研究发现疫情期间出生儿童沟通能力相对较弱

近日，爱尔兰皇家外科医学院（RCSI）的一项最新研究发现，疫情期间出生的孩子沟通交流能力相对落后于疫情前出生的孩子。

🤔️小作业：

A. Their performance in mathematics and writing improved, but reading performance stalled.

B. Their performance in mathematics and writing declined, and reading performance also stalled.

C. Their performance remained stable across mathematics, writing, and reading.

D. Their performance improved across all areas.

A. Parents felt emotionally detached due to the pandemic.

B. Parents felt left alone due to a lack of support.

C. Parents felt physically separated from their usual networks of support.

D. Parents felt isolated from their children because of the health protocols.

A. The effects of the pandemic on babies' communication skills will disappear by the age of five.

B. Babies' communication skills will not change after the age of five.

C. The developmental discrepancies noted in the study may balance out by the time children reach school age.

D. All babies' developmental progress will stop at the age of five.

无注释原文：

Children born in pandemic have poorer communication skills, study finds

From: The Guardian

At the age of two, babies born during the pandemic have similar behaviour and development compared with children who were born before Covid-19 arrived – with one exception. Their communication skills lag behind those of their predecessors.

These are the intriguing findings of a study – carried out by researchers based at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) – which examined what life was like for babies born during the pandemic, and the implications for their health and development.

The study – carried out by a team led by Susan Byrne, senior lecturer at the RCSI, and Jonathan Hourihane, the RCSI’s professor of paediatrics – focused on babies born in the first three months of lockdown and compared them with a similar group of babies born before the pandemic. A total of 354 families and their babies were involved in the study.

“We wanted to understand what life was like for babies born during the pandemic, and what it might mean for their general health and development,” Byrne told the Observer.

The team’s discoveries were striking. They found that, at six months, an average of only three people had kissed babies, including their parents – indicating babies had met very few relatives or family friends. One in four babies had not met another child their own age by their first birthday, it was also revealed.

Byrne added that when parents were asked what it felt like to raise a child during lockdown they frequently used words such as “lonely” and “isolating”. On the other hand, it was also found that family time and bonding expanded.

Babies born during the pandemic probably heard fewer words because they were not getting out of their houses, and this may have led to their slightly lower communication scores compared with those of children born earlier.

However, for other attributes – such as motor skills and problem-solving ability – no overall drop in performance was recorded. In addition, questionnaires filled in by parents revealed no differences in their children’s behaviour with regard to sleep problems, anxiety or social withdrawal.

Now the group is hoping to extend the study and follow babies until they start school at the age of five. “That is going to be really important,” Byrne told the Observer.

“Covid restrictions ended quite a while ago, and babies have been out and about doing normal activities, meeting other people, going to play groups. And you’d hope that the findings would settle by the age of five – but we need to find out conclusively if that is really the case.”

The relatively encouraging conclusions of the Irish study contrast with the academic performances of older children.

Last week it was revealed that primary school pupils in England were still doing worse in mathematics and writing compared with standards that were established before the pandemic forced school closures. Reading performance was also found to have stalled.

Standard assessment tests (Sats), taken in England at the end of primary school, showed a slight improvement on last year but results remained far behind 2019, according to figures released last week. Tests were not taken in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid disruption.

Fewer than three-fifths of pupils are reaching the expected standard in the key subjects of reading, writing and maths, it was found. This year’s figure of 59% is down from 65% before lockdown and is considerably lower than the government’s target of 90% of pupils meeting the expected standard in all three disciplines at key stage 2 by 2030.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The results confirm the point made by teachers and researchers: primary schools are still deeply affected by the pandemic, and Sats worsen this already difficult situation. Funding is inadequate.

“Class sizes are growing. The jobs of support staff have been cut. There is no substantial programme to support educational recovery.”

- ◆ -

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：

Children born in pandemic have poorer communication skills, study finds

From: The Guardian

At the age of two, babies born during the pandemic have similar behaviour and development compared with children who were born before Covid-19 arrived – with one exception. Their communication skills lag behind those of their predecessors.

