托福阅读材料之夏天出生的孩子不容易考上好大学

Summer-born children are considerably less likely to attend top universities than pupils with autumn birthdays, according to research published today.

今天公布的一项研究显示，比起秋天出生的孩子，夏天出生的孩子考上拔尖大学的概率要小得多。

The youngest children lag behind older classmates and struggle to properly catch up throughout compulsory education, it was revealed.

研究表明，夏天出生的孩子通常是班里年龄最小的，他们往往落后于那些大一点的孩子，要想通过义务教育赶上其他同学，他们就得学得更辛苦。

Despite being given additional help by parents, those born in August are 20 per cent more likely to take vocational qualifications at college and a fifth less likely to attend an elite Russell Group university than those with September birthdays.

就算有父母提供的额外帮助，与九月出生的孩子相比，八月出生的孩子进入职业学校学习的概率要高出五分之一，而进入英国联盟的罗素集团大学学习的机会却要少掉五分之一。

The study – published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies – also lays bare the extent to which a child’s date of birth influences their self-perception, social and emotional development and chances of being bullied at school.

这项研究是由财政研究协会公布的，同时，该研究还指出，孩子的出生日期会对他们的自我认知、社交能力、情感发展，以及是否会在学校受欺负等都有关系。

Ellen Greaves, IFS research economist and the report’s author, said: “It is clear that the consequences of the month in which you were born extend beyond educational attainment. We find evidence that, particularly at younger ages, summer-born children are more likely to report being unhappy at school and to have experienced bullying than autumn-born children.”

Ellen Greaves是财政研究协会的经济学家，也是该研究报告的作者，说道，“出生日期对你的影响不仅限于受教育的程度。有证据表明，在年龄较小的时候，夏天出生的孩子比秋天出生的孩子在学校里更容易受到欺负并且过得不愉快。”

It compared children born in September – at the start of the academic year – to those with birthdays in August to gauge the effect that this had on a range of issues relating to education and personal wellbeing.

由于新学年都在九月份开学，因此，九月份出生的孩子与八月份出生的孩子会在接受教育方面和个人幸福感上存在差异。

Relative to peers with September birthdays, the study found that children born in August were:

与九月出生的同龄人相比，八月出生的孩子会有以下表现：

•Likely to achieve “substantially” lower scores in national achievement tests and other measures of cognitive skills;

在参加全国考试和其他认知能力方面的考试中，成绩会明显偏低；

•20 per cent more likely to study for vocational qualifications if they stay on beyond the age of 16;

16岁后仍继续学习的人当中，20%的人更有可能进入职业学校学习；

•20 per cent less likely to attend a Russell Group university aged 19;

19岁进入英国联盟的罗素集团大学学习的机会要少掉五分之一；

•Between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half times more likely to be regarded as below average by their teachers in reading, writing and maths at age seven;

在任课老师看来，八月出生的孩子在阅读、写作和数学方面比平均水平低的概率要多出2.5到3.5倍；

•More likely to exhibit lower social and emotional development;

更有可能显示出更低的社交能力和情感发展水平；

•Two-and-a-half times more likely to report being unhappy at school and twice as likely to report being bullied at the age of seven;

在7岁这个年龄段上，在学校过得不开心的概率要大2.5倍，在学校受欺负的概率要大2倍；

The study said gaps in performance decreased as children grow up.

研究也指出，随着年龄的增大，这些差距会缩小。