Where we choose to live can have a huge impact on our juggle. Living in an unfriendly neighborhood, or one where residents move often, can make it harder to find child-care help or other support. On the other hand, settling in a peaceful rural hamlet may seem like a great way to calibrate your juggle - until you realize you can't make a living relying on the slow dial-up Internet accessavailable there.

A recent survey tackled the question of what bonds us to the places we live, and its findings suggest the quality of our juggle is a more influentialfactor than economists might think. Given a choice, most people don't care as much about the local economy as they do about the social offerings, physical beauty and openness of a locale, says a recently released survey of about 14,000 people in 26 communities by Gallup and the Knight Foundation.

Those intangibles - how warm, welcoming and fun a community seems to be - are apparently why people living in Miami tend to like it even more than they did last year. Residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul had an above-average regard for their town even 'B.F. - Before Favre' joined the Vikings, this article reports. Even in hard-pressed Detroit, citizens are liking life a little more than in recent years, perhaps because of better parks, green spaces and recreational opportunities, marked by investments in bike paths.

In my case, living in the Pacific Northwest is a tradeoff. My town of Portland offers wonderful outdoor-sports access, edgy culture and natural beauty. However, as one who has worked in journalism and publishing all my life, I find many of my career contacts are a continent away, in New York.

Juggle readers, you have commented in the past on regional differences in the juggle. Dressing everyone, including small kids, for frigid weather complicates the daily routine. And the quirky amenities some of you have cited in your comments - such as the feral pigs and ducks wandering in parts of Hawaii - can lighten one's mood and outlook.

Sue Shellenbarger

• neighborhood [´neibəhud] n.邻居；邻近；附近 (初中词汇)
• peaceful [´pi:sfəl] a.和平的；平静的 (初中词汇)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中词汇)
• survey [´sə:vei] vt.&n.俯瞰；审视；测量 (初中词汇)
• factor [´fæktə] n.因素；原动力；要素 (初中词汇)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中词汇)
• physical [´fizikəl] a.物质的；有形的 (初中词汇)
• detroit [də´trɔit] n.底特律 (初中词汇)
• culture [´kʌltʃə] n.修养；文化；饲养 (初中词汇)
• career [kə´riə] n.经历；生涯；职业 (初中词汇)
• continent [´kɔntinənt] n.大陆，陆地 (初中词汇)
• everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中词汇)
• hamlet [´hæmlit] n.村庄 (高中词汇)
• access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中词汇)
• influential [,influ´enʃəl] a.有力的，有影响的 (高中词汇)
• knight [nait] n.骑士；爵士 (高中词汇)
• community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中词汇)
• apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中词汇)
• pacific [pə´sifik] a.和平的；温和的 (高中词汇)
• northwest [,nɔ:θ´west] n.&ad.西北(部) (高中词汇)
• routine [ru:´ti:n] n.日常工作 a.日常的 (高中词汇)
• lighten [´laitn] v.减轻；点亮；启发 (高中词汇)
• impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (六级词汇)
• liking [´laikiŋ] n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 (六级词汇)
• journalism [´dʒə:nəlizəm] n.新闻业；新闻工作 (六级词汇)
• hawaii [hɑ:´waii:] n.夏威夷(州) (六级词汇)