夏天出生的孩子 Summer-born kids

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Rob...
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语。我是罗伯。
… and I’m Neil. Hello.
大家好，我是尼尔。
Well Neil I’ve got a question for you straight away.Were you a summer baby?Were you born in the summer?
尼尔，我现在就有一个问题问你。你是夏天宝宝吗？也就是说你是夏天出生的吗？
Um…Yes, I was actually. Late summer.
是的，我是夏末出生的。
OK. And did you go to university?
那你上大学了吗？
Yes…? Strange questions here, Rob.
上了。好奇怪的问题。
Not really.My questions do make sense because we’re talking about the impact when you were born has on how well you perform at school.
其实不奇怪。我的问题很有意义，因为今天我们要讨论的是出生的时间和你在学校的表现之间的关系。
OK. Are you calling me stupid here, Rob?
好吧，你是说我很笨么？
Nothing like that.Well maybe… let’s wait and see what the experts have to say. But before that, I’ve got another question for you.
不是啊。额，也许吧，我们待会看看专家们是怎么说的。但那之前，我有另一个问题问你。
OK then – let’s see if I’m clever enough to answer it!
好的，刚好测试一下我有多聪明，能不能答对。
OK. Well, based on birth records between 1973 and 1999, what is the most common birthday for a person in the United States? Is it:a) 1st Januaryb) 16th Septemberc) 30th March
根据1973~1999年的出生记录，美国出生率最高的一天是哪一天？a) 1月1日b) 9月16日c) 3月30日
I’m gonna guess 30th March.
我猜是3月30日。
OK. Well, we’ll hear the answer at the end of the programme.Another question now.According to research, are summer born babies more likely or less likely to go to university?
好的，节目的最后我们再公布答案。现在，回到另一个问题上。根据研究，夏天出生的孩子上大学的人数多还是少？
Well, we are going to hear from an expert. Lorraine Dearden, who is Professor of Economics and Social Statistics at University College London (UCL).She was interviewed by the BBC about summer-born babies.She talks about the research, how well do they do in tests. How do they perform?
我们听听专家的看法。Lorraine Dearden是英国伦敦大学学院经济和社会统计教授。她接受了BBC的访问，谈论夏天出生的孩子。她谈论其一项研究以及测试中他们表现如何。她们是如何表现的？
All the research has shown that summer born kids perform much worse in tests right through up until the age of eighteenand even … they’re less likely to attend higher education.
研究显示18岁以下夏天出生的孩子在调查中表现较差，而且他们接受最高教育的人数也少得多。
I mean, these are startling statistics 20% are less likely to go to university.
这些数据很令人吃惊，夏天出生的孩子中20%都没有上大学。
Absolutely.
确实如此。
That was Professor Lorraine Deardon with some really really surprising statistics – startling statistics, in fact.
Lorraine Deardon教授提到了一些非常非常令人惊讶，令人吃惊的数据。
Yes, she says summer born kids perform much worse in tests.
是的，她说夏天出生的孩子在测试中表现较差。
Yes, these summer born kids perform worse at school right through until the age of eighteen when they might be thinking about going to university.
夏天出生的孩子在学校表现较差，直到18岁他们要考虑上大学了。
Yes, university. That’s higher education.
是的，大学。那就是高等教育。
So the professor said, according to research, summer babies are less likely to go to university - 20% in fact.
所以教授说，根据调查，夏天出生的孩子中20%上不了大学。
Really? Well, don’t forget Rob, I told you I’m a summer baby.Well, I went to university.
真的吗？但你别忘了，我也是夏天出生的。我上大学了。
Yes, of course. These are just statistics – just figures. But if you are a parent of a child starting school these statistics are worrying.
当然了。这只是统计，只是数字而已。但是，如何你是孩子的父亲，孩子到了入学的年龄，这些数据很让人担忧。
Well they shouldn’t worry.There are lots of people who were born in the summer that have done very well at university, thank you. And some of them are now professors.
他们也不用担忧。有很多孩子出生在夏天，但是在大学中表现出色。有一些还成为了教授。
OK. Or BBC presenters… like you Neil.
