2016-01-08 Parents have trouble taking kids off screens 父母很难让孩子离开电子屏幕

一项为慈善机构“儿童行动”所作的调查发现,英国的许多父母发现让自己的孩子去做作业比让他们关掉手机、笔记本电脑或电视更容易。以下是 BBC 罗伯特•皮戈特的报道。

Action for Children questioned 2,000 parents and found that almost a quarter struggled to restrict their children’s screen time. In comparison, only about a fifth said they found it difficult to persuade children to eat healthily or go to bed on time. Homework was a problem for only one in ten parents.

Recent research from Cambridge University found that long periods in front of a screen undermined children’s performance in exams. An extra hour every day of screen time at the age of 14, correlated with a lower score at GCSE at the age of 16, equivalent to two grades.

Action for Children said unplugging youngsters from electronic devices was also important to build strong relationships with parents which made children better able to communicate with adults and less susceptible to bullying or abuse outside the home.

词汇表

struggled 千方百计
persuade 劝说
undermined 削弱
correlated 相关联的
GCSE （英国）普通中等教育证书
unplugging 拔掉（电源插头）
susceptible 容易受到…影响的

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. What percentage of parents had difficulty limiting their children’s screen time?

2. What percentage of parents had difficulty telling their children to go to bed?

3. At what age does it become apparent that too much screen time has affected children’s academic performance?

4. Why might children who have too much screen time end up being bullied? 

答案

1. What percentage of parents had difficulty limiting their children’s screen time?
A quarter, which is equivalent to 25%.

2. What percentage of parents had difficulty telling their children to go to bed?
A fifth of the parents who took part in the research, which is equivalent to 20%.

3. At what age does it become apparent that too much screen time has affected children’s academic performance?
When they were 16 they had a lower score at GCSE.

4. Why might children who have too much screen time end up being bullied?
Because of their lack of good communication with their parents and adults in general.