按百分比来看，如果说在纽约，两个人在一个普通餐馆里吃三个菜要花掉73.44美金的话，那么在北京，就应该只需要9.18美金。然而实际上，在北京吃这样的一餐，会花掉你18.99美金，是合理价格的两倍多。

Still, New York prices are putting such a squeeze on the middle-class that many people are looking for greener pastures in foreign lands. The price per square meter to buy a decent apartment anywhere near the center of New York is now more than $10,000 per square meter, compared to about $4000 inside Beijing's third ring road.

尽管如此，可事实是，纽约的物价水平还是让中产阶级们吃不消，以致很多人都想在国外另谋出路。如果你想要在纽约市中心附近购置一套像样的公寓的话，每平米的价钱已经超过了1万美金，而北京三环以内的价格，大约只是4千美金。

The average one-bedroom apartment in New York rents for $2,402 compared to $539 in Beijing, a staggering difference of 345 percent.

另外，如果你想要租房的话，在纽约，一套一居室的公寓每个月会花掉你2402美金，而在北京，你只需要539美金，两者之间的差距达到了令人乍舌的345%。

Transportation here is a killer. The same $3 dollar taxi ride in Beijing costs me $24 in New York, a 560 percent higher fare. Mass transit is no longer for the masses. You pay $2.50 to ride the city's worn-out, filthy subway system, an increase of 654 percent over a 30-cent ride on Beijing's sleek, modern metro.

纽约的交通消费也让人叫苦不迭。同样的距离，在北京打的要花3美金的话，那么在纽约，就要花24美金，高出了560%。纽约公共交通也已经不再是那么“公共”了，纽约又脏又破的地铁系统要花掉你2.5美金，而北京又时尚又现代的地铁却只需要30美分，纽约高出了654%。

In the suburbs, outrageous property taxes, auto insurance rates and insurmountable medical costs are driving retirees overseas by the plane load.

另外，在纽约市郊，可耻的财产税、高昂的车险以及让人难以承受的医疗费用也使得大批的退休老人逃往国外。

Suburban commuters are furious that the bridge and tunnel toll in New York jumped last week to $14 per trip. What's worse, the city admitted the extra money is not being used for road repairs but for urban real estate development. And when you add road tolls and gasoline costs to the ride, it is now costing commuters $360 a month just to get to work.

上周，纽约的桥梁和隧道的单程通行费猛涨到了14美金，这使得住在郊区的通勤族们怒气冲天。更扯的是，纽约市政府承认，多收的这一部分钱并没有用于道路的修葺，而是用在了市区的房地产发展上。现在，如果你把通行费和油费算在一起的话，单单是为了上班，通勤族们每个月就需要花掉360美金。

I think that any cost-of-living comparisons should include what I call the good life. To a wealthy Beijinger, The good life may mean buying a new Ferrari.

我认为，任何生活成本的比较，都应该和我所谓的幸福生活的比较挂钩。而对于一个有钱的北京人来说，幸福生活也许会是购置一台崭新的法拉利。

To a New York single mother, it may mean getting off welfare. To a migrant worker in Beijing, it may mean finding a job to support a family back home in Anhui Province.

对于一个纽约的单身妈妈来说，幸福生活也许是不用再依靠福利过活，而对于一个北漂族来说，也许仅仅只是能找到一份工作，来支撑远在安徽家乡的家人的生活。

The good life in Beijing means that I can buy the same delicious red peppers at a farmer's market in Wangjing at a tiny fraction of the price I pay for the plastic shrink-wrapped variety at a high-end supermarket across the street.

北京的幸福生活，意味着我能够在望京的农贸市场买到价廉物美的辣椒，而不需要去到街对面的“高端”超市花上好几倍的价钱购买那些塑料薄膜包装的同样质量的辣椒。

And my shopping cart will be fuller than at any US grocery checkout counter. Do Beijingers have any idea what it feels like to pay $2.49 for a single pepper in New York? Or $12 for a pack of cigarettes that cost 60 cents in Beijing?

而且，在这些地方，和在任何纽约的便利店购物比起来，我的购物车将会要满的多。北京人，你们知道纽约人付2.49美金才能买一根辣椒是什么感受吗？你们知道他们要花12美金才能买一包在北京只卖60美分的烟又是什么感受吗？

The good life goes beyond cost-of-living statistics. It's a happiness quotient that might measure the cost of contentment for the bottom billion of Chinese living on less than 1,000 yuan per month. Poverty and joblessness are the twin scourges of any society. But in China, I found, you don't need much to be happy.  

幸福生活绝不在于生活成本的简单统计，而是在于普通人的幸福指数，在于那些每个月靠不到1000块钱人民币过活的底层的十亿中国人达到满足所需的成本。对于任何的一个社会来说，贫穷和失业都是两大社会问题。但在中国，我发现，其实，想要幸福，你并不需要太多。

The author is an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent.

本文作者曾获艾美电视新闻奖。