挖呀挖呀挖，为啥这么上头！

“在什么样的花园里面，挖呀挖呀挖。种什么样的种子，开什么样的花。在小小的花园里面，挖呀挖呀挖。种小小的种子，开小小的花……”

近日，这首儿歌走红网络，众多网友表示「太上头」，随后各种版本的「挖呀挖呀挖」风靡全网。

借（cèng）此（gè）机（rè）会（diǎn），我们就来看看儿歌对孩子们有什么好处呢？

🤔️小作业：

1. What is the main purpose of nursery rhymes according to Dr Georgina Nutton and Dr Bea Staley?

A) To teach young children how to read proficiently.

B) To provide a sense of security and familiarity for young children.

C) To help young children develop patterns in language.

D) To calm young children down before they go to bed.

A) To fill their vocabulary piggy banks.

B) To improve their future reading proficiency.

C) To develop their phonemic patterns.

D) To have fun with language activities.

无注释原文：

Why are nursery rhymes both a blessing for parents and important to children?

From: ABC NEWS

21 Jun 2017

As evening sets in and parents put their children to bed, many resort to singing nursery rhymes to lull them off to sleep.

But nursery rhymes are not just a good way of calming your kids, they also teach them a few things.

Dr Georgina Nutton, an early childhood education lecturer at Charles Darwin University (CDU), said nursery rhymes provided children with the building blocks of their first language.

She said the rhyming couplets found in songs like This Old Man, Hey Diddle Diddle and Humpty Dumpty taught children patterns in language that develop as they grow.

"When they get to about [age] two or three, you will say something and your child will come up with every obscene rhyming word that goes with what you've said," Dr Nutton said.

"It's just a playful use of language but it tells us that the child understands those phonemic patterns."

'Like filling a piggy bank'

CDU special education lecturer and speech pathologist Dr Bea Staley said nursery rhymes were certainly not integral to a child's development, but they did help.

"You can get by without them, but why would you?

"From a language standpoint, little kids are a like a piggy bank and you've got to keep putting words in because when they get to school, school is going to start withdrawing that cash.

"The more words they've got at that point, the better they tend to do at school."

She said it was the repetitive nature of most nursery rhymes that taught children how sounds and sentences worked.

"Really, they are one of the best predictors of future reading proficiency when kids get to school," she said.

"And when you see that phenomena where kids just magically learn to read, it's those kids who usually have lots of experience with things like nursery rhymes, rhyme play and sound play."

Can I make up my own rhymes?

From a speech pathology point of view, Dr Staley said parents making up their own songs or rhymes had its benefits but they needed to show some caution.

"Traditional nursery rhymes already have the rhyme and the cadence, the things that children need," she said.

"If you're making up your own nursery rhymes you might be undoing some of that, but I still think it would be a good language activity."

Dr Nutton said from an early childhood education perspective, growing children needed a growing vocabulary and made-up songs could offer that.

"There's a lot of fun that you can have making up silly songs and rhyming as your child gets older," she said.

"[But] if you're enjoying what you're doing and you're having fun with it, that's what they will learn, rather than the specific content of the rhyme or the song."

Any song will do

While rhymes, whether traditional or made up, may be the best for developing language and filling your child's vocabulary piggy bank, Dr Nutton said there was nothing wrong with simply singing your child to sleep.

"I wouldn't suggest too much heavy metal at bed time, but anything that's really familiar to you and has a bit of a rhythm to it can be used.

"While you're singing your tone will drop a little and you'll be using nice rhythmic patterns, but there's also a level of how familiar your child is with your particular voice.

"From before they're born they're hearing your voice so that creates a sense of security and familiarity."

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Why are nursery rhymes both a blessing for parents and important to children?

From: ABC NEWS

21 Jun 2017

As evening sets in and parents put their children to bed, many resort to singing nursery rhymes to lull them off to sleep.

