But there’s an exception. Asian-American boys match the grades of Asian-American girls in elementary school, a new study has found. For them, the gender achievement gap doesn’t appear until adolescence — at which point they start doing worse as a group than Asian-American girls.

但也有例外。一項新的研究發現，亞裔美國男孩在小學階段和亞裔美國女孩成績相當。對於他們，性別成績差異直到青春期才出現——此時他們的整體表現開始遜色於亞裔美國女孩。

match

表示“比得上”，英文解釋為“If you match something, you are as good as it or equal to it, for example in speed, size, or quality.”舉個：

They played some fine offensive football, but I think we matched them in every department.

他們踢了一些漂亮的攻勢足球，但我認為我們各方面都比得上他們。

The study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that boys’ underperformance is not because of anything innate to boys. Instead, it seems, it’s largely because of something external: their school environments and peer influences.

越來越多的研究表明，男生表現不佳不是因為男生內在的任何原因，此項研究進一步鞏固了這一觀點。看起來，其原因很大程度上來自於外部：他們學校環境和同伴影響。

innate

1) 表示“（素質）天生的，與生俱來的”，英文解釋為“an innate quality or ability is something you are born with”，舉個：

Children have an innate ability to learn language.

兒童學習語言的能力是與生俱來的。

2) 表示“（信仰）根深蒂固的”，英文解釋為“an innate belief is something you feel strongly about and are unlikely to change”，如：the innate conservatism of the farming community 農業社區固有的保守主義。

Girls are encouraged to be diligent, cooperative and ambitious — all things that serve them well in school. Boys are more sensitive than girls to environmental influences, according to a variety of research, and they feel pressure to be strong, tough and athletic. They get the message that doing well in school is not masculine, social scientists say. Even in peer groups that prize good grades, it’s considered uncool to seem to try hard to earn them.

女性被鼓勵要勤奮、合作、有志向——所有這些都對她們在學校很有好處。根據各類研究，男生對於環境的影響比女生更敏感，要強壯、堅韌、擅長運動也讓他們倍感壓力。社會科學家表示，他們得到的信息是，成績好是有失男子氣概的。即使是在好成績會獲嘉獎的同伴群體中，表現出努力要得獎也被認為不怎麼酷。

prize

作動詞，表示“珍視，高度重視”，英文解釋為“to think that someone or something is very important or valuable ”，舉個：

He is someone who prizes truth and decency above all things.

他把真理和正派看得高於一切。

The company’s shoes are highly prized by fashion conscious youngsters.

該公司的鞋備受時尚年輕人的青睞。

Asian-American boys are somehow sheltered from that message in early childhood. The reasons could give parents and teachers information about how to help boys of all races reach their full potential.

出於一些原因，亞裔美國男孩

“These findings show it doesn’t have to be this way, that boys necessarily have to underachieve,” said Amy Hsin, the paper’s author and a sociologist at Queens College in New York. “How we parent, how we help children think about their masculinity, and school culture and peer norms have effects on their performance in school.”

“這些研究結果表明，不一定非得是這樣，即男生一定要表現稍遜，”該論文作者、紐約市立大學皇后學院(Queens College in New York)社會學家艾米·辛(Amy Hsin)說。“我們如何養育孩子，如何幫助孩子思考他們的男子氣概，以及學校的文化和同伴準則都對他們在學校的表現有影響。”

parent

很罕見的一種用法，作動詞，表示“養育”，英文解釋為“to be or act as the parent (of)”.

Looking at grade point averages of white and Asian-American students, she found that unlike white students, Asian-American boys and girls have no significant grade differences until ninth grade. Then, boys fall behind girls by the equivalent of one-third of a letter grade, about the same as the gender difference in white students’ grades, according to the new study, published last month in the journal Sociological Science.

她看著白人和亞裔美國學生的平均績點，發現和白人學生不同，亞裔美國男生和女生在九年級之前沒有明顯的成績差別。其後，根據上月發表在《社會科學》(Sociological Science)期刊上的該項新研究，男生落後女生相當於一個字母分數三分之一的成績，與白人學生成績的性別差異幾乎一樣。

a letter grade

表示國外的ABCDF的等級制度，即A+,A,A-,B+,B,B-...所以這裡提到“one-third of a letter grade”（一個字母分數三分之一的成績

It used data on about 9,200 white and 1,700 Asian-American students from two national studies that followed the same students over time (the groups were too small to analyze differences among Asian ethnic groups.) The results are not definitive. The sample size is relatively small, and the analysis uses grades, which, unlike test scores, are influenced by teachers’ subjective assessments of students. Yet the results fit with other research that shows the effect of outside influences on academic performance, particularly for boys.