是的，还有成为BBC主持人的，例如你，尼尔。
Yes, like me. But here is the problem. Let’s say you have a child.He’s a boy, born in August.He’s now 4 years old so he can start school this September.But in his class there are students whose birthday is coming very soon so they’re going to be 5– that’s almost a year older than your child.
是的，像我一样。但是有一个问题。假设你有一个孩子。是个男孩，出生在八月。他现在四岁，九月份应该入学了。但是在班上，其他孩子们马上要过生日，即将5岁了。他们就比你的孩子大一岁多。
So parents want their kids to do well at school – they are concerned- and now the government is trying to help – they’re trying to address those concerns.England’s schools minister Nick Gibbs says that the government wants to change the admissions rules for schools.
所以父母们希望孩子能在学校表现出色，他们很关心这个问题，政府也尝试着给予帮助，解决家长们的担忧。英格兰教育部长Nick Gibbs说政府想要改变入学政策。
The rule now in much of England is that children must start school in September after their fourth birthday.
如今大部分英格兰地区实行的政策是孩子们必须在九月份入学前已过完4岁生日。
The schools minister says these rules should be changed. "Parents know their children best," said Mr Gibb.
教育部长表示这些政策应当改变。“父母最了解他们的孩子”，Gibb说。
Parents don’t want to send their children to school before they are ready.
家长们不想孩子还没有准备好就送他们上学。
So here is the proposal – or suggested new rules.If a child is born in the summer, parents could delay the child’s start of school by up to a year.
如今有一些提议的新政策。如果孩子出生在夏天，可以推迟一年上学。
So the child will start school at 5 years old. Great, but does our expert Professor Lorraine Deardon think that’s a good idea. Is this the way to address the problem of the age difference?
所以孩子们将在5岁时入学。挺好的，但是Lorraine Deardon教授认为这是好主意吗？这是解决年龄差距问题的好方法吗？
Ah no, it’s not.I mean, basically, the reason why these children do worse in tests right throughout their lifeis simply that they are up to a year younger than their September born colleaguesand this does nothing to address this.
我觉得这不是好办法。我认为，之所以这些孩子在测试中表现较差，是因为他们比9月出生的同龄人小一岁，新政策对解决这问题没有任何帮助。
Professor Lorraine Deardon. She says that the new policy does nothing to address the problem of the age difference.
Lorraine Deardon教授，她说新政策对解决年龄差距问题没有丝毫帮助。
There are still going to be 4 year olds in the class. Perhaps there will be more 5 year olds now because parents can delay their child’s start at school.
班上还是有4岁入学的孩子。也许现在会有很多孩子5岁才上学，因为家长们推迟了他们的上学时间。
Yes, the new policy addresses the concerns of parents that their children are not ready for school at 4 years old….
是的，父母们担心孩子4岁时没有准备好上学，新政策解决了他们的担忧。
… but there will always be this age difference in a classroom and many of the younger children will do worse in tests.Professor Deardon says that the proposal to change the schools admission policy does nothing to address this.
但是课堂中仍然存在年龄差距，很多更小的孩子在测试中的表现还不会太好。Deardon教授说，推迟入学的政策无法解决这个问题。
OK, time now for the answer to the question I set you at the beginning of the programme. I asked: based on birth records between 1973 and 1999, what is the most common birthday for a person in the United States?Is it:a) 1st Januaryb) 16th Septemberc) 30th March
该回到节目开始前我问你的问题了。根据1973~1999年的出生记录，美国出生率最高的一天是哪一天？a) 1月1日b) 9月16日c) 3月30日
And I guessed the 30th March.
我猜是3月30日。
But you are wrong I’m afraid. The answer is actually the 16th September.Happy birthday to whoever was born then anyway.
很抱歉你答错了。正确答案是9月16号。对他们说生日快乐吧。
Yeah. OK, Rob. Can you tell us the words we learned today again please?
好吧，那我们再回忆一下今天学到的单词吧？
Of course.
好的。
We heard:
今天听到的单词有：
more likely / less likely
更可能/更不可能
perform
表现
higher education
高等教育
Startling
令人吃惊的
statistics
统计
admissions
录取
delay
推迟
policy
政策
concerns
担忧
address the problem
解决问题
Well, that’s the end of 6 Minute English.Please do join us again soon.
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。下次节目再会。
Bye.
再见。