四、兒童類話題預(yù)料庫

　　語料1 On the Virtues of Making Your Children Do the Dishes

　　Of course, children aren't doing housework partly because they're spending more time on such worthy pursuits as reading, studying and youth groups, Dr. Hofferth's data show. Parents are doing less housework themselves, hiring help or just making peace with dust bunnies. 孩子不做家務(wù)的原因：把時間花在更有意義的事情上，比如說閱讀學(xué)習(xí)青年團隊活動。家長自己做的家務(wù)變少了，請人來做或者是對于灰塵眼不見為凈的。

　　One consequence is never more obvious than at this time of year, when hundreds of thousands of college freshmen move into their dorms and promptly begin destroying their laundry. Other studies suggest the shift may have longer-term implications for marriage and community life. 孩子不做家務(wù)的嚴重后果：大學(xué)新生涌入學(xué)校卻不會洗衣服。其他的研究表明對于今后婚姻和群體生活也是有長期影響的。

　　Studies show parents still assign more housework to girls than boys. Yet these same young women hope as adults to find men who will help out; 90% of 60 women ages 18 to 32 studied by Kathleen Gerson, a New York University sociology professor, said they hoped to share housework and child care with spouses "in a committed, mutually supportive and egalitarian way." After controlling for other factors, U.S. marriages tend to be more stable when men participate more in domestic tasks, says a study of 506 U.S. couples published in 2006 in the American Journal of Sociology. 研究表明家長依然把家務(wù)更多的是交給女孩而不是男孩。但是女生們希望大人能夠讓男孩也出點力。60名18到32歲的女性中90%的女性都希望配偶能夠承擔(dān)家務(wù)與孩子照顧，他們的關(guān)系應(yīng)該是互相奉獻，相互支持和無私的。穩(wěn)定其他因素之后，男人參與到家務(wù)活動中去后，美國婚姻變得更加穩(wěn)定。

　　Housework has unique value in instilling a habit of serving others. Doing household chores as a child was a major, independent predictor of whether a person chose to do volunteer or other community work as an adult. Thus for parents who value service, housework is an important teaching tool. 做家務(wù)對于培養(yǎng)為他們服務(wù)有重要價值。做家務(wù)，很大程度上決定了孩子去參與志愿者活動。對于崇尚奉獻的家長而言，家務(wù)是一個很好的教育手段。

　　Chores should be a part of any child's life once they're old enough. It's not only about having them contribute to the family, it's ensuring that they will have the skills to take care of themselves as adults. But deciding which chores to assign at what age can be a bit challenging.

　　孩子長大后，家務(wù)成為孩子生活中一部分。這不僅是為了確保他們?yōu)榧彝コ隽�，也是為了保證他們培養(yǎng)了像大人樣照顧自己的能力。但是什么年齡段的孩子應(yīng)該干什么家務(wù)卻是個問題。

　　A basic rule of thumb is that the older a child is, the more responsibility that should be assigned to him or her. There's a lot of range in that which depends on your parenting style and the capabilities of your children.基本上說來，孩子越大承擔(dān)的責(zé)任也就越多。當然也有差異，主要取決于你的家庭教育方式和孩子的能力。

　　The first 2 years of life are considered a critical time for brain development. TV and other electronic media can get in the way of exploring, playing, and interacting with parents and others, which encourages learning and healthy physical and social development.As kids get older, too much screen time can interfere with activities such as being physically active, reading, doing homework, playing with friends, and spending time with family.Of course, television, in moderation, can be a good thing: Preschoolers can get help learning the alphabet on public television, grade schoolers can learn about wildlife on nature shows, and parents can keep up with current events on the evening news. No doubt about it — TV can be an excellent educator and entertainer.

　　生命的頭兩年是智力發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵時期。探索，玩樂，與父母和他人的交流，這些可以促進學(xué)習(xí)，身體健康和社交能力發(fā)展的能力都會被電視和其他電子媒體所阻礙。孩子長大之后，看電視時間太多會影響孩子的活動，例如體育活動，閱讀，做作業(yè)，和朋友玩耍，以及和家人相處的時間。當然來，看電視也是件好事：學(xué)前班的孩子可以通過電視學(xué)習(xí)字母表，上了學(xué)的孩子可以通過自然節(jié)目學(xué)習(xí)野生動物，家長可以從晚間新聞中了解到時事。不要懷疑--電視是一個很好的教育者和娛樂者。

　　語料2 為什么父母參與孩子教育程度比較低?

　　Parent involvement actually declines as students grow older, so that it is less in secondary schools than in elementary (Stouffer, 1992). If parental involvement is so beneficial, why isn't it being used to a greater extent than at present? There are many reasons from the parent and also from the school for this lack of involvement. One of the reasons concerns the lack of understanding of nontraditional families on the part of the school system. The nontraditional family is struggling to deal with many factors that affect every member of the family. These can definitely affect the way that the family is able to be involved in the student's education. More than likely, there is a shortage of time. There just simply are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. If there has been a divorce or death in the family, there probably has been a change in the financial standing of the family. By the school not being sensitive to this change, the student/family could be embarrassed. (Duncan, 1992; Lewis, 1992; Wanat, 1992).

　　隨著孩子年齡的增長，父母的參與度也在下降，因此中學(xué)參與度要比小學(xué)低。如果父母參與是很有益的，為什么沒有起到更大的發(fā)揮作用呢?有很多原因，從父母的角度，從學(xué)校的角度。

　　一個原因就是非傳統(tǒng)家庭對于學(xué)校系統(tǒng)的了解不夠。非傳統(tǒng)家庭努力處理著會影響家庭成員的很多因素，勢必會削弱教育參與程度。更有可能的是因為時間的不充分。一天時間太短，來不及處理所有的事情。如果父母離婚或者是有親屬死亡會影響家庭的財政情況。如果學(xué)校不能意識到這樣的變化，學(xué)生/家庭就會很尷尬。

　　"Schools must understand that lack of participation by parents does not necessarily mean they are neglecting their responsibilities. They simply may not have the time, resources, or know-how to help out" (Wanat, p. 47). Parents often do not feel welcomed at school. They feel that what they may have to offer is unimportant and unappreciated. Also, parents may not believe that they have any knowledge that the school is interested in knowing. This is especially true when the parent may not have a great deal of education (Dixon, 1992; Vandergrift & Greene, 1992). It is also possible that the parent does not have a great deal of interest in the school or his child's education. The parent may not feel that education is important (Vandergrift & Greene).

　　學(xué)校必須明白的是父母缺少參與度并不代表他們正在忽略他們的責(zé)任。他們只是沒有時間，資源和知識去參與。父母總覺得在學(xué)校里是不受歡迎的。他們覺得他們擁有的知識是不重要的。而且他們認為學(xué)校對于他們的知識也不感興趣。當父母沒有受過太多文化時，這個就尤其如此。也有可能父母對孩子的教育本身就不感興趣，他們也許覺得教育不重要。