在新冠疫情期间出生的婴儿，在两岁时的行为和发育状况与疫情前出生的孩子相似，但有一点例外：疫情期间出生的孩子沟通交流技巧落后于疫情前出生的孩子。

表示“一般情况以外的人（或事物）；例外”，英文解释为“a person or thing that is not included in a general statement”举个🌰：Nobody had much money at the time and I was no exception. 那时候谁都没有很多钱，我也不例外。

📺美剧《绝望的主妇》（Desperate Housewives）中的台词提到：Rex and Bree Van de Kamp were no exception. 雷克斯和布里·范德坎普也不例外。

表示“缓慢移动；掉队，滞后”，英文解释为“to move or make progress so slowly that you are behind other people or things”举个🌰：Sales are lagging at the moment. 目前的销售很不景气。

predecessor表示“前任，前辈；原有事物，前身”，英文解释为“someone who had a job or a position before someone else, or something that comes before another thing in time or in a series”。

📍successor表示“继任者，接替者；继承人；接替的事物”，英文解释为“someone or something that comes after another person or thing”举个🌰：This range of computers is very fast, but their successors will be even faster. 这个系列的电脑速度很快，但它的换代产品速度会更快。

These are the intriguing findings of a study – carried out by researchers based at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) – which examined what life was like for babies born during the pandemic, and the implications for their health and development.

这是爱尔兰皇家外科医学院（RCSI）的研究人员在一项研究中得出的有趣结论。该研究调查了疫情期间出生的婴儿的生活状况，以及对他们健康和发育的影响。

intriguing /ɪnˈtriː.ɡɪŋ/ 表示“非常有趣的；引人入胜的；神秘的”，英文解释为“very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious”如：an intriguing possibility/question 极具吸引力的可能性/问题。

surgeon /ˈsɜː.dʒən/ 表示“外科医生”，英文解释为“a doctor who is specially trained to perform medical operations”

1）表示“可能的影响（或作用、结果）”，英文解释为“a possible effect or result of an action or a decision”举个🌰：The development of the site will have implications for the surrounding countryside. 这个地点的开发将会影响周围的乡村。

2）表示“含意；暗指，暗示”，英文解释为“an occasion when you seem to suggest something without saying it directly”举个🌰：From what she said, the implication was that they were splitting up. 她的话中暗示他们将要分手。

The study – carried out by a team led by Susan Byrne, senior lecturer at the RCSI, and Jonathan Hourihane, the RCSI’s professor of paediatrics – focused on babies born in the first three months of lockdown and compared them with a similar group of babies born before the pandemic. A total of 354 families and their babies were involved in the study.

爱尔兰皇家外科医学院资深讲师苏珊·伯恩（Susan Byrne）和儿科教授乔纳森·霍里哈恩（Jonathan Hourihane）带领的一个团队进行这项研究，重点关注疫情封控前三个月出生的婴儿，并将他们与疫情前出生的同类婴儿组进行比较。共有354个家庭及其婴儿参与了这项研究。

paediatrics /ˌpiː.diːˈæt.rɪks/ 表示“儿科学”，英文解释为“the science or study of medical care for children”举个🌰：She specializes in paediatrics. 她专攻儿科学。

柯林斯词典2020年度词汇：Lockdown（封锁）。

Lockdown这一词，柯林斯词典官方给出的释义为：the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces. 指的是对出行、社交和进入公共场所实行严格限制。

“We wanted to understand what life was like for babies born during the pandemic, and what it might mean for their general health and development,” Byrne told the Observer.

伯恩告诉《观察家报》：“我们想了解疫情期间出生婴儿的生活状况，以及这对他们的总体健康和发育可能意味着什么。”

The team’s discoveries were striking. They found that, at six months, an average of only three people had kissed babies, including their parents – indicating babies had met very few relatives or family friends. One in four babies had not met another child their own age by their first birthday, it was also revealed.

