考研英語(yǔ)美文賞讀（34）：家庭和學(xué)校背景對(duì)一個(gè)人的影響有多大？

　　摘要：考研英語(yǔ)作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學(xué)了英語(yǔ)十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語(yǔ)上的情況，因此英語(yǔ)復(fù)習(xí)不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語(yǔ)的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會(huì)不定時(shí)推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語(yǔ)閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　?Families and schools have a substantial influence on whether young people go to university but no effect on how well students perform once they get there, according to the first study of genetic and environmental influences on higher education.

　　首份關(guān)于遺傳和環(huán)境對(duì)高等教育的影響的研究顯示，家庭和學(xué)校背景對(duì)年輕人是否進(jìn)入大學(xué)存在顯著影響，但對(duì)他們?nèi)雽W(xué)后的學(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)沒有影響。

　　Researchers at King’s College London studied 3,000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins and 3,000 other people in the UK, in an effort to disentangle the factors that determine university enrolment and performance.

　　倫敦國(guó)王學(xué)院的研究人員對(duì)英國(guó)3000對(duì)同卵和異卵雙胞胎、以及另外3000人進(jìn)行了研究，試圖找到是哪些因素決定一個(gè)人是否進(jìn)入大學(xué)和入學(xué)后的學(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)。

　　Results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

　　該研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《科學(xué)報(bào)告》雜志上。

　　Genetic factors account for 51 per cent of differences between school leavers in whether or not they go on to university. What the researchers call “shared environment” — mainly school and family background — accounts for 36 per cent, while “non-shared environment”, reflecting individual circumstances, contributes the remaining 13 per cent.

　　高中畢業(yè)生能否進(jìn)入大學(xué)，遺傳因素占51%的原因。研究人員所說的“共同環(huán)境”——主要指學(xué)校和家庭背景——占36%，而反映個(gè)體狀況的“非共同環(huán)境”占13%。

　　Although the King’s study did not look specifically at students’ socio-economic background, the findings support the view that teenagers from poor and disadvantaged families are less likely than their more privileged counterparts to proceed to a university education for which their genes are well suited.

　　雖然該研究沒有特別分析學(xué)生的社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)背景，但研究的發(fā)現(xiàn)支持如下觀點(diǎn)：與出身較好的同齡人相比，來自貧困和弱勢(shì)家庭的青少年接受大學(xué)教育的可能性更低，即使他們的基因條件非常有利。

　　Researchers suggested that admissions policies should take more account of these social factors into account.

　　研究人員建議，招生政策應(yīng)該更多地考慮到這些社會(huì)因素。

　　“You would expect heritability — the genetic influence — to increase in a fairer and more equitable society,” said Emily Smith-Woolley, one member of the research team at King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience

　　倫敦國(guó)王學(xué)院精神病學(xué)、心理學(xué)和神經(jīng)學(xué)研究所這個(gè)研究小組的成員之一埃米莉·史密斯-伍利表示，“你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，在較為公平和平等的社會(huì)里，遺傳力——即基因影響——的作用更大。”

　　An earlier study by King’s researchers showed that shared environment played a big role in secondary education, accounting for 40 per cent of differences in whether students choose to take A-levels.

　　國(guó)王學(xué)院的研究人員所做的一項(xiàng)早期研究表明，在中等教育階段，共同環(huán)境扮演了重要角色，對(duì)學(xué)生是否選擇參加英國(guó)高考發(fā)揮了40%的影響。

　　Once someone gets to university, the contribution of “shared environment” declines to less than 1 per cent. Achievement, measured by the student’s final degree class, is determined 46 per cent by genetics and 53 per cent by non-shared or individual environment.

　　一旦進(jìn)入大學(xué)，“共同環(huán)境”的影響則下降到不足1%。以學(xué)生的最終學(xué)位等級(jí)來衡量，學(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)的46%由基因決定，53%由非共同環(huán)境（即個(gè)人狀況）決定。

　　“Unlike secondary school, where students tend to share educational experiences, university provides young people with greater opportunity to be independent and to carve out their interests based on their natural abilities and aptitudes,” said Ziada Ayorech, another King’s researcher.

　　國(guó)王學(xué)院另一位研究人員齊亞達(dá)·阿約雷希表示：“在中學(xué)階段，學(xué)生們的教育經(jīng)歷往往相同，大學(xué)則為年輕人提供了更多機(jī)會(huì)，讓他們能夠獨(dú)立，能夠根據(jù)自己的天賦天資打造自己的興趣。”

　　“Students’ unique environments — such as new friends and new experiences — appear to be explaining differences in university achievement and the role of shared environment becomes less significant.”

　　“學(xué)生各自所處的獨(dú)特環(huán)境——比如新朋友和新經(jīng)歷——似乎可以解釋大學(xué)階段表現(xiàn)的差異以及共同環(huán)境為什么變得沒那么重要。”

　　Apart from studying the overall contribution of genes to educational achievement, scientists are beginning to identify some of the thousands of specific DNA variations responsible.

　　有成千上萬(wàn)的特定DNA變異在影響一個(gè)人的學(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)，除了研究基因?qū)W(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)的整體貢獻(xiàn)外，科學(xué)家還開始識(shí)別其中一些起作用的DNA變異。

　　The latest — and still unpublished — research suggests that up to 15 per cent of variance in achievement may be predictable through a “polygenic score” based on detailed DNA analysis, said Dr Smith-Woolley.

　　史密斯-伍利博士表示，最新（且尚未發(fā)表）的研究表明，高達(dá)15%的學(xué)業(yè)表現(xiàn)差異或許都可以通過基于詳細(xì)DNA分析的“多基因分?jǐn)?shù)”進(jìn)行預(yù)測(cè)。

　　But science is still a long way from producing a useful genetic test for guiding young people to the best educational options.

　　但要達(dá)到能夠生成有用的基因測(cè)試、引導(dǎo)年輕人在教育方面找到最佳選擇的水平，科學(xué)還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走。

　　(全文共492個(gè)詞)

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