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Rob:Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Rob.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语。我是鲍勃。
Neil:And I'm Neil. Hello.
我是尼尔。大家好。
Rob:Well Neil I've got a question for you straight away. Were you a summer baby? Were you born in the summer?
尼尔，我现在有一个问题要问你。你是夏生儿吗？你是夏天出生的吗？
Neil:Um…Yes, I was actually. Late summer.
啊，是的。夏末出生的。
Rob:OK. And did you go to university?
你上大学了吗？
Neil:Yes…? Strange questions here, Rob.
上了啊？鲍勃，你这个问题很奇怪。
Rob:Not really. My questions do make sense because we're talking about the impact when you were born has on how well you perform at school.
这个问题并不奇怪，因为我们今天要讨论的是人何时出生对其学习成绩的影响。
Neil:OK. Are you calling me stupid here, Rob?
好吧。那你是在说我傻吗，鲍勃？
Rob:Nothing like that. Well maybe… let's wait and see what the experts have to say. But before that, I've got another question for you.
没有那回事。啊，或许是的……让我们稍后看一下专家是怎么说的吧。但在那之前，我还有一个问题要问你。
Neil:OK then – let's see if I'm clever enough to answer it!
好的，那就看看我是否足够聪明来回答你的问题！
Rob:OK. Well, based on birth records between 1973 and 1999, what is the most common birthday for a person in the United States? Is it:
好。根据1973——1999年的出生记录，美国人中最普遍的生日是哪一天？它是
a) 1st January b) 16th September c) 30th March
a)1月1日 b)9月16日 c)3月30日
Neil:I'm gonna guess 30th March.
我猜3月30日。
Rob:OK. Well, we'll hear the answer at the end of the programme. Another question now. According to research, are summer born babies?more likely?or?less likely?to go to university?
好的。我们在节目结束时将会听到问题的答案。现在请回答另一个问题。根据调查，夏生儿读大学的几率是大还是小？
Neil:Well, we are going to hear from an expert. Lorraine Dearden, who is Professor of Economics and Social Statistics at University College London (UCL). She was interviewed by the BBC about summer-born babies. She talks about the research, how well do they do in tests? How do they?perform?
我们接下来会听到一位来自伦敦大学学院的经济和社会统计学教授，洛林·狄尔登，的说法。BBC就夏生儿问题对其进行了采访，她会谈到就该问题进行的调查，以及夏生儿的考试成绩及其在校表现。
All the research has shown that summer born kids perform much worse in tests right through up until the age of eighteen and even their life，they're less likely to attend?higher education.
所有的调查都表明夏生儿直到18岁甚至一直到老的考试成绩都很差，他们接受高等教育的可能性也比较小。
I mean, these are?startling?statistics 20% are less likely to go to university.
他们读大学的概率低20%，这真是令人震惊的数字。
Absolutely.
确实是。
Rob:That was Professor Lorraine Deardon with some really really surprising statistics – startling statistics, in fact.
洛林·狄尔登教授为我们提供了相当令人吃惊的数字——令人震惊的数字，实际上是。
Neil:Yes, she says summer born kids perform much worse in tests.
是的，她说夏生儿的考试成绩要差很多。
Rob:Yes, these summer born kids perform worse at school right through until the age of eighteen when they might be thinking about going to university.
是的，这些夏生儿差的学校表现会持续到18岁——大概是他们考虑读大学的年龄。
Neil:Yes, university. That's higher education.
是的，大学，也就是高等教育。
Rob:So the professor said, according to research, summer babies are less likely to go to university - 20% in fact.
刚才教授说，据调查夏生儿读大学的可能性实际上要低20%。
Neil:Really? Well, don’t forget Rob, I told you I'm a summer baby. Well, I went to university.
真的吗？鲍勃，别忘了，我告诉过你我也是夏生儿。但我读过大学。
Rob:Yes, of course. These are just?statistics?– just figures. But if you are a parent of a child starting school these statistics are worrying.
当然。这只是统计数据——只是数字。但是如果你是刚刚开始上学的孩子的家长这些数字着实让人忧心。
Neil:Well they shouldn't worry. There are lots of people who were born in the summer that have done very well at university, thank you. And some of them are now professors.
他们并不需要担心。有很多在夏天出生的人在大学表现很好，谢谢。而且，他们当中的一些人现在做了教授。
Rob:OK. Or BBC presenters， like you Neil.
对，或者BBC主持人，比如你，尼尔。
Neil:Yes, like me. But here is the problem. Let's say you have a child. He's a boy, born in August. He's now 4 years old so he can start school this September. But in his class there are students whose birthday is coming very soon so they’re going to be 5 – that's almost a year older than your child.
