Vocabulary:?education: 詞匯：教育

Around the world, girls do better than boys at school. These are the findings of a recent study that looked at the test results of 1.5 million 15-year-olds in 74 regions across the globe.

在世界各地，女孩在學校的表現(xiàn)都比男孩好。這些是最近一項研究的結(jié)果，該研究調(diào)查了全球74個地區(qū)150萬名15歲青少年的測試結(jié)果。

The level of?gender equality?in those regions made no difference to the results. Other?factors, such as the?income level?of the region also had little impact on the findings. In only three regions - Colombia, Costa Rica and the Indian state Himachal Pradesh - was the?trend reversed?with boys doing better.

這些地區(qū)的性別平等程度對結(jié)果沒有影響。其他因素，如該地區(qū)的收入水平，對調(diào)查結(jié)果的影響也很小。只有在三個地區(qū)——哥倫比亞、哥斯達黎加和印度喜馬偕爾邦——這一趨勢發(fā)生逆轉(zhuǎn)，男孩表現(xiàn)更好。

So what are the causes of girls' stronger performance? In the UK, girls outperform boys in exams that are taken at the age of 15 or 16, called GCSEs. According to education expert Ian Toone, this is down to the way girls and boys are brought up. "Boys are encouraged to be more active from an early age, whereas the restless movements of baby girls are?pacified... Hence, girls develop the skill of sitting still for longer periods of time, which is useful for?academic pursuits?like studying for GCSEs."

那么，是什么原因?qū)е铝伺⒏鼜姷谋憩F(xiàn)呢?在英國，女孩在15歲或16歲參加的普通中等教育證書考試中表現(xiàn)優(yōu)于男孩。根據(jù)教育專家伊恩·圖恩的說法，這與男孩和女孩的成長方式有關(guān)。“男孩從小就被鼓勵多動，而女嬰的躁動則被安撫……因此，女孩們培養(yǎng)了長時間靜坐的技能，這對學習普通中等教育證書(gcse)等學術(shù)追求很有用。”

He goes on to say that boys often?cluster?together in larger groups than girls. Because of this they are more likely to be?influenced?by?peer pressure?and develop a?gang mentality. He says that GCSEs require a lot of?solo?work and are not viewed as 'cool' in a?laddish?culture.

他接著說，男孩經(jīng)常比女孩聚集在一起。正因為如此，他們更容易受到同伴壓力的影響，形成一種幫派心理。他說，普通中等教育證書需要大量的個人作業(yè)，在年輕人的文化中并不被視為“酷”。

This is backed up by research in the UK that says girls are out-performing boys at the age of five. So what is the answer? Should girls and boys be educated separately? Or do exams and?school curricula?need to be changed to better?reflect?boys' skills? These are the questions facing educators in many countries.

英國的一項研究支持了這一觀點，該研究稱，女孩在5歲時的表現(xiàn)優(yōu)于男孩。那么答案是什么呢?女孩和男孩應該分開接受教育嗎?或者考試和學校課程是否需要改變以更好地反映男孩的技能?這些都是許多國家的教育工作者面臨的問題。

詞匯表

gender equality 男女平等

factor 因素

income level 收入水平

to reverse a trend 逆轉(zhuǎn)一種趨勢

to pacify 使安靜、平定

academic pursuit 學術(shù)追求

to cluster （人）聚集

to influence 影響

peer pressure 同齡人壓力

gang mentality 幫派心態(tài)

solo 單獨的，獨自地

cool 酷

laddish 幼稚的，孩子氣的

school curricula 學校課程

to reflect 反映

測驗與練習

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. How many young people were included in the study?
2. What are two things that made little or no difference to the results?
3. According to Ian Toone, what skill do young girls develop that boys do not?
4. What does he say can influence boys?
5. What could be changed to include the skills boys have??

2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. Don’t join the university football team unless you like drinking beer and other _________ behaviour.

peer pressure?????????????? cool???????????????????????? laddish ???? ????????? ????????? academic

2. She’s been learning to fly, and today she had her first _________ flight.

cool ?? ??????????????????????? pacified???????????????????? laddish ???? ????????? ????????? solo???

3. The school is adding more science classes to its _________.

gang mentality ????????????? gender equality????????? ?????????????? factor? ???????? curriculum

4. According to this report, the _________ of a country doesn't affect how happy the people are.

income level???????????? academic pursuit???????????????? influence??????? ????????? gang mentality

5. My paintings _________ the world as I see it.

reverse the trend of ???? ????? cluster ????????? ??????????????????? reflect ??????????????????? pacify

答案

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. How many young people were included in the study?
1.5 million.?

2. What are two things that made little or no difference to the results?
Gender equality and income level.?

3. According to Ian Toone, what skill do young girls develop that boys do not?
Sitting still for longer periods of time.?

4. What does he say can influence boys?
Peer pressure.?

5. What could be changed to include the skills boys have?
Exams and school curricula.

2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. Don’t join the university football team unless you like drinking beer and other?laddish?behaviour.

2. She’s been learning to fly, and today she had her first?solo?flight.

3. The school is adding more science classes to its?curriculum.

4. According to this report, the?income level?of a country doesn't affect how happy the people are.

5. My paintings?reflect?the world as I see it.

文章來源BBC，侵權(quán)刪，本文僅用于英語學習。