該研究使用了取自兩項全國性研究的約9200名白人、1700名亞裔美國學生的數據，後者對同一批學生跟蹤了一段時間（所選群體規模太小，不足以分析亞裔群體之間的差異）。其結果是不具決定性的。樣本規模相對較小，分析過程使用了等級評分，和考試分數不同的是，它是受教師對學生的主觀評定影響的。然而研究結果與其他研究相符，表明了外界對學業成績，尤其是男生成績的影響。

One reason Asian-American children do so well as a group is that Asian immigrant families tend to be very focused on education, as the sociologists Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou described in their book, “The Asian American Achievement Paradox.”

亞裔美國孩子作為一個群體有如此良好的表現，原因之一在於亞洲移民家庭傾向於非常注重教育，如社會學家李智英(Jennifer Lee)和周敏在她們的著作《亞裔美國人成就的悖論》(The Asian American Achievement Paradox)中所描述的那樣。

One goal of a 1965 U.S. immigration law, which also abolished severe restrictions against immigration from regions such as Asia, was to give preference to professionals with specialized skills. Partly as a result, a little more than half of Chinese immigrants to the United States have a college degree or higher, versus less than 10 percent of adults in China in recent years, Ms. Lee said. They have tended to prioritize that their children earn straight As; attend a good college; and become a doctor, lawyer, scientist or engineer, the authors wrote. They have also shared information about things like SAT tutors and A.P. courses with their less educated Asian-American peers.

1965年美國移民法的一項目標便是優先選擇有專門技能的專業人士。該法律還廢除了針對來自亞洲等地區移民的嚴格限制。部分基於這個原因，移民到美國的中國人中有一半多一點兒擁有大學或更高學位，而近年來中國成年人的這一比例則不到10%。作者寫道，他們傾向於優先考慮他們的孩子能拿到全A成績；上一所好大學；然後成為醫生、律師、科學家或工程師。他們還會把諸如SAT指導老師、進階先修課程等信息分享給受教育程度較低的亞裔美國同伴。

versus

作介詞，表示“與…相對”，英文解釋為“You use versus to indicate that two figures, ideas, or choices are opposed.”舉個：

Only 18.8% of the class of 2010 had some kind of diploma four years after high school, versus 45% of the class of 2012.

相對於2012屆學生中有45%在中學畢業4年後獲得了某種文憑來說，2010屆學生的這一比例只有18.8%。

straight

表示“連續的”，英文解釋為“Straight means following one after the other, with no gaps or intervals.”舉個：

They'd won 5 straight games before they lost.

他們在輸掉之前已贏了連續5場比賽。

Another factor is the so-called model minority stereotype

另一個因素是所謂的模範少數族裔刻板印象——作為群體的亞裔理應聰明、成功、勤奮。這一形象掩蓋了一些亞洲少數族群的高貧困率和輟學率，但同所有的刻板印象一樣，它會導致人們偏頗行事。研究人員發現，老師往往會給亞裔美國學生更高的分數，讓他們參與進階課程。通常情況下，表現較差的學生會發奮，以求滿足對他們的這些期望，社會科學家將這種效果稱為刻板印象承諾。

mask

表示“掩飾，隱瞞，掩蓋”，英文解釋為“to hide your feelings or the truth about a situation”，舉個：

Men often mask their true feelings with humour.

男人常常用幽默來掩飾他們真實的情感。

funnel

表示“傳送（資金、商品、信息等）”，英文解釋為“If you funnel money, goods, or information from one place or group to another, you cause it to be sent there as it becomes available.”舉個：

He secretly funnelled credit-card information to counterfeiters.

他秘密地將信用卡信息傳送給了偽造者們。

For Asian-American boys, these influences change in adolescence, Ms. Hsin found, a time when children become more aware of their gender identity and are more influenced by peers. They also have to fight a pernicious perception that they are not masculine enough.

艾米·辛發現，對於亞裔美國男孩來說，這些影響會在青春期發生變化，在這個階段，孩子們會更加意識到自己的性別身份，也更容易受到同齡人的影響。他們還必須與一種有害的觀念作鬥爭，即他們的男性氣概不夠。

pernicious

pernicious /pə'nɪʃəs,pɚˋnɪʃəs/ 表示“極為有害的”，英文解釋為“If you describe something as pernicious, you mean that it is very harmful.”舉個：

I did what I could, but her mother's influence was pernicious.

我已盡我所能，但她母親造成的影響是很極為不利的。

“The model minority myth frames Asian boys as being kind of nerdy, caring too much about doing well, so that may cause them to become less academically attached,” Ms. Hsin said. “It’s not as stigmatizing for Asian girls because if you’re good at school and you really care, that kind of plays along with what you should be doing as a girl anyway.”

