Children who are read to daily are likely to do better when they start
school and be better behaved， according to a government study.

    一項政府研究表明，家長每天給孩子讀書、講故事，可以讓孩子入學后學習
更好、表現更好。

    Researchers at the Institute of Education found a correlation between
mothers who believe it is important to teach their toddler the alphabet
and to count and read to them regularly and the child's achievement at
the age of five.

    教育學院的研究人員發現，母親是否認同在孩子小的時候定期教他們識字、
數數和講故事的重要性，這與孩子們五歲之后的優劣表現有著直接的聯系。

    The government-commissioned study looked at teachers' assessment of
a child's achievement after one year at school， and evaluated the cognitive
abilities of just over 8，000 five-year-olds.

    這項由政府委托的研究收集了老師對孩子入學一年后的表現評價，并對8 ，
000 多名剛滿五周歲兒童的認知能力進行了測評。

    They also assessed each child's behaviour using a questionnaire.

    研究人員還采用問卷調查的形式對孩子們的行為能力進行了評估。

    The study focused on which factors are associated with achievement
at the age of five， and took into account parental variables such as
how much time is spent with the child reading ， teaching the alphabet
and counting.

    考慮到了家長花費在講故事、教識字和數數上面的時間有所不同，這項研究
致力于找出和五歲兒童的認知能力相關聯的因素。

    It concluded： "Reading to the child every day and having a mother
who thinks it is important to stimulate young children are positively
associated with all cognitive outcomes and negatively with problem behaviour."

    研究結果顯示：家長每天給孩子講故事，媽媽們認識到早教的重要性，這些
都有助于孩子認知能力的提高，并降低行為出現問題的風險。

    Children who were read to daily did better in the naming vocabulary
cognitive test， which involved the children being shown a picture and
asked to identify the object.

    那些每天都有家長給講故事的孩子們諸如看圖識物等認知能力的測驗中表現
更佳。

    Whereas ， children who watch three or more hours of TV a day ， on
average ， achieved lower scores on the tests.

    反之，每天花三、四個小時看電視的孩子們，在各種測試中的成績都相對偏
低。

    The findings echo the results of research by the universitie of Columbia，
in the US ， that found poor parenting meant children were ill-prepared
for school.

    這個結論和美國哥倫比亞大學的研究結果相吻合，后者認為缺乏家庭教育對
于孩子入學有所不利。