演說者：Helen Pearson            文章來源：TED官網

　　演說題目： 正確養育小孩的秘密，藏在這項70年的偉大研究里

　　在過去的70年里，英國的科學家們一直在通過他們的生活來研究成千上萬的孩子，以找出為什么有些孩子最終會快樂而健康，而另一些孩子卻在掙扎。這可能是世界上關于人類發展的最長的研究，它在改變我們的生活方式、學習方式和父母的同時，產生了一些世界上研究得最好的人。

　　中英文對照翻譯

　　Today I want to confess something toyou, but first of all I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Howmany people here have children? And how many of you areconfident that you know how to bring up your children in exactly theright way?

　　今天我想跟你們坦白一些事情, 但是首先我將要問你們一些問題。 在座的有多少已經有小孩了? 你們中又有多少可以自信地說 你知道如何完全正確地 養育你的小孩?

　　OK, I don't see too many hands going up onthat second one, and that's my confession, too. I've got threeboys; they're three, nine and 12. And like you, and like mostparents, the honest truth is I have pretty much no idea what I'mdoing. I want them to be happy and healthy in their lives, but Idon't know what I'm supposed to do to make sure they are happy andhealthy. There's so many books offering all kinds of conflictingadvice, it can be really overwhelming. So I've spent most of theirlives just making it up as I go along.

　　好的，我看第二個問題 沒有多少人舉手, 而這也是我要坦白的。 我有三個兒子, 他們分別是3歲、9歲和12歲。 就像你，就像大多數父母一樣, 老實說我真的不知道我在做什么。 我希望他們生活得健康、快樂 但是我不知道我應該怎么做 才能確保他們健康快樂。 市面上有很多提供各種互相矛盾的建議的書籍， 真的是令人不知所措。 所以大多數時間我都是邊摸索邊撫養他們的。

　　However, something changed me a few yearsago, when I came across a little secret that we have in Britain. It'shelped me become more confident about how I bring up my own children, andit's revealed a lot about how we as a society can help all children. Iwant to share that secret with you today.

　　然而，幾年前的一些事改變了我， 那時我無意間發現了我們英國的一個小秘密。 它使我對于如何養育小孩有了更多的自信， 它還揭露了作為一個社會整體，我們該如何幫助所有的小孩。 今天我想跟你們分享這個秘密。

　　For the last 70 years, scientists inBritain have been following thousands of children through their lives aspart of an incredible scientific study. There's nothing quite like itanywhere else in the world. Collecting information on thousands ofchildren is a really powerful thing to do, because it means we cancompare the ones who say, do well at school or end up healthy or happy orwealthy as adults, and the ones who struggle much more, and then wecan sift through all the information we've collected and try to work outwhy their lives turned out different.

　　在過去70年里， 英國科學家跟蹤調查了 成千上萬小孩子的一生 作為一項驚人的科學研究的一部分。 這世上沒有另外一件像這樣的事情了。 收集成千上萬的小孩子的信息 真的是一件很厲害的事， 因為這意味著我們可以將那些 在學校表現好或者成年后變得健康、快樂或富有的小孩 跟那些苦苦掙扎的小孩進行對比， 然后從收集到的信息中進行篩選 試著去找出為什么他們的生活會變得大不相同。

　　This British study -- it's actually a kindof crazy story. So it all starts back in 1946, just a few monthsafter the end of the war, when scientists wanted to know what it waslike for a woman to have a baby at the time. They carried out this hugesurvey of mothers and ended up recording the birth of nearly everybaby born in England, Scotland and Wales in one week.

　　這一項英國的研究—— 事實上是一個瘋狂的故事。 它最初開始于1946年， 也就在二戰結束后的幾個月 當時科學家想要知道 在當時一個婦女 有了小孩會是怎樣的。 他們對媽媽們進行了這項巨大的調查 并最終紀錄下了幾乎所有在一個星期內 出生在英格蘭、蘇格蘭和威爾士的小孩。

　　That was nearly14,000 babies.The questions they asked these women are very different thanthe ones we might ask today. They sound really old-fashioned now.Theyasked them things like, "During pregnancy, did you get your fullextra ration of a pint of milk a day?" "How much did you spendon smocks, corsets, nightdresses, knickers and brassieres?" Andthis is my favorite one: "Who looked after your husband while youwere in bed with this baby?"