该研究团队的发现令人震惊。他们发现，在婴儿六个月大时，包括父母在内，平均只有三个人亲吻过婴儿，这表明婴儿接触的亲戚或家人的朋友非常少。结果还显示，四分之一的婴儿在一岁生日前都没有见过同龄孩子。

1）表示“异乎寻常的，惊人的；引人注目的；显著的；不同寻常的”，英文解释为“Something that is striking is very noticeable or unusual.”举个🌰：The most striking feature of those statistics is the high proportion of suicides. 那些统计数据最显著的特征是高自杀率。

2）表示“俊秀的；妩媚动人的；很有魅力的”，英文解释为“Someone who is striking is very attractive, in a noticeable way.”举个🌰：She was a striking woman with long blonde hair. 她曾是一个留着金色长发的俊秀女子。

表示“揭露；泄露；透露”，英文解释为“to make known or show something that is surprising or that was previously secre”举个🌰：He was jailed for revealing secrets to the Russians. 他因为向俄国人泄密而被监禁。

📍单词“reveal”来自拉丁词根“revel-”，意为“揭示，揭露”。想象你正在揭开一个秘密，这就是“reveal”。

Byrne added that when parents were asked what it felt like to raise a child during lockdown they frequently used words such as “lonely” and “isolating”. On the other hand, it was also found that family time and bonding expanded.

伯恩补充说，当父母被问及在封控期间抚养孩子是什么感觉时，他们经常使用“孤独”和“孤立”等词。另一方面，研究还发现，家人共度时光以及家人情感联系均有所增加。

表示“隔离；孤立；分离”，英文解释为“to separate something from other things with which it is connected or mixed；to keep a person or animal separate from other people or animals by putting them in a different place”举个🌰：A high wall isolated the house from the rest of the village. 一堵高墙将这栋房子与村庄的其他部分隔离开来。

不可数名词，表示“人与人之间的关系（或联结）；亲密关系的形成”，英文解释为“the process of forming a special relationship with sb or with a group of people”，如：mother-child bonding 母子亲情，female bonding 女性的情谊。

Babies born during the pandemic probably heard fewer words because they were not getting out of their houses, and this may have led to their slightly lower communication scores compared with those of children born earlier.

疫情期间出生的婴儿可能因无法没有走出家门而听到的话语较少，这或将导致他们的沟通交流分数与更早出生的孩子相比略低。

However, for other attributes – such as motor skills and problem-solving ability – no overall drop in performance was recorded. In addition, questionnaires filled in by parents revealed no differences in their children’s behaviour with regard to sleep problems, anxiety or social withdrawal.

然而，在其他方面，如运动技能和解决问题的能力，总体表现没有下降。此外，父母填写的问卷显示，他们的孩子在睡眠问题、焦虑或社交退缩症方面的行为没有差异。

表示“特性，特质，属性”，英文解释为“a quality or feature, especially one that is considered to be good or useful”举个🌰：What attributes should a good manager possess? 一名优秀的经理应该具备哪些素质？

questionnaire /ˌkwes.tʃəˈneər/ 表示“问卷；情况调查表”，英文解释为“a list of questions that several people are asked so that information can be collected about something”

withdrawal /wɪðˈdrɔː.əl/ 1）表示“沉默寡言；孤僻”，英文解释为“behaviour in which someone prefers to be alone and does not want to talk to other people”举个🌰：Withdrawal is a classic symptom of depression. 沉默寡言是抑郁症的一种典型症状。

2）表示“收回；不再参加；退出（组织）”，英文解释为“the act of no longer taking part in sth or being a member of an organization”如：his withdrawal from the election 他从选举中的退出。

3）表示“撤军”，英文解释为“the process or action of a military force moving out of an area”

📍"Social withdrawal"是指一个人在社交活动中主动保持距离，选择独自待在家或其他私人空间，而避免公共场合或人际交往的行为。这可能是由于他们在社交环境中感到不舒服，或者由于情绪问题（如抑郁或焦虑）而选择自我孤立。用中文解释，通常被称为“社交退缩”或“社交回避”，它指的是一个人主动避免参与社交活动，与他人保持距离的行为。

Now the group is hoping to extend the study and follow babies until they start school at the age of five. “That is going to be really important,” Byrne told the Observer.

现在，该研究团队希望扩大研究范围，追踪婴儿的情况，直至孩子五岁入学。“这将非常重要，”伯恩告诉《观察家报》。

“Covid restrictions ended quite a while ago, and babies have been out and about doing normal activities, meeting other people, going to play groups. And you’d hope that the findings would settle by the age of five – but we need to find out conclusively if that is really the case.”

