PART 3

RUTH: Ed, how are you getting on with the reading for our presentation next week?

露丝：艾德，和我们下周的展示有关的阅读材料看得怎么样了？

ED: Well, OK, Ruth - but there’s so much of it.

艾德：进行得很顺利，露丝。但是材料太多了。

RUTH: I know, I hadn’t realised birth order was such a popular area of research.

露丝：我知道，我从没想过出生顺序会是大热的研究领域。

ED: But the stuff on birth order and personality is mostly unreliable.

艾德：但是关于出生顺序和个性的研究多是不可靠的。

From what I’ve been reading a lot of the claims about how your position in the family determines certain personality traits are just stereotypes, with no robust evidence to support them.

我读到的很多关于人的家庭位置决定性格特征的陈述只是刻板印象，缺少有力证据的支撑。

RUTH: OK, but that’s an interesting point - we could start by outlining what previous research has shown.

露丝：是的，但是这是很有趣的观点。我们可以先概括之前的研究数据。

There are studies going back over a hundred years.

早在一百年前就有相关的研究。

ED: Yeah - so we could just run through some of the typical traits.

艾德：是的，那么我们可以介绍一些典型的个性特征。

Like the consensus seems to be that oldest children are generally less well-adjusted because they never get over the arrival of a younger sibling.

就像是研究者达成共识，认为最年长的孩子通常适应性更差，因为他们一直对家中更小的孩子的出生难以释怀。

RUTH: Right, but on a positive note, some studies claimed that they were thought to be good at nurturing - certainly in the past when people had large families they would have been expected to look after the younger ones.

露丝：是的，但是从积极方面来说，一些研究认为这些孩子更擅长养育。当然了，在过去当家里人口较多的时候，家长总是期望最年长的孩子照顾弟弟妹妹。

ED: There isn’t such a clear picture for middle children - but one trait that a lot of the studies mention is that they are easier to get on with than older or younger siblings.

艾德：关于年龄在中间段的孩子的描述却不明确。但是许多研究提到的一点特征是这些孩子比年长或年幼的兄弟姐妹更容易相处。

RUTH: Generally eager to please and helpful - although that’s certainly not accurate as far as my family goes - my middle brother was a nightmare - always causing fights and envious of whatever I had.

露丝：他们通常渴望取悦和帮助其他人——尽管从我自己家来看这点确实不准确，我的中间年龄段的哥哥简直是我的噩梦，一直以来挑衅和我打架而且不管我有什么他都会嫉妒。

ED: As I said - none of this seems to relate to my own experience.

艾德：正如我所说，这些看起来都和我自己的经历不一致。

I’m the youngest in my family and I don’t recognise myself in any of the studies I’ve read about.

我是我们家最小的孩子，我认为我的情况和我读到的任何一篇研究的叙述都不一样。

I’m supposed to have been a sociable and confident child who made friends easily - but I was actually terribly shy.

从研究来看我应该是一个既友善又自信的，可以轻易交到朋友的人。但是事实上我却特别害羞。

RUTH: Really? That’s funny.

露丝：真的吗？好奇怪。

There have been hundreds of studies on twins but mostly about nurture versus nature …

有数百篇关于双胞胎的研究，但是大部分研究的都是后期养育和天性的关系。

ED: There was one on personality, which said that a twin is likely to be quite shy in social situations because they always have their twin around to depend on for support.

艾德：有一篇关于个性的研究认为双胞胎在社交活动中更容易十分害羞，主要是因为他们经常在一起，可以互相支持互相依靠。

RUTH: My cousins were like that when they were small - they were only interested in each other and found it hard to engage with other kids.

露丝：我的堂兄们小的时候就是这样的，他们只对对方的事情感兴趣，认为和其他孩子打交道很难。

They’re fine now though.

不过他们现在还不错。

ED: Only children have had a really bad press - a lot of studies have branded them as loners who think the world revolves around them because they’ve never had to fight for their parents’ attention.