当夜幕降临，父母们将孩子哄睡的方法之一就是唱儿歌。

nursery rhyme /ˈnɜː.sər.i ˌraɪm/ 表示“儿歌，童谣”，英文解释为“a short and usually very old poem or song for young children”如：a book of nursery rhymes 儿歌集。

1）表示“祈神赐福；祝福”，英文解释为“a request by a priest for God to take care of a particular person or a group of people, or God's act of doing this”，如：to pray for God's blessing 祈求上帝降福。

2）表示“好事；有益之事；幸事”，英文解释为“something that is good or helpful”举个🌰：It's a blessing that nobody was in the house at the time. 幸好当时屋子里没人。

3）sb. blessing表示“同意；支持；许可，赞同”，英文解释为“If something is done with someone's blessing, it is done with their approval and support”举个🌰：He went with his parents' blessing. 他是得到父母的同意去的。

另外，补充两个表达：

📍mixed blessing表示“喜忧参半，福祸兼有的事物，利弊并存的事物”，英文解释为“something that has advantages and disadvantages”举个🌰：Getting into the team is a mixed blessing - I'll have to spend a lot of time training. 加入这支队伍有好处也有坏处——我得花许多时间训练。

📍a blessing in disguise表示“祸中之福，因祸得福”，英文解释为“something that seems bad or unlucky at first, but results in something good happening later”举个🌰：Losing that job was a blessing in disguise really. 失去那份工作真是因祸得福。

set /set/ 表示“（不好的事）到来，开始（而且可能会持续）”，英文解释为“When something unpleasant sets in, it begins and seems likely to continue in a serious way.”举个🌰：This rain looks as if it has set in for the rest of the day. 看来今天雨不会停。

表示“（别无办法的情况下）诉诸，依靠，采用”，英文解释为“to do something that you do not want to do because you cannot find any other way of achieving something”举个🌰：I had to resort to violence/threats to get my money. 为了拿到我的钱，我被迫诉诸暴力/采取威胁的手段。

lull /lʌl/ 表示“使安静，使平和；使发困”，英文解释为“to cause someone to feel calm or to feel that they want to sleep”举个🌰：The motion of the car almost lulled her to sleep. 汽车的颠簸让她昏昏欲睡。

But nursery rhymes are not just a good way of calming your kids, they also teach them a few things.

但儿歌不仅是安抚孩子的好方法，还能教他们一些东西。

Dr Georgina Nutton, an early childhood education lecturer at Charles Darwin University (CDU), said nursery rhymes provided children with the building blocks of their first language.

查尔斯·达尔文大学（CDU）早期幼儿教育讲师乔治娜·纳顿博士（Dr Georgina Nutton）表示，儿歌为孩子们提供了第一语言的基础。

building block 原意表示“积木”，此处意思是“基础；构成要素”，英文解释为“the basic things that are put together to make something exist”举个🌰：Science and the arts are the building blocks of a good education. 科学和艺术是良好教育的基本要素。

📍写作句型积累：xxx set up the building blocks for/of ... 奠定了...的基础。

She said the rhyming couplets found in songs like This Old Man, Hey Diddle Diddle and Humpty Dumpty taught children patterns in language that develop as they grow.

她说，在《This Old Man》、《Hey Diddle Diddle》和《Humpty Dumpty》等歌曲中的对仗押韵句子让孩子们学会了语言的模式，这些模式随着他们的成长而发展。

rhyme /raɪm/ 作动词，表示“押韵；成韵；和…同韵”，英文解释为“Words that rhyme have the same last sound”举个🌰："Blue" and "flew" rhyme. blue 和 flew 押韵。

作名词，表示“押韵诗；（尤指）儿歌”，英文解释为“a short poem, especially for young children”如：a book of rhymes and songs 一本儿童诗歌集。

couplet /ˈkʌp.lət/ 表示“（尤指长度、韵脚相同的）对句”，英文解释为“two lines of poetry next to each other, especially ones that rhyme (= have words with the same sounds) and have the same length and rhythm”如：a rhyming couplet 押韵对句。

"When they get to about [age] two or three, you will say something and your child will come up with every obscene rhyming word that goes with what you've said," Dr Nutton said.

