VOA慢速英语:'Sexting' Study Finds Low Rate Among Young

New research shows that "sexting" is not as common among young people as earlier findings suggested.
新研究表明，“性短信（黄色短信）”并没有如早期研究结果所称的在年轻人之中非常普遍。
注：“性短信”（sexting）这个词是由sex（性）和texting（发短信）两个词组合而成的，指通过手机发送色情文字信息或者个人艳照的行为。

Last week the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire released two studies. The researchers interviewed more than one thousand five hundred Internet users between the ages of ten and seventeen. Just two and a half percent of them said they had either sent or received naked pictures over their mobile phones or the Internet.
上周，在新罕布什尔大学的针对儿童犯罪研究中心发布了两项研究报告。研究人员采访了超过1500名介于10岁到17岁之间的互联网用户。当中只有2.5%的人称他们曾经通过手机或互联网发送或接受淫秽图片。

Earlier surveys had suggested that as many as twenty percent of teens were involved in such activities. But one problem is that some of those findings included young adults -- eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds.
此前有调查表明，多达20%的青少年参与此类活动。但有一个问题是，当中一些研究结果包含了18与19岁的年轻的成年人。

Dan Rauzi is senior director for technology programs for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He says another problem is confusion among teenagers about what exactly "sexting" means.
Dan Rauzi是美国男孩女孩俱乐部科技项目高级总监。他说，另一个问题是，青少年之间混淆了性短信的真正意义。

DAN RAUZI: "For example, the University of New Hampshire study -- what they found was that what some teens called sexting were really maybe pictures of themselves in a bathing suit."
DAN RAUZI：“例如，新罕布什尔大学的研究发现，一些青少年所谓的性短信其实可能是他们身着泳衣的照片。”

Mr. Rauzi says these and other suggestive images have sometimes been reported as sexting.
Rauzi先生说，这些与其它有暗示性图片有时也被报告为性短信。

Marian Merritt is the Internet safety advocate for the computer security company Norton. She says the New Hampshire researchers considered this confusion in the latest research.
Marian Merritt是计算机安全公司诺顿公司的互联网安全律师。她说，新罕布什尔大学的研究人员在最新的研究中考虑到了这种混淆。

MARIAN MERRITT: "They segmented the really most egregious or dangerous kinds of images people might be posting and sending from texts that might be more suggestive."
MARIAN MERRITT：“他们从可能极具暗示性的短信中区分出了人们可能会张贴、发送的真正最为恶劣和危险的图片。”

Ms. Merritt says very few of the images in this latest study would have been considered illegal.
Merritt女士称，在这次最新的研究中，几乎没有图片会被视为非法图片。

MARIAN MERRITT: "The kinds of images or videos that might constitute child pornography is very low. It's only one percent. So the good news is it's a very rare phenomenon and most young people are not engaging in these kinds of behaviors."
MARIAN MERRITT：“可能构成儿童色情物品的图片或影片的比例非常低，只有1%。因此，好消息是，这是一个非常罕见的现象，大多数年轻人没有出现此类行为。”

Everyone knows young people are early adapters of technology. Dan Rauzi say their experimentation often raises concern with adults -- like the recent fears about sexting. But it also has another effect.
大家都知道年轻人是科技的早期适应者。Dan Rauzi说，他们的实验经常引发成年人关注，就像最近对性短信的恐惧。但它也有另一种效果。

DAN RAUZI: "We get a new technology in and teens, they push that envelope and in some ways as a society help us see all of the possibilities with new technologies, as well."
DAN RAUZI：“我们获得了一项新科技，而青少年们会挑战其极限，也在某些方面作为一个社会阶层帮助我们看到技术创新的所有可能性。”

The new study appeared in the journal Pediatrics. In a second study, the New Hampshire researchers found that very few sexting cases investigated by police led to arrests. Marian Merritt is glad about that.
这项新研究发表在儿科杂志上。在第二项研究中，新罕布什尔大学研究人员发现，被警方调查的性短信案件很少被逮捕。Marian merritt对此特别高兴。

MARIAN MERRITT: "The other bit of good news is that over the last several years we've seen law enforcement across the country start to take a more modulated approach, and not going for full enforcement of, you know, a mistake - a momentary lapse in judgment from young people who don't understand the power of the images they may be sharing."
MARIAN MERRITT：“其他的好消息是，在过去的几年里，我们已经看到全国各地的执法机构开始更多地采用调解的方式，你知道的，而不是对那些一时判断失误或不清楚他们共享图片后果的青少年做出充分执行。”