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Children's intellectual development —— Bedtime stories
兒童智力發展：睡前故事
Regular sleeping hours really are good for children — if they are girls
有規律的睡眠時間對兒童真的有好處—如果她們是女孩
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IN THAT mythical era when children were seen and not heard, and did as they were told without argument, everyone knew that regular bedtimes were important.
在那個孩子們被看見卻不被傾聽，沒有任何異議順從地去做被告知的事的神話般的年代，人人都知道有規律的就寢時間很重要。
Dream on! most modern parents might reply.
大部分現代傢長可能會這樣回復：怎麼可能，做夢吧 !
But research by Yvonne Kelly of University College, London, shows that the ancient wisdom is right — half the time.
但是倫敦大學學院的 Yvonne Kelly 的研究表明，古老的智慧有一半是正確的。
Daughters, it seems, do benefit from regular bedtimes. Sons do not.
有規律的就寢時間對女兒似乎確實有益，對兒子卻沒有效果。
Dr Kelly knew of many studies that had looked at the connection between sleep habits and cognitive ability in adults and adolescents.
博士 Kelly 熟知很多關於睡眠習慣與成年人、青少年認知能力聯系的研究。
All showed that inconsistent sleeping schedules went hand in hand with poor academic performance.
所有研究都表明，反復無常睡眠安排和糟糕的學業表現是密切相關的。
Surprisingly, however, little such research had been done on children.
然而令人驚訝的是，幾乎沒有關於兒童這方面的研究。
She and a team of colleagues therefore examined the bedtimes and cognitive abilities of 11,178 children born in Britain between September 2000 and January 2002, who are enrolled in a multidisciplinary research project called the Millennium Cohort Study.
因此，她和她同事組成的團隊調查瞭那些註冊參加瞭千禧世代研究多學科研究項目、在 2000 年 9 月到 2002 年 1 月期間在英國出生的 11,178 個孩子的就寢時間和認知能力方面的信息。
The bedtime information they used was collected during four visits interviewers made to the homes of those participating in the study.
他們用的就寢時間的信息是在四次訪問期間，采訪者去那些參加瞭這個研究的傢裡收集的。
These happened when the children were nine months, three years, five years and seven years of age.
訪問會在孩子九個月大，三歲，五歲和七歲時進行。
Besides asking whether the children had set bedtimes on weekdays and if they always, usually, sometimes or never made them, interviewers collected information about family routines, economic circumstances and other matters — including including whether children were read to before they went to sleep and whether they had a television in their bedroom.
除瞭問孩子們是否在工作日按時作息以及他們是總是、經常、有時按時作息，還是從未按時作息。采訪者也會收集關於傢庭的日常生活慣例，經濟狀況，還有其他事項—包括傢長是否會在孩子睡覺前讀東西給孩子聽，孩子的臥室是否有電視。
The children in question were also asked, at the ages of three, five and seven, to take standardised reading, mathematical and spatial-awareness tests, from which their IQs could be estimated.
在三歲，五歲和七歲時，孩子們也會被要求去做標準化閱讀、數學還有空間感測試，通過這些測試來評估他們的智商。
Dr Kelly's report, just published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, shows that by the time children had reached the age of seven, not having had a regular bedtime did seem to affect their cognition, even when other pertinent variables such as bedtime reading, bedroom televisions and parents' socioeconomic status were controlled for.
Kelly 博士的報告剛在《流行病學和公共健康雜志》上發表，其報告顯示在兒童到瞭 7 歲的時候，即便在睡前閱讀，臥室電視還有父母社會經濟地位等相關變量被控制的情況下，沒有一個有規律的就寢時間似乎的確會影響他們的認知能力。
But that was true only if they were female. On the IQ scale, whose mean value is 100 points, girls who had had regular bedtimes scored between eight and nine points more than those who did not.
但是隻有在女孩身上才有這個影響。在智商測量中，女孩的平均得分是 100 分，有定期就寢時間的女孩的分數比那些沒有定期就寢時間的女孩分數要高 8 到 9 分。
Boys were not completely unaffected.
男孩並不是完全不受影響。
Irregular bedtimes left their IQs about six points below those of their contemporaries at the age of three.
在他們三歲的時候，無規律的就寢時間讓他們智商分數要比他們的同齡人要低大約 6 分。
But the distinction vanished by the time they were seven.
但是當他們到瞭 7 歲的時候，這個差異消失瞭。
This difference between the sexes is baffling.
不同性別之間的不同是令人困惑的。
Dr Kelly did not expect it and has no explanation to offer for it.
Kelly 博士並沒有預料到這點，並且不能對此提供任何解釋。
As scientists are wont to say, but this time with good reason, more research is necessary.
就像科學傢們習慣的說的，更多的研究是有必要的，但是這一次有很好的理由。
Meanwhile, in the going-to-bed wars most households with young children suffer, the sons of the house have acquired extra ammunition.
同時，在大部分有著年幼的孩子的傢庭所痛苦的去床上睡覺的戰爭中，傢裡的兒子們已經獲得瞭額外的彈藥。
Mind you, those with the nous to read and understand Dr Kelly's results are probably not suffering from their sleep regimes anyway.
註意，無論如何，如果孩子們能夠理性地閱讀與理解 Kelly 博士的研究結果，他們或許不會因其睡眠方式而受損。
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