托福阅读材料之女生数学不好是为了吸引男生的注意

Despite the best efforts of today's educators, women are still woefully underrepresented in the math, technology and science fields. A recent review argues that the problem is no longer simply a lack of opportunity or encouragement -- in a nutshell, girls just seem to prefer other subjects. The question is, why?

虽然现代的教育人士花了很多精力，但是在数学、技术和科学领域有一定建树的女性仍然是少数。最近的一篇文章表示，造成这种现象不仅仅是简单的因为女性缺乏机会和鼓励——简单地说，就是女生更偏好其他科目。这是为什么呢？

It's true that women are still, to some extent, stereotyped as being less capable in these fields, and certainly this (baseless and false) belief plays a role. But new research suggests that girls may prefer to study language, arts and humanities over math and science for another reason: They believe, often on an unconscious level, that demonstrating ability in these stereotypically-male areas makes them less attractive to men.

在一定程度上，女性被认为在数学等领域上能力较弱的（偏激和错误）想法起着一定作用。但是一项调查显示相较于数学来说，女生更喜欢学语言、艺术和人文科学这些科目还有一个原因：她们潜意识层面上认为，在这些男性气质很强的领域中表现出很强的演算能力会降低她们对男性的吸引力。

Most of us, especially in adolescence, want very much to be romantically desirable. Girls in particular are socialized to see this as an important goal, and both sexes attempt to achieve the goal by conforming to cultural norms of what women and men are "supposed" to be like. Women are expected to be communal and nurturing, and to pursue careers that allow them to express those qualities -- like teaching, counseling and, of course, nursing. Men, on the other hand, are supposed to be dominant, independent and analytical -- qualities well-suited to business, finance and science.

大部分人，特别是在青春期的时候，希望能有很多人追自己。女生就更加在意这一点了，男女双方都希望自己做的事情符合一般的文化规范中男、女性应有形象。女人更加注重集体性和教育性，为了能实现这两点——教育、资讯当然还有护理专业是女性比较想做的。另一方面，男性则有统治性、独立性和分析性——而符合这些特质的工作就是商务、金融和科学专业。

Of course, this research has interesting implications for men as well. In pursuit of romantic love, men may feel discouraged from pursuits that are stereotypically "female" -- those that involve being nurturing and communal. In other words, love doesn't just make girls bad at math -- it may also make boys act like selfish jerks, all in the service of conforming to a romantic ideal.

当然这个研究对男性也有着同样有趣的暗示作用。在寻找爱情的路上，在追护理或者公共事业这种传统定义上的“女性”时会感到缺乏勇气。也就是说，爱情不仅是让女生数学不好，还会让男生像自私的傻瓜，这些其实都是为了爱情服务。