艾德：对独生子的评价并不乐观。许多研究给他们贴上了不合群的标签。因为他们从不需要通过和其他孩子竞争来获得父母的关注，所以他们认为自己是世界的中心。

RUTH: That does seem a bit harsh.

露丝：这么说有一点过分了。

One category I hadn’t considered before was children with much older siblings - a couple of studies mentioned that these children grow up more quickly and are expected to do basic things for themselves - like getting dressed.

我之前没有考虑过的类别是哥哥姐姐比自己大得多的孩子。有不少研究提到这些孩子成长很快，父母们期待他们能自己做一些像是穿衣服这样的简单的事。

ED: I can see how that might be true - although I expect they’re sometimes the exact opposite - playing the baby role and clamouring for special treatment.

艾德：我能理解，这也许是真的。尽管有些时候我认为事实恰恰相反，我以为他们扮演着小孩子的角色，大吵大闹地要求父母特别的照顾。

RUTH: What was the problem with most of these studies, do you think?

露丝：你觉得大多数研究的问题是什么？

ED: I think it was because in a lot of cases data was collected from only one sibling per family, who rated him or herself and his or her siblings at the same time.

艾德：我认为许多实例数据来自于每个家庭中的某个子女，他们评价自己的同时也评价了其他兄弟姐妹。

RUTH: Mmm. Some of the old research into the relationship between birth order and academic achievement has been proved to be accurate though.

露丝：唔。但是，事实证明一些早期研究关于出生顺序和学习成绩的关系的调查是准确的。

Performances in intelligence tests decline slightly from the eldest child to his or her younger siblings. This has been proved in lots of recent studies.

从老大到弟弟妹妹，智力测试呈现轻微的下降趋势。许多近期的研究都证明了这一点。

ED: Yes. Although what many of them didn’t take into consideration was family size.

艾德：是的，虽然许多研究没有将家庭人数考虑在内。

The more siblings there are, the likelier the family is to have a low socioeconomic status - which can also account for differences between siblings in academic performance.

一个家庭中孩子越多，它的社会经济地位就可能越低。这也是造成兄弟姐妹间的学习成绩差异的原因。

RUTH: The oldest boy might be given more opportunities than his younger sisters, for example.

露丝：比如，最大的男孩得到的机会比他的妹妹们更多。

ED: Exactly.

艾德：正是。

RUTH: But the main reason for the marginally higher academic performance of oldest children is quite surprising, I think.

露丝：但是我觉得最年长孩子获得稍高的学习成绩的主要原因十分让人吃惊。

It’s not only that they benefit intellectually from extra attention at a young age - which is what I would have expected.

这不只是因为少年时得到的父母的额外关注帮助了他们智力的发展——这一点是我本来以为的。

It’s that they benefit from being teachers for their younger siblings, by verbalising processes.

真正的原因是他们是弟弟妹妹的老师，用丰富的话语表达指令。

ED: Right, and this gives them status and confidence, which again contribute, in a small way, to better performance.

艾德：对的。这也塑造了他们的地位和自信。这些品质再次慢慢地提高了他们的成绩。

So would you say sibling rivalry has been a useful thing for you?

那么你觉得对你来说兄弟姊妹间的竞争是有帮助的吗？

RUTH: I think so - my younger brother was incredibly annoying and we fought a lot but I think this has made me a stronger person.

露丝：我觉得是，我的弟弟特别讨厌，我们常常打架。但是我认为这样使我变得更强大了。

I know how to defend myself.

我知道如何保护我自己。

We had some terrible arguments and I would have died rather than apologise to him - but we had to put up with each other and most of the time we co-existed amicably enough.

我们曾经吵得很厉害，我宁愿去死也不愿意给他道歉。但是，我们必须忍受对方，大多数时间我们相处得很好。

ED: Yes, my situation was pretty similar.

艾德：我的情况也很类似。

But I don’t think having two older brothers made me any less selfish - I was never prepared to let my brothers use any of my stuff …

但是我觉得我的两个哥哥没有让我更无私，我从不让他们用我的东西。

RUTH: That’s perfectly normal, whereas …

露丝：这种情况特别常见，但是……