纳顿博士说：“当他们到大约两三岁，你说话时，你的孩子就会想到每一个与你所说的话相匹配的押韵词。”

obscene /əbˈsiːn/ 1）表示“（数量等）大得惊人的，骇人听闻的”，英文解释为“extremely large in size or amount in a way that most people find unacceptable and offensive”举个🌰：The salaries some bankers earn are obscene. 有些银行高管的薪水高得令人咋舌。

2）表示“猥亵的；淫秽的；下流的；粗俗的”，英文解释为“offensive, rude, or shocking, usually because of being too obviously related to sex or showing sex”。

"It's just a playful use of language but it tells us that the child understands those phonemic patterns."

“这只是一种有趣的语言运用，但它告诉我们，孩子理解这些语音模式。”

phonemic /fəˈniːm.ɪk/ 表示“音位的，音素的”，英文解释为“relating to the phonemes of a language”

'Like filling a piggy bank' 就像装满存钱罐一样

CDU special education lecturer and speech pathologist Dr Bea Staley said nursery rhymes were certainly not integral to a child's development, but they did help.

查尔斯·达尔文大学特殊教育讲师、语言病理学家贝亚·斯泰利博士（Dr Bea Staley）说，儿歌并非孩子成长的必要组成部分，但确实有所帮助。

piggy bank /ˈpɪɡ.i ˌbæŋk/ 表示“（猪形）储蓄罐”，英文解释为“a small container, sometimes in the shape of a pig, that is used by children for saving money”

pathologist /pəˈθɒl.ə.dʒɪst/ 表示“病理学家”，英文解释为“an expert in the study of diseases, especially someone who examines a dead person's body and cuts it open to discover how they died”

integral /ˈɪn.tɪ.ɡrəl/ 表示“构成整体所必需的”，英文解释为“necessary and important as a part of a whole”举个🌰：He's an integral part of the team and we can't do without him. 他是球队不可缺少的一员，没有他我们可不行。

"You can get by without them, but why would you?

“没有儿歌你也能过得去，但为什么要这样做呢?”

"From a language standpoint, little kids are a like a piggy bank and you've got to keep putting words in because when they get to school, school is going to start withdrawing that cash.

“从语言的角度来看，小孩子就像一个存钱罐，你必须不断地输入单词，因为当他们上学时，才能有所输出。”

standpoint /ˈstænd.pɔɪnt/ 表示“观点，立场”，英文解释为“a set of beliefs and ideas from which opinions and decisions are formed”举个🌰："I have to put aside my emotions," he says, "and consider it from a professional standpoint." “我必须将个人感情搁在一边，”他说：“以专业的眼光去看它。”

表示“抽回；取回；提取；撤回；撤离；退出；移回”，英文解释为“to take or move out or back, or to remove”举个🌰：She had to withdraw from the competition because of a leg injury. 她因伤只好退出了比赛。

"The more words they've got at that point, the better they tend to do at school."

“那时他们掌握的单词越多，他们在学校的表现往往就越好。”

She said it was the repetitive nature of most nursery rhymes that taught children how sounds and sentences worked.

她说，大多数儿歌的重复性教会了孩子们如何运用声音和句子。

repetitive /rɪˈpet.ə.tɪv/ 表示“（尤指以乏味的方式）重复的，反复的”，英文解释为“involving doing or saying the same thing several times, especially in a way that is boring”如：a repetitive job/task 重复单调的工作/任务。

"Really, they are one of the best predictors of future reading proficiency when kids get to school," she said.

“真的，孩子们上学时，这是未来阅读能力的最佳预测指标之一，”她说。

表示“（可让人预报未来的事件或事实）预报性事物；预测器；预示物；预测因子”，英文解释为“something such as an event or fact that enables you to say what will happen in the future”。

📍长期不读书会降低表达能力吗？文中出现这个词：For the older children — ages 12 to 17 — one of the largest predictors was whether they had time to read on their own during the school day. 而对于年龄较大的孩子（12岁至17岁）来说，最大的预测指标之一是，他们在校期间是否有时间自主阅读。

proficiency /prəˈfɪʃ.ən.si/ 表示“熟练；精通”，英文解释为“the fact of having the skill and experience for doing something”举个🌰：The job ad said they wanted proficiency in at least two languages. 招聘广告说他们希望至少精通两种语言。

"And when you see that phenomena where kids just magically learn to read, it's those kids who usually have lots of experience with things like nursery rhymes, rhyme play and sound play."

