研究：女孩和男孩閱讀習慣大不同

Girls have more firmly embraced digital literacy and formats such as Facebook, email and text message, while boys are more comfortable with traditional printed media such as comics, manuals and newspapers, according to a study published by the National Literacy Trust.
據英國國家識字基金會發布的一項研究表明，女孩更傾向于閱讀數字化的文字或版式，如Facebook、郵件，短信等，而男孩則認為閱讀傳統紙質媒介，如漫畫，手冊和報紙等更令人愜意。

The snapshot – based on responses from 32,000 pupils at more than 130 schools in the UK – found that girls continue to outpace boys in their enthusiasm for reading outside school at all age levels, with black girls in particular showing a prodigious appetite for literature.
這項面向英國130多所學校的3.2萬小學生的調查結果發現，各個年齡階段女孩都比同齡男孩更熱衷于課外閱讀，尤其黑人女孩顯露出了對文學的驚人嗜好。

Girls studying for GCSEs, for example, were more likely to read emails and social network sites than boys of the same age – and were also more likely to read fiction, suggesting that the growth of digital media has not diminished the popularity of literature.
例如，中學女孩比同齡男孩更喜歡查閱郵件，訪問社交網站——也更喜歡讀小說。這表明，數字媒體的廣泛應用并沒有削弱文學的流行性。

Boys studying for GCSEs were more likely than girls to read print products such as comics, with 38% saying they read newspapers at least once a month compared with 30% of girls of the same age.
相反，中學男孩則比女孩更偏愛紙質讀物，如漫畫，38%的受調查男孩稱每月至少閱讀一次報紙，而同齡女孩只有30%每月閱讀報紙。

Overall, boys reported lower levels of enjoyment from reading than their female peers, according to the figures compiled by the trust. Boys also tended to read less often and think less positively about reading than girls did.
據該基金會調查編寫的數據顯示，從總體上看，接受調查的男孩不及同齡女孩那般喜歡閱讀。男孩較少讀書，且不十分重視閱讀，而女孩則恰恰相反。

White boys appeared to be the least enthusiastic readers, with nearly one in six saying they had not read a book of any type in the previous month, while only one out of 20 black girls were in the same position.
白人男孩對閱讀最不積極，近1/6的接受調查者稱在上個月未讀過一本書，而黑人女孩中同樣情況的僅為1/20。

In contrast, 16% of black girls said they had read at least 10 books or more during the previous month, the highest reported figure among all ethnic groups of the children who responded.
與此同時，16%黑人女孩稱，在此前一個月里讀了至少10本書。這也是接受調查的所有群體中閱讀數量最多的。

The trust said parents needed to be told how important their engagement is for a child’s development, after nearly one pupil in four agreed with the statement: “My parents don’t care if I spend any time reading.”
有近1/4學生坦言：“父母對我的課外閱讀漠不關心。”因此，該基金會表示，家長必須意識到參與孩子閱讀過程對孩子發展具有的重要意義。

Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said: “More must be done to help parents realise what a difference reading with their children from a young age can make to their future.”
英國國家識字基金會理事喬納森·道格拉斯（Jonathan Douglas）說道：“必須采取更多的辦法幫助家長意識到，在孩子年幼時與孩子一起閱讀會對孩子未來影響重大。要做到這一點，我們還必須付出更多努力。”

Cressida Cowell, the author of How to Train Your Dragon and a national literacy ambassador, said: “Reading a book with a child, even an older child, is one of the most important things a parent can do to develop their child’s literacy.
《馴龍高手》（How to Train Your Dragon）的作者及英國國家文學大使克雷茜達·考埃爾（Cressida Cowell）說道：“與孩子一起讀書，即便是大孩子，能提升孩子的文學修養，這是父母能為孩子們成長做的一件重要的事。”

“I like to read a variety of books with my children and I think reading regularly is the key to writing well and broadening communication skills.”
“我喜歡和孩子們一起讀各類書，我覺得經常性地閱讀是提高寫作水平，擴展交流話題的關鍵所在。”

The study found that more girls than boys said they enjoyed reading “very much” by 30% to 19%, with 62% of girls enjoying reading either very much or quite a lot compared with 47% of boys, among ages ranging from eight to 18.
這項調查還發現，在八歲至十八歲年齡層的孩子中，30%女生表示"十分熱愛"閱讀，而男生為19%。此外，62%女生表示"熱愛"閱讀，男生為47%。

Nearly twice as many boys as girls said they do not enjoy reading at all, by 13% to 7%.
相反，表示絲毫不喜愛閱讀的男生比例幾乎為女生的兩倍，分別為13%和7%。

More girls than boys said they read for fun outside of class every day, while more than a fifth of boys rarely or never read for fun outside of a classroom.
相比男孩，女孩更喜歡每天閱讀課外讀物，而超1/5的男孩在課外很少或從不閱讀。

“Too many boys still seem disinterested in reading, and far, far too many children simply never become readers at all. So we writers and illustrators and storytellers, and parents and teachers, and publishers and booksellers, must continue to play our part,” said Michael Morpurgo, whose novel War Horse was one of the most popular books cited.
作家邁克爾·莫珀戈（Michael Morpurgo）說道：“太多男孩子似乎仍對閱讀不感興趣，還有非常非常多兒童仍稱不上讀者。因此，我們作家、插圖畫家、故事作者還有家長、老師、出版商和銷售商都必須繼續發揮作用”。其所著的《戰馬》（War Horse）曾為最受歡迎的圖書之一。

One finding from the study was that young people who received free school meals said they were more likely to read poetry outside of class than those who did not qualify for free lunches.
這項研究還有一個發現，即享受學校免費午餐的年輕人比起無資格享受免費午餐的年輕人更喜歡課外閱讀詩歌。

Vocabulary

format 版式
prodigious 驚人的
GCSE （英國）普通中等教育證書（General Certificate of Secondary Education）

（譯者：FNU郭鳳玲 編輯：王旭泉 彭娜）