“模範少數族裔的迷思把亞洲男孩塑造成有點書呆子氣，太希望自己表現好，這樣可能會讓他們不那麼喜歡學習，”艾米·辛說。“對亞洲女孩來說，這並不丟臉，因為如果你在學校表現出色，而且你真的在乎自己的表現，這符合你身為女孩應該做的事情。”

attached

表示“非常喜歡…的”，英文解釋為“If you are attached to someone or something, you like them very much.

She is very attached to her family and friends.

她非常喜歡她的家人和朋友。

The new study offers a clue about how much school environments affect boys’ academic achievement. Ms. Hsin found that the gender gap for Asian-Americans in high school was smaller in schools that were less sports-focused, and where boys did better over all.

這項新研究為了解學校環境對男孩學習成績的影響程度提供了線索。艾米·辛發現，在不那麼關注體育活動、男生總體表現較好的學校，亞裔學生在高中階段的性別差距較小。

Other studies have also pinpointed the importance of the school and social environments, especially for boys.

其他研究也指出了學校和社會環境的重要性，尤其是對男孩。

pinpoint

1）表示“查明，準確地說出，描述（事實真相）”，英文解釋為“to discover or explain exactly the real facts about something or the cause of a problem”，舉個：

It's difficult to pinpoint the cause of the accident.

事故原因很難查明。

2）表示“準確地找出（某物的位置）；為…準確定位”，英文解釋為“to find or show the exact position of something”，舉個：

Rescue teams have now pinpointed the location of the ship.

救援隊現在已經找出那艘船的準確位置。

One working paper found that the best-performing students had a combination of behaviors typically considered male and female. It used nationally representative survey data about gender norms for about 12,000 high school students, linked with their high school transcripts. The most traditionally feminine girls and the most masculine boys had the lowest grades.

一份研究報告發現，表現最好的學生通常會同時表現出人們心目中男性和女性的典型特點。它使用了關於1.2萬名高中生的性別狀態與其高中成績相關聯的全國代表性調查數據。傳統上最女性化的女孩和最男性化的男孩成績最低。

The messages boys receive about how to be masculine come from local influences in their schools and communities and are often tied to to socioeconomic status, other research has shown. Boys perform better in school when achievement is considered to be desirable, and when they believe successful men get their power from education versus strength and toughness. Boys in high-income communities are more likely to get those messages, research has shown.

另一項研究表明，男孩獲得的關於如何更有男子氣概的信息來自他們所在學校和社區的當地影響，而且往往與社會經濟地位

Teachers' expectations of students — and the biases behind them — also influence children's performance. For example, white teachers are less likely than black teachers to refer black students to gifted programs, or to have high expectations for their potential. Yet as with Asian-American students, research shows that when teachers have high expectations for black students, they rise to meet them.

教師對學生的期望——及其背後的偏見——也會影響孩子的表現。例如，白人教師推薦黑人學生參加天才項目或對他們的潛力抱有高期待的可能性低於黑人老師。然而，就像亞裔學生一樣，研究表明，當老師對黑人學生抱有很高的期待時，他們就會努力去達到這些期待。

The fact that boys’ achievement varies in different school environments is a hopeful sign for parents and educators, Ms. Hsin said, because it suggests ways to help all students.

艾米·辛說，男孩在不同學校環境下的成績有所不同，讓家長和教育工作者看到了希望，因為這提示了幫助所有學生的方法。

Encourage academic achievement, she said, and talk about how it leads to success.

她說，那就是鼓勵學生取得優秀學習成績，並討論優秀的成績如何令人走向成功。

Researchers have other suggestions. Show them role models who got where they are by doing well in school. Emphasize the importance of hard work and daily practice, not innate skill. Encourage both boys and girls to embrace a full range of character traits, and not to feel limited by stereotypical gender roles. Place high expectations on children, and give them opportunities to meet them — regardless of skin color.

研究人員還有其他建議。向學生展示通過在學校表現出色而獲得成功的榜樣。強調努力學習和每天練習的重要性，而不是天生的技能。鼓勵男孩和女孩接納各種各樣的性格特徵，不要覺得自己被刻板的性別角色所限制。對孩子寄予厚望，並且給他們機會去達到這些期望——不管他們的膚色是什麼。

By Claire Cain Miller

翻譯：晉其角、李建芳

相關閱讀 · 中文報道

加拿大新布倫瑞克大學研究員沃耶尓夫婦發佈的研究報告稱，女孩比男孩成績好的現象已持續了100多年，且放之四海而皆準。

沃耶尓夫婦對涉及110多萬名學生的308項研究進行了彙總和回顧，這些研究從1914年到2011年，範圍包括不同國家和不同學科。整體來說，女生領先男生最多的是外語和語文，但在普遍認為男生有優勢的數理化，女生的表現仍好過男生。這樣的優勢從幼兒園就開始了，一直持續到大學畢業。

詳見：http://t.cn/R7LIQAn

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