“当你看到那些孩子神奇地学会阅读时，这些孩子通常接触了很多儿歌、韵律游戏和声音游戏等。”

phenomenon /fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/ 复数形式：phenomena，除了表示“（尤指不寻常的或有趣的）现象”，英文解释为“something that exists and can be seen, felt, tasted, etc., especially something unusual or interesting”举个🌰：Gravity is a natural phenomenon. 重力是一种自然现象。

phenomenon还可以表示“非凡的人（或事物）；奇才；奇迹”，英文解释为“someone or something that is extremely successful, often because of special qualities or abilities”举个🌰：The Beatles were a phenomenon - nobody had heard anything like them before. 甲壳虫乐队真是个奇迹，在此之前人们从未听说过像他们那样杰出的乐队。

Can I make up my own rhymes? 我可以自己编儿歌吗？

From a speech pathology point of view, Dr Staley said parents making up their own songs or rhymes had its benefits but they needed to show some caution.

从语音病理学的角度来看，斯泰利博士表示，父母自己创作押韵儿歌也有好处，但需谨慎。

"Traditional nursery rhymes already have the rhyme and the cadence, the things that children need," she said.

“传统儿歌已具备了孩子们所需的韵律和节奏，”她说。

cadence /ˈkeɪ.dəns/ 表示“（嗓音的）抑扬顿挫，起落”，英文解释为“the regular rise and fall of the voice”或者表示“（乐曲的）收束，终止”，英文解释为“a set of chords (= different notes played together) at the end of a piece of music”

"If you're making up your own nursery rhymes you might be undoing some of that, but I still think it would be a good language activity."

“如果你自己创作儿歌，可能会破坏一些东西，但我仍然认为这将是一种很好的语言活动。”

Dr Nutton said from an early childhood education perspective, growing children needed a growing vocabulary and made-up songs could offer that.

纳顿博士表示，从早期幼儿教育的角度来看，成长中的孩子需要越来越多的词汇，而自己创作儿歌能够实现这一点。

表示“（思考问题的）角度，观点，想法”，英文解释为“a particular way of considering something”举个🌰：Her attitude lends a fresh perspective to the subject. 她的态度为这一问题提供了新的视角。

"There's a lot of fun that you can have making up silly songs and rhyming as your child gets older," she said.

“随着孩子年龄的增长，你可以编一些搞笑的押韵儿歌，这很有趣，”她说。

"[But] if you're enjoying what you're doing and you're having fun with it, that's what they will learn, rather than the specific content of the rhyme or the song."

“[但]如果你喜欢你所做的事情并且享受其中，那就是他们会学到的东西，而不是韵律或儿歌中的具体内容。”

Any song will do 任何歌曲都可以

While rhymes, whether traditional or made up, may be the best for developing language and filling your child's vocabulary piggy bank, Dr Nutton said there was nothing wrong with simply singing your child to sleep.

虽然无论是传统的还是自己创作的儿歌，都可能是培养语言能力和丰富孩子词汇量的最佳方式，但纳顿博士表示，单纯地唱歌哄孩子入睡也没有问题。

"I wouldn't suggest too much heavy metal at bed time, but anything that's really familiar to you and has a bit of a rhythm to it can be used.

“我不建议睡前听太多重金属音乐，但任何你熟悉的、有节奏的歌曲都可以。”

heavy metal /ˌhev.i ˈmet.əl/ 表示“重金属摇滚乐”，英文解释为“a style of rock music with a strong beat, played very loudly using electric guitars”

"While you're singing your tone will drop a little and you'll be using nice rhythmic patterns, but there's also a level of how familiar your child is with your particular voice.

“当你唱歌时，你的声音会略微降调，并且你可能会使用好听的节奏模式。但是，孩子对你的声音有多么熟悉也会影响他们的反应。”

"From before they're born they're hearing your voice so that creates a sense of security and familiarity."

“从出生前开始，他们就能听到你的声音，这给他们带来了安全感和熟悉感。”

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