　　那是將近一萬四千個小孩。 他們當時問這些婦女的問題 跟我們今天要問的問題大不相同。 這些問題現在看起來真的很守舊。 他們問的問題是像這樣的： “在懷孕期間 你是否每天都得到了額外配給的一品脫牛奶?” “你在罩衫、緊身內衣 睡衣、短褲以及胸罩上花了多少錢?” 而我最喜歡的是這一個： “你跟小孩在床上的時候，誰照顧你丈夫?”

　　Now, this wartime study actually ended upbeing so successful that scientists did it again. They recorded thebirths of thousands of babies born in 1958 and thousands more in1970. They did it again in the early 1990s, and again at the turn ofthe millennium.Altogether, more than 70,000 children have been involved inthese studies across those five generations.

　　這項戰爭時代的研究最終非常成功， 科學家后來又重新進行了這項研究。 他們紀錄下了成千上萬的出生于1958年的小孩 并且紀錄下了更多出生于 1970年的小孩。 他們在上世紀90年代早期又做了一次， 然后在千禧年前后又做了一次。 總共有超過七萬個小孩參與到了這項研究中來 橫跨了五代人。

　　They're called the British birth cohorts, and scientists have gone back and recorded moreinformation on all of these people every few years ever since. Theamount of information that's now been collected on these people is justcompletely mind-boggling. It includes thousands of paperquestionnaires and terabytes' worth of computer data.

　　他們被稱為英國出生組群。 科學家每隔幾年會重訪所有這些人 并收集紀錄下更多的信息。 從這些人那里收集到的信息總量， 是完全不可想像的。 它包含了數千份的調查問卷， 和巨量的電腦數據。

　　Scientists have also built up a huge bank of tissue samples, which includes locks of hair,nail clippings, baby teeth and DNA. They've even collected 9,000 placentasfrom some of the births, which are now pickled in plastic buckets in asecure storage warehouse.

　　科學家還建立了個巨大的標本數據庫 里面存有頭發、指甲、嬰兒的牙齒以及DNA。 他們從一些分娩中收集了9000個胎盤， 這些胎盤現都儲存塑料桶里，存在個安全的儲存室中。

　　This whole project has become unique -- so,no other country in the world is tracking generations of children in quitethis detail. These are some of the best-studied people on theplanet, and the data has become incredibly valuable forscientists, generating well over 6,000 academic papers and books. Buttoday I want to focus on just one finding -- perhaps the most importantdiscovery to come from this remarkable study. And it's also the one thatspoke to me personally, because it's about how to use science to do thebest for our children.

　　這整個項目是獨一無二的—— 這世上沒有任何其它國家這么細致地 對幾代小孩進行跟蹤調查。 這是一些這個星球上被研究得最透徹的人， 這些數據對科學家來說有無可估量的價值， 由此產生了超過6000篇的學術論文和書籍。 但是今天，我要關注的只是其中的一項發現—— 也許是這個偉大研究里最重要的發現， 它對于我個人來說也是挺有意義的， 因為它是關于如何利用科學去為孩子們做到最好的。

　　So, let's get the bad news out of the wayfirst. Perhaps the biggest message from this remarkable study isthis: don't be born into poverty or into disadvantage, because if youare, you're far more likely to walk a difficult path in life. Manychildren in this study were born into poor families or into working-classfamilies that had cramped homes or other problems, and it's clear now thatthose disadvantaged children have been more likely to struggle on almostevery score.

　　首先我們來說一說壞消息。 也許這個偉大研究發出的最大的消息就是： 不要出生在貧窮落后的家庭， 因為如果你出身不好， 你就更有可能走上一條艱難的人生道路。 這個研究中的許多小孩都出生在住在狹窄的房子里， 或者有其它各種問題的貧困家庭或工人階級家庭， 現在很清楚的一點是這些處于劣勢的小孩 更有可能在幾乎每個方面中掙扎。

　　They've been more likely to do worse at school, to end upwith worse jobs and to earn less money. Now, maybe that sounds reallyobvious, but some of the results have been really surprising,so childrenwho had a tough start in life are also more likely to end up unhealthy asadults. They're more likely to be overweight, to have high bloodpressure, and then decades down the line, more likely to have afailing memory, poor health and even to die earlier.

