Parents Staying Together Is the Best Way to Help Children

Joanna Moorhead

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父母都是望子成龍，望女成鳳，所以孩子的教育問題會(huì)顯得尤其重要。為了讓孩子上所好學(xué)校，很多父母都不顧高昂的房價(jià)，搬家到學(xué)區(qū)房，但他們似乎忽視了一點(diǎn)——最影響孩子學(xué)習(xí)成績的因素并不一定是學(xué)校……

Children with a stable1. stable: 穩(wěn)定的。 home life do better at school. Focus less on catchment areas and more on relationship counseling2. catchment area:（學(xué)校的）招生地區(qū)；counseling: 疏導(dǎo)，咨詢。

Parents do anything they can to give their kids the best chance to succeed. According to a report published by the Sutton Trust, a third of “professional parents” with children aged between five and 16 have moved to an area because they think it has good schools, and 18% to a speci fic school’s catchment area.3. 薩頓信托的一份報(bào)告顯示，那些擁有五歲至十六歲孩子的“職業(yè)父母”中有三分之一都搬過家，因?yàn)樗麄冋J(rèn)為新家附近有好學(xué)校，他們中有18%把家搬到某些學(xué)校的招生區(qū)。Sutton Trust: 薩頓信托，英國的一家教育慈善機(jī)構(gòu)。

Some go further: 6% of the 1,000 parents surveyed admitted attending church services when they hadn’t previously to help their children get a place at a church school; 3% admitted using a relative’s address to get children into a particular school; and 2% said they had bought a second home and used that address to qualify for a place.4. survey: 調(diào)查，對(duì)……作民意調(diào)查；qualify for: （使）有資格，勝任。

As well as a fair few white lies, it all adds up to a colossal amount of money spent on trying to improve your children’s chances of doing better educationally—and the point the Sutton Trust wants to make is that the more money you have,the more you can do to “buy” an advantage.5. 除了一些善意的謊言外，這一切加起來是一大筆用來提升孩子教育機(jī)會(huì)的錢——薩頓信托想說的是，你擁有的錢越多，你能“買”到的機(jī)會(huì)就越多。white lie: 善意的謊言，小謊話；colossal: 巨大的，龐大的。Its recommendation—that the government should step in and encourage ballots for school places, to make selection fairer—seems a good one.6. recommendation: 建議，提議；ballot: 無記名投票。After all, the drive to make things as rosy as possible for your offspring is inherent in all us parents:7. drive: 驅(qū)動(dòng)力，動(dòng)力；rosy: 愉快的，稱心如意的；inherent: 內(nèi)在的，天生的。it’s what we’re designed to do, to achieve the best possible life chances for our children. That doesn’t,or shouldn’t, amount to fraud—it’s a braver person than me who would cast the first stone and condemn parents for trying to give their kids the best start.8. fraud: 詐騙，欺詐；condemn: 譴責(zé)，指責(zé)。

So it seems strange that parents, while focusing so intently on school, seem often to ignore a much cheaper way of improving their children’s educational lot.9. intently: 專心地，專注地；lot: 命運(yùn)，運(yùn)氣。Because the more stable a home life children have, the better they will be able to concentrate at school, the better behaved they will be in school, and the better grades they will have on leaving school.10. concentrate: 專心，注意；behaved:（和 well 或 badly 這樣的副詞連用，構(gòu)成形容詞）表現(xiàn)得……的。

There’s plenty of research to back all this up: a recent study by the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre found that children aged seven and older tended to do more poorly in exams and to behave badly at school if their parents split up.11. back up: 支持，證實(shí)（某種說法）；tend: 傾向（于），趨向（于）；split up: 分手，離婚。Another report funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, released at the end of last year, found that a stable family life meant children were more likely to take in what’s being offered in the classroom.12. release: 發(fā)布，發(fā)表；be likely to: （很）可能；take in: 理解，領(lǐng)悟。According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists13. Royal College of Psychiatrists: 英國皇家精神科醫(yī)學(xué)院，成立于1841年，位于倫敦。其主要職責(zé)是訂立精神科的專業(yè)水平以及考核有關(guān)專科醫(yī)生的水平。,teenagers whose parents are fighting or separating may find it dif ficult to concentrate at school.

Of course, many marriages are completely on track,100% hunky dory, and here the only thing worth stressing about is a school’s SATs and GCSE results.14. 當(dāng)然，很多婚姻都運(yùn)行正常，而且非常完美，這時(shí)唯一需要注意的就是學(xué)校的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)成績考試和普通中等教育證書考試成績。on track: 在正道上，步入正軌；hunky dory: 極好的，了不起的；SATs: 標(biāo)準(zhǔn)成績考試（Standard Attainment Tests），是英國的一個(gè)旨在評(píng)估學(xué)生對(duì)基礎(chǔ)學(xué)科掌握情況的考試，檢測(cè)科目包括3R（閱讀、寫作、算術(shù)）和科學(xué)。按規(guī)定，所有7歲、11歲以及14歲的英國學(xué)生都要參加SATs考試?？荚嚦煽儗⑴c一個(gè)既定的國家要求對(duì)照，最高等級(jí)為第五級(jí)。GCSE:（英國面向15至16歲學(xué)生的）普通中等教育證書。But it may not be you, and I have to admit it’s not me either: I’ve been married for more than a quarter of a century, and the one thing I’m sure of is that it’s not a bed of roses. I’ve also got four children aged between 11 and 21; and while I’m truly grateful15. grateful: 感激的，表示感謝的。to the many teachers who have taught them, and the schools they’ve been pupils at, I’ve become more convinced as the years go by that a stable home is an absolutely vital ingredient in how they’re getting on—and certainly much more crucial than where their school sits in the local league table.16. convince: 使信服，使相信；go by:（時(shí)間）流逝，過去；ingredient: 要素，因素；league table: 排行榜，排名表。

So shelling out a few hundred quid for a course of Relate counselling sessions (and if you’re on a low income,it can be a lot less, or even free) could be a much better use of the family’s funds than spending thousands on moving house.17. shell out: 支付，為……花費(fèi)一大筆錢；quid: 一英鎊；Relate: 英國一家關(guān)于情感、婚姻、家庭的咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)。Sure, your children might end up at a school whose exam results aren’t quite so glowing—but that’s more than offset by the fact that they are likely to do better for having happier parents (and moving house, after all,puts even more pressure on a relationship).18. glowing: 絢麗奪目的，發(fā)光的；offset: 抵消，補(bǔ)償。

According to Relate, 80% of clients who went for adult relationship counselling said their partnership19. partnership: 伙伴關(guān)系，合作關(guān)系。had been strengthened as a result. According to a whole pile of research stretching back across many decades, children tend to do best when they’re raised in a stable family.20. stretch back: 追溯；raise: 養(yǎng)育，撫養(yǎng)。I can’t help wondering whether the only sure winners from the scramble to live by the best school gates are estate agents rather than the very children the move is designed to help.21. 我不禁納悶，在這場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中能靠好學(xué)校的門檻來謀生的最后贏家應(yīng)該是那些地產(chǎn)經(jīng)紀(jì)人，而不是父母想通過搬家來幫助的孩子們。scramble: 競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，爭(zhēng)奪；live by: 以……為生，靠……謀生；estate agent: 房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)紀(jì)人。