中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Sibling rivalry: It is thought that the children benefit from the age gap because parents have more time to invest in them |
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Forget expensive educational DVDs and private tutors, the secret to smart children could be as simple as giving birth to them two years apart. Researchers who studied thousands of children found a two-year gap to be optimum in boosting brain power. Any shorter, and the reading and maths skills of the older child dipped. The effect was strongest between the first and second-born, but siblings in bigger families also benefited. The theory comes from Kasey Buckles, an economist whose own children are, rather fortunately, just over two years apart in age. She said it is likely that the difference in academic achievement is linked to the time and resources parents can invest in a child before a younger sibling arrives. However, waiting more than two years did not increase the advantage, the Journal of Human Resources will report. Siblings with a two-year spacing include Albert Einstein and sister Maja, and Lord Attenborough and younger brother David. Kasey Buckles, who lead the study told the Sunday Times: 'We believe this is the first time anyone has established a casual benefit to increase the spacing between siblings.' The study also showed that gaps between children in larger families was also beneficial. Buckles told the newspaper: 'The two year gap is significant because the early years are the most important in a child's development so dividing your time when the child is one is more harmful than dividing it when the child is already at school.' The effect was more pronounced in families with lower incomes, as those with more money could spend to compromise for lack of time. (Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
忘了昂貴的教學(xué)光碟和家教吧，想讓孩子聰明，秘訣很簡單，就是第一胎和第二胎的出生相隔兩年。 研究人員研究了成千上萬名小孩后發(fā)現(xiàn)，要增進(jìn)小孩的智力，最好是在兩胎間相隔兩年。 間隔時(shí)間再短的話，年長的孩子的閱讀和數(shù)學(xué)技能都會(huì)下降。 這一影響在第一胎和第二胎孩子身上最為強(qiáng)烈，不過大家庭中有兄弟姐妹的孩子也會(huì)因此而收益。 得出這一理論的是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家凱西?巴克爾斯，挺幸運(yùn)的是，她自己的小孩的出生間隔時(shí)間正好是兩年多一點(diǎn)。 她說，學(xué)習(xí)成績的差別可能和父母在更小的孩子出生之前能夠投入到孩子身上的時(shí)間和資源有關(guān)。 不過，《人力資源雜志》卻報(bào)道說，超過兩年后再生第二個(gè)小孩并不會(huì)讓孩子的智力更有優(yōu)勢(shì)。 兄弟姐妹出生間隔兩年的例子有阿爾伯特?愛因斯坦和妹妹瑪雅，還有艾登堡爵士和弟弟戴維。 這一研究的領(lǐng)頭人凱西?巴克爾斯告訴《星期日泰晤士報(bào)》說：“我們相信這是首次有人提出同胞出生的間隔時(shí)間增大能夠帶來附加的好處?！?/p> 該研究還顯示，在大家庭中，孩子的年齡間隔大也是有益處的。 巴克爾斯告訴《星期日泰晤士報(bào)》說：“兩年的出生間隔很重要，因?yàn)楹⒆映砷L過程中的頭幾年最重要，所以在孩子一歲的時(shí)候分散照顧時(shí)間比孩子入學(xué)后再分散照顧時(shí)間更有害?！?/p> 這一影響在低收入家庭中更為顯著，因?yàn)槟切└辉５募彝タ梢杂缅X來彌補(bǔ)時(shí)間的不足。 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國日?qǐng)?bào)英語點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯：Julie） |
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Vocabulary: dip: 下降 pronounced: 明顯的，顯著的 |
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