Girls have more firmly embraced digital literacy and formats such as Facebook, email and text message, while boys are more comfortable with traditional printed media such as comics, manuals and newspapers, according to a study published by the National Literacy Trust.

据英国国家识字基金会发布的一项研究表明，女孩更倾向于阅读数字化的文字或版式，如Facebook、邮件，短信等，而男孩则认为阅读传统纸质媒介，如漫画，手册和报纸等更令人惬意。

The snapshot – based on responses from 32,000 pupils at more than 130 schools in the UK – found that girls continue to outpace boys in their enthusiasm for reading outside school at all age levels, with black girls in particular showing a prodigious appetite for literature.

这项面向英国130多所学校的3.2万小学生的调查结果发现，各个年龄阶段女孩都比同龄男孩更热衷于课外阅读，尤其黑人女孩显露出了对文学的惊人嗜好。

Girls studying for GCSEs, for example, were more likely to read emails and social network sites than boys of the same age – and were also more likely to read fiction, suggesting that the growth of digital media has not diminished the popularity of literature.

例如，中学女孩比同龄男孩更喜欢查阅邮件，访问社交网站——也更喜欢读小说。这表明，数字媒体的广泛应用并没有削弱文学的流行性。

Boys studying for GCSEs were more likely than girls to read print products such as comics, with 38% saying they read newspapers at least once a month compared with 30% of girls of the same age.

相反，中学男孩则比女孩更偏爱纸质读物，如漫画，38%的受调查男孩称每月至少阅读一次报纸，而同龄女孩只有30%每月阅读报纸。

Overall, boys reported lower levels of enjoyment from reading than their female peers, according to the figures compiled by the trust. Boys also tended to read less often and think less positively about reading than girls did.

据该基金会调查编写的数据显示，从总体上看，接受调查的男孩不及同龄女孩那般喜欢阅读。男孩较少读书，且不十分重视阅读，而女孩则恰恰相反。

White boys appeared to be the least enthusiastic readers, with nearly one in six saying they had not read a book of any type in the previous month, while only one out of 20 black girls were in the same position.

白人男孩对阅读最不积极，近1/6的接受调查者称在上个月未读过一本书，而黑人女孩中同样情况的仅为1/20。

In contrast, 16% of black girls said they had read at least 10 books or more during the previous month, the highest reported figure among all ethnic groups of the children who responded.

与此同时，16%黑人女孩称，在此前一个月里读了至少10本书。这也是接受调查的所有群体中阅读数量最多的。

The trust said parents needed to be told how important their engagement is for a child’s development, after nearly one pupil in four agreed with the statement: “My parents don’t care if I spend any time reading.”

有近1/4学生坦言：“父母对我的课外阅读漠不关心。”因此，该基金会表示，家长必须意识到参与孩子阅读过程对孩子发展具有的重要意义。

Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said: “More must be done to help parents realise what a difference reading with their children from a young age can make to their future.”

英国国家识字基金会理事乔纳森·道格拉斯(Jonathan Douglas)说道：“必须采取更多的办法帮助家长意识到，在孩子年幼时与孩子一起阅读会对孩子未来影响重大。要做到这一点，我们还必须付出更多努力。”

Cressida Cowell, the author of How to Train Your Dragon and a national literacy ambassador, said: “Reading a book with a child, even an older child, is one of the most important things a parent can do to develop their child’s literacy.

《驯龙高手》(How to Train Your Dragon)的作者及英国国家文学大使克雷茜达·考埃尔(Cressida Cowell)说道：“与孩子一起读书，即便是大孩子，能提升孩子的文学修养，这是父母能为孩子们成长做的一件重要的事。”

“I like to read a variety of books with my children and I think reading regularly is the key to writing well and broadening communication skills.”

“我喜欢和孩子们一起读各类书，我觉得经常性地阅读是提高写作水平，扩展交流话题的关键所在。”

The study found that more girls than boys said they enjoyed reading “very much” by 30% to 19%, with 62% of girls enjoying reading either very much or quite a lot compared with 47% of boys, among ages ranging from eight to 18.

这项调查还发现，在八岁至十八岁年龄层的孩子中，30%女生表示"十分热爱"阅读，而男生为19%。此外，62%女生表示"热爱"阅读，男生为47%。

Nearly twice as many boys as girls said they do not enjoy reading at all, by 13% to 7%.

相反，表示丝毫不喜爱阅读的男生比例几乎为女生的两倍，分别为13%和7%。

More girls than boys said they read for fun outside of class every day, while more than a fifth of boys rarely or never read for fun outside of a classroom.

相比男孩，女孩更喜欢每天阅读课外读物，而超1/5的男孩在课外很少或从不阅读。

“Too many boys still seem disinterested in reading, and far, far too many children simply never become readers at all. So we writers and illustrators and storytellers, and parents and teachers, and publishers and booksellers, must continue to play our part,” said Michael Morpurgo, whose novel War Horse was one of the most popular books cited.

作家迈克尔·莫珀戈(Michael Morpurgo)说道：“太多男孩子似乎仍对阅读不感兴趣，还有非常非常多儿童仍称不上读者。因此，我们作家、插图画家、故事作者还有家长、老师、出版商和销售商都必须继续发挥作用”。其所著的《战马》(War Horse)曾为最受欢迎的图书之一。

One finding from the study was that young people who received free school meals said they were more likely to read poetry outside of class than those who did not qualify for free lunches.

这项研究还有一个发现，即享受学校免费午餐的年轻人比起无资格享受免费午餐的年轻人更喜欢课外阅读诗歌。

Vocabulary

format 版式

prodigious 惊人的

GCSE (英国)普通中等教育证书(General Certificate of Secondary Education)