　　他們可能在學校表現得更糟糕， 最終找一份更糟糕的工作并賺更少的錢。 也許這些聽起來像是明擺的事， 但是也有一些結果令人很吃驚， 那些人生的起點就很艱苦的小孩 也更可能在成年后身體沒有那么健康。 他們更可能超重， 患上高血壓， 然后幾十年后， 更有可能記憶衰退、身體不佳甚至死得更早。

　　Now, I talked about what happenslater, but some of these differences emerge at a really shockingly earlyage. In one study, children who were growing up in poverty werealmost a year behind the richer children on educational tests, and thatwas by the age of just three. These types of differences have been foundagain and again across the generations. It means that our earlycircumstances have a profound influence on the way that the rest of ourlives play out. And working out why that is is one of the mostdifficult questions that we face today.

　　我上面談到的都是一些后期的影響， 但是有一些差異是在一個令人震驚的早期就顯現出來的。 在其中的一個研究中， 貧困家庭長大的小孩 在教育測試上要比富裕家庭的小孩落后一年， 而這還只是在他們3歲的時候。 這種的差異在幾代人之間一次又一次的被發現。 這意味著我們早期的生活環境 對我們的余生有著更深遠的影響。 而找出這其中的原因, 是我們今天所面對的最困難的問題之一。

　　So there we have it. The first lessonfor successful life, everyone, is this: choose your parents verycarefully.

　　我們現在已經有答案了 各位，獲得成功人生的第一堂課是： 小心地選擇你的父母。

　　Don't be born into a poor family or into astruggling family. Now, I'm sure you can see the small problemhere. We can't choose our parents or how much they earn, but thisBritish study has also struck a real note of optimism by showing that noteveryone who has a disadvantaged start ends up in difficultcircumstances. As you know, many people have a tough start inlife, but they end up doing very well on some measurenevertheless, and this study starts to explain how.

　　不要出生在一個貧困的家庭。 我敢肯定你們可以看出這里的一個小問題， 那就是我們不能選擇父母或者他們的收入水平， 但這項英國的研究通過展現不是所有 出身卑微的人最終都陷入困境 因此帶來了希望。 正如你所知道的，很多人出身貧苦 然而最終在某些程度上來說過得也不錯， 而這個研究將要解釋如何實現這個。

　　So the second lesson is this: parentsreally matter. In this study, children who had engaged, interestedparents, ones who had ambition for their future, were more likely toescape from a difficult start. It seems that parents and what they do arereally, really important,especially in the first few years of life.

　　所以第二課是： 父母真的很重要。 在這項研究中， 那些擁有負責任、關心自己的父母的小孩 會對未來有野心， 并更可能從貧困的生活中逃離出來。 看來父母以及他們的行為真的真的很重要， 尤其是在孩子剛出生到幾歲大這段時間。

　　Let me give you an example of that. Inone study, scientists looked at about 17,000 children who were born in1970. They sifted all the mountains of data that they hadcollected to try to work out what allowed the children who'd had adifficult start in life to go on and do well at schoolnevertheless. In other words, which ones beat the odds. The datashowed that what mattered more than anything else was parents. Havingengaged, interested parents in those first few years of life was stronglylinked to children going on to do well at school later on.

　　讓我來舉個例子 在一個研究中， 科學家調查了大約一萬七千個出生在 1970年的小孩。 他們篩選了收集到的海量信息 試圖去找出 是什么讓這些出身貧苦的小孩 能夠堅持下去并在學校表現出色。 換句話說，是什么讓他們打敗命運的魔咒。 數據顯示，比任何事情都重要的就是父母 從小擁有一個負責任、關心孩子的父母 和孩子之后在學校表現好有很強的聯系。

　　In fact, quitesmall things that parents do are associated with good outcomes forchildren. Talking and listening to a child, responding to themwarmly, teaching them their letters and numbers, taking them on tripsand visits. Reading to children every day seems to be really important,too. So in one study, children whose parents were reading to themdaily when they were five and then showing an interest in their educationat the age of 10, were significantly less likely to be in poverty at theage of 30 than those whose parents weren't doing those things.

　　事實上，父母做的一些很小的事 就能對小孩產生一些好的影響。 傾聽他們說的， 親切地回應他們， 教他們字母和數字， 帶他們去旅行。 每天為孩子們朗讀故事似乎也很重要。 因此在一個研究中， 那些父母在孩子五歲時每天為他們朗讀故事 然后在孩子十歲時關心他們的教育的小孩們 在30歲的時候變得貧窮的可能性 明顯比那些父母沒有那樣去做的小孩要少得多。

　　Now, there are huge challenges withinterpreting this type of science. These studies show that certain thingsthat parents do are correlated with good outcomes for children, butwe don't necessarily know those behaviors caused the good outcomes, orwhether some other factor is getting in the way. For example, we have totake genes into account, and that's a whole other talk in itself.