对。但是有一个问题。假如你有一个孩子，一个男孩，8月出生。他今年四岁，所以他今年九月份可以开始上学了。但是他所在的班里有的学生的生日很快就要到了，那么他们就要五岁了——这样他们就会比你的孩子大将近一岁。
Rob:So parents want their kids to do well at school ，they are concerned ，and now the government is trying to help – they're trying to?address?those?concerns. England's schools minister Nick Gibbs says that the government wants to change the?admissions?rules for schools.
父母想让自己的孩子在学校取得好成绩，所以他们感到担心，现在政府正在设法帮忙——它们正致力于消除家长们的这种担忧。英格兰教育部长尼克·吉布斯说政府想要改变学校的录取政策。
Neil:The rule now in much of England is that children must start school in September after their fourth birthday.
现在在英国大部分学校规定，学生们必须在过完他们第四个生日后的九月入学。
Rob:The schools minister says these rules should be changed. "Parents know their children best," said Mr Gibb.
教育部长说这些规定应该做出更改，“父母最了解自己的孩子”吉布斯先生说。
Neil:Parents don't want to send their children to school before they are ready.
父母不想让他们的孩子没有做好准备就去上学。
Rob:So here is the proposal – or suggested new rules. If a child is born in the summer, parents could?delay?the child's start of school by up to a year.
这里有一个提议——或者说是一个新规定的建议：如果一个孩子在夏天出生，那么父母可以让孩子们最多推迟一年入学。
Neil:So the child will start school at 5 years old. Great.But does our expert Professor Lorraine Dearden think that's a good idea. Is this the way to address the problem of the age difference?
那么这样的孩子要从五岁开始上学了。太好了。但是我们的洛林·狄尔登教授会认为这是一个好主意吗？这是解决年龄差异问题的方法吗？
Ah no, it's not. I mean, basically, the reason why these children do worse in tests right throughout their life is simply that they are up to a year younger than their September born colleagues and this does nothing to address this.
啊，不是的。从根本上说，这些孩子直到老考试成绩一直差仅仅是因为他们比他们九月份出生的同学或同事小将近一岁。
Neil:Professor Lorraine Dearden. She says that the new?policy?does nothing to address the problem of the age difference.
洛林·狄尔登教授说新的政策在解决年龄差异的问题上起不到任何作用。
Rob:There are still going to be 4 year olds in the class. Perhaps there will be more 5 year olds now because parents can delay their child's start at school.
在新入学孩子的班级里仍然会有四岁的孩子。但是或许由于现在家长可以延迟孩子的入学时间，这些班里五岁的孩子会更多。
Neil:Yes, the new policy addresses the concerns of parents that their children are not ready for school at 4 years old.
是的，新的政策消除了年满四岁但未做好准备上学的孩子的父母的担忧。
Rob:but there will always be this age difference in a classroom and many of the younger children will do worse in tests. Professor Dearden says that the proposal to change the schools admission policy does nothing to address this.
但是一个班的学生之间将永远存在年龄差距，而其中很多小一些的孩子考试成绩会较差。洛林·狄尔登教授说改变录取政策的提议对解决这一问题并无成效。
OK, time now for the answer to the question I set you at the beginning of the programme. I asked: based on birth records between 1973 and 1999, what is the most common birthday for a person in the United States? Is it:
好了，现在是回答我在节目开始问你的问题的时间了。我的问题是：根据1973——1999年的出生记录，美国人中最普遍的生日是哪一天？它是
a) 1st January b) 16th September c) 30th March
a)1月1日 b)9月16日 c)3月30日
Neil:And I guessed the 30th March.
我猜的是3月30日。
Rob:But you are wrong I'm afraid. The answer is actually the 16th September. Happy birthday to whoever was born then anyway.
但是恐怕你猜错了。答案实际上是9月16日。总之，祝这一天出生的人生日快乐。
Neil:Yeah. OK, Rob. Can you tell us the words we learned today again please?
好的，鲍勃。你能再跟我们说一遍今天学到的单词吗？
Rob:Of course. We heard:
当然。我们听到了：
more likely / less likely
可能性大/可能性小
perform
表现
higher education
高等教育
startling
令人震惊的
statistics
数据
admissions
录取
delay
推迟
policy
政策
concerns
担忧
address the problem
处理问题
Neil:Well, that's the end of 6 Minute English. Please do join us again soon.Bye.
六分钟英语到这里就结束了。请下次继续收听我们的节目。再见。