“新冠疫情的限制措施已经结束一段时间了，孩子们已经开始外出正常活动，接触其他人，参加小组游戏。希望到五岁时，这些现象能够得到改善——但我们需要确定事实是否真的如此。”

The relatively encouraging conclusions of the Irish study contrast with the academic performances of older children.

这项爱尔兰的研究得出的相对令人鼓舞的结论与年龄较大儿童的学习成绩形成了鲜明对比。

Last week it was revealed that primary school pupils in England were still doing worse in mathematics and writing compared with standards that were established before the pandemic forced school closures. Reading performance was also found to have stalled.

上周有消息称，与疫情迫使学校关闭之前制定的标准相比，英格兰小学生的数学和写作成绩仍然较差。阅读成绩也停步不前。

作动词，1）表示“推迟，暂缓；搁置”，英文解释为“If you stall an event, you delay it or prevent it from making progress.”举个🌰：Discussions have once again stalled. 讨论再次停顿下来。

2）表示“停止进展”，英文解释为“to stop making progress”

作名词，1）表示“（房间内的）小隔间，淋浴室，洗手间”，英文解释为“a small area in a room, surrounded by glass, walls, etc., that contains a shower or toilet”。

2）表示“（农场建筑中圈养单只牲畜的）隔栏，分隔间”，英文解释为“a small closed area within a farm building in which there is space for one animal to be kept”

3）表示“货摊，摊位；售货亭”，英文解释为“a large table or a small shop with an open front from which goods are sold in a public place”

Standard assessment tests (Sats), taken in England at the end of primary school, showed a slight improvement on last year but results remained far behind 2019, according to figures released last week. Tests were not taken in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid disruption.

上周公布的数据显示，英格兰小学毕业时进行的标准测评考试（Sats）显示，与去年相比略有改善，但结果仍远远落后于2019年。由于新冠疫情的影响，2020年和2021年没有进行测评考试。

Fewer than three-fifths of pupils are reaching the expected standard in the key subjects of reading, writing and maths, it was found. This year’s figure of 59% is down from 65% before lockdown and is considerably lower than the government’s target of 90% of pupils meeting the expected standard in all three disciplines at key stage 2 by 2030.

调查发现，只有不到五分之三的学生在阅读、写作和数学等关键学科达到了预期标准。今年这一数字为59%，低于疫情封控前的65%，也远低于政府设定的目标，即到2030年，90%的学生在第二关键阶段所有三门学科都达到预期标准。

作名词，表示“知识领域；（尤指大学的）学科，科目，专业”，英文解释为“an area of knowledge; a subject that people study or are taught, especially in a university”。

作动词，1）表示“惩罚，惩罚”，英文解释为“to punish someone”举个🌰：The workman was disciplined by his company but not dismissed. 这名工人被他的公司处罚了，但没有被开除。

2）表示“训练，教导”，英文解释为“to teach someone to behave in a controlled way”，如：a guide to the best ways of disciplining your child 管教子女最佳方法指南。

3）表示“自我控制；严格要求（自己）”，英文解释为“to control the way you behave and make yourself do things that you believe you should do”，举个🌰：He disciplined himself to exercise at least three times a week. 他规定自己每周至少锻炼三次。

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The results confirm the point made by teachers and researchers: primary schools are still deeply affected by the pandemic, and Sats worsen this already difficult situation. Funding is inadequate.

全国教育联盟联合秘书长玛丽·布斯特德博士（Dr Mary Bousted）说：“结果证实了教师和研究人员提出的观点：小学仍然深受疫情的影响，而标准测评考试则使这种本已困难的局面雪上加霜。资金不足。”

“Class sizes are growing. The jobs of support staff have been cut. There is no substantial programme to support educational recovery.”

“班级规模不断扩大。后勤人员工作职位削减。没有实质性的计划来支持教育复苏。”

substantial /səbˈstæn.ʃəl/ 1）表示“大的；可观的；价值巨大的；重大的”，英文解释为“large in size, value, or importance”举个🌰：The findings show a substantial difference between the opinions of men and women. 这些发现表明男性和女性之间存在着重大的意见分歧。

2）表示“基本上的；大体上的”，英文解释为“relating to the main or most important things being considered”举个🌰：The committee was in substantial agreement (= agreed about most of the things discussed). 委员会基本上达成了一致意见。

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