　　現在，在解釋這門科學上面臨很大的挑戰。 這些研究表明父母做的某些事情 跟孩子以后能有一個好的結果是相關聯的， 但是我們未必知道是這些行為導致了好的結果 或者是否還有其它的因素在妨礙這種結果。 例如，我們需要也考慮基因的影響， 但這個它本身就值得另外一個演講。

　　But scientists working with this Britishstudy are working really hard to get at causes, and this is one studyI particularly love. In this one,they looked at the bedtime routines ofabout 10,000 children born at the turn of the millennium. Were thechildren going to bed at regular times, or did they go to bed at differenttimes during the week?

　　進行這項英國研究的科學家 很努力地在尋找原因， 而這也是我個人特別喜愛的 一個研究。 在這個研究中， 他們觀察了大約一萬個出生在 千禧年的小孩 的睡眠時間規律。 這些孩子是在固定的時間睡覺， 還是在一星期中每天的睡眠時間都不一樣?

　　The data showed that those children who were goingto bed at different times were more likely to have behavioral problems, andthen those that switched to having regular bedtimes often showed animprovement in behavior, and that was really crucial, because itsuggested it was the bedtime routines that were really helping things getbetter for those kids.

　　數據顯示那些不按規定時間睡覺的小孩 更有可能出現行為問題。 然后那些不按時睡覺的小孩變成按時睡覺后 經常會在行為上有所改善， 這真的很重要， 因為它表明睡眠時間規律 真的能夠幫助這些小孩表現更好。

　　Here's another one to think about. Inthis one, scientists looked at children who were reading forpleasure. That means that they picked up a magazine, a picture book, astory book. The data showed that children who were reading forpleasure at the ages of five and 10were more likely to go on in schoolbetter, on average, on school tests later in their lives.

　　這里還有另外一個需要去思考的 研究。 在這個研究中， 科學家觀察了那些 為快樂而閱讀的孩子 也就是說他們經常拿起一本雜志、 畫冊、故事書。 數據顯示那些5到10歲的 為快樂而閱讀的孩子， 通常來說更可能在學校 有著更好的表現 在學校的測試成績也會更好。

　　And notjust tests of reading, but tests of spelling and maths as well. Thisstudy tried to control for all the confounding factors, so it looked at childrenwho were equally intelligentand from the same social-class background, soit seemed as if it was the reading which really helped those children goon and score better on those school tests later in their lives.

　　而且不僅僅是閱讀方面的測試， 還包括過拼寫以及數學測試。 這個研究試圖控制所有的干擾因素, 因此它是觀察了同等智力水平 并來自相同社會階級背景的小孩， 所以看起來似乎是閱讀真的幫助了這些孩子 在以后的學校測試中取得更好的成績。

　　Now at the start, I said the firstlesson from this study was not to be born into poverty or into disadvantage, becausethose children tend to follow more difficult paths in their lives. Butthen I said that parenting matters, and that good parenting, if you cancall it that, helps children beat the odds and overcome some of thoseearly disadvantages. So wait, does that actually mean, then, thatpoverty doesn't matter after all? You could argue it doesn't matter if achild is born poor -- as long as their parents are good parents, they'regoing to do just fine.

　　開始的時候， 我說過從這個研究中學到的第一課 是不要出生在一個貧窮落后的家庭。 因為這些孩子容易走上一條更艱難的生活道路。但是后來我又說了父母很重要， 好的養育方式，如果你覺得這就夠了， 能幫助孩子打破命運的魔咒 并且克服部分早期的劣勢。 等一下,這是否就意味著貧窮只是一件無關緊要的事? 你可以說它無關緊要，如果一個小孩出身貧窮—— 只要他們的父母是稱職的，他們也會過得好。

　　I don't believe that's true. This study showsthat poverty and parenting matter. And one study actually put figures onthat, so it looked at children growing up in persistent poverty andhow well they were doing at school.

　　但是我不相信這種說法。 研究表明貧窮和養育方式都對孩子影響很大。 事實上有一個研究對此進行了量化對比， 它觀察了那些在長期窮困的家庭長大的孩子 以及他們在學校的表現。

　　The data showed that even whentheir parents were doing everything right -- putting them to bed ontime and reading to them every day and everything else -- that onlygot those children so far. Good parenting only reduced the educationalgap between the rich and poor children by about 50 percent. Now thatmeans that poverty leaves a really lasting scar, and it means that if wereally want to ensure the success and well-being of the nextgeneration, then tackling child poverty is an incredibly important thingto do.

　　數據表明， 即便他們的父母正確的做了每一件事—— 督促他們按時睡覺 每天給他們朗讀等等—— 也只能幫孩子到這樣。 好的育兒方式也只能將富孩子和窮孩子 之間的教育差距縮小一半。 那意味著貧窮會留下一個持續的創傷, 也意味著如果我們真的想要確保下一代 能夠成功并且幸福, 那么消除兒童貧困就是一件非常重要的事情。

　　Now, what does all this mean for you andme? Are there lessons here we can all take home and use? As ascientist and a journalist, I like to have some science to inform myparenting ... and I can tell you that when you're shouting at yourkids to go to bed on time, it really helps to have the scientificliterature on your side.

　　所有這些對你和我來說 又意味著什么呢? 我們能從這學到什么并為我所用嗎? 作為一個科學家和記者， 我想用一些科學來報告我的育兒經驗 我可以告訴你，當你對你的孩子大喊著 讓他們按時睡覺時， 知道科學數據可以幫助你很多。

　　And wouldn't it be great to think thatall we had to do to have happy, successful children was to talk to them,be interested in their future, put them to bed on time, and give them abook to read? Our job would be done.

　　如果我們只需要跟孩子交談、 關心他們的未來 讓他們按時睡覺、給他們書去閱讀 就能讓他們快樂、成功， 這難道不是想想就讓人很高興的事嗎? 我們的工作完成了。

　　Now, as you can imagine, the answersaren't quite as simple as that. For one thing, this study looks at whathappens to thousands and thousands of children on average, but thatdoesn't necessarily say what will help my child or your child or anyindividual child. In the end, each of our children is going to walk theirown path, and that's partly defined by the genes they inherit and ofcourse all the experiences they have through their lives, including theirinteractions with us, their parents.

　　正如你能想像得到的， 答案不止這么簡單。 首先，這項研究調查了 成千上萬的普通小孩， 但這未必就能幫助我的或你的小孩， 或任何其他的單個小孩。 最終，每個小孩都有自己的路要走， 而那條路部分取決于他們所繼承的基因 當然，還有就是他們生活中的經歷， 包括他們與身為父母的我們的互動。

　　I will tell you what I did after I learnedall this. It's a bit embarrassing. I realized I was so busyworking, and ironically, learning and writing about this incrediblestudy of British children, that there were days when I hardly even spoketo my own British children. So at home, we introduced talkingtime, which is just 15 minutes at the end of the day when we talk andlisten to the boys. I try better now to ask them what they didtoday, and to show that I value what they do at school.

　　告訴你們，我在知道所有這些后 所做的事。 那真的是有點尷尬。 我意識到我太忙于工作了， 而諷刺的是， 在學習和撰寫這個關于英國小孩的 偉大研究時， 有好多天我都難得跟我自己的 英國小孩說話。 所以我們在家里引入了談話時間， 也就是在每天睡覺前的15分鐘里， 我們會跟男孩子們交談。 我比以前更努力地問他們今天做了什么， 并向他們表明我很重視他們在學校的表現。

　　Of course, Imake sure they always have a book to read.I tell them I'm ambitious for theirfuture, and I think they can be happy and do great things. I don'tknow that any of that will make a difference, but I'm pretty confident itwon't do them any harm, and it might even do them some good.

　　當然，我會確保他們隨時有一本可以閱讀的書。 我告訴他們我對他們的未來充滿期望, 我認為他們能快樂并做出了不起的事。 我不知道我做的這些是否對他們有影響， 但是我很相信至少不會對他們造成傷害， 甚至可能對他們有一些幫助。

　　Ultimately, if we want happy children, allwe can do is listen to the science, and of course, listen to ourchildren themselves.Thank you.

　　最后，如果我們想要孩子們快樂 我們所能做的就是聽信科學， 當然， 還有就是聆聽孩子們的聲音。謝謝。

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