VOA慢速英语2018 打孩子屁股会造成长期伤害

Spanking 1 Children Causes Long-term Harm

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康和生活方式报道。

For some parents, spanking a child who misbehaves is a common punishment. In fact, they may think that a physical type of punishment is good for children and will teach them to behave in the future.

对一些父母来说，在孩子行为不端时打屁股是一种常见的惩罚。事实上，他们可能认为这种体罚对孩子有益，会教会他们未来怎么表现得体。

However, a leading group of child health specialists suggests that the opposite is true. These experts say that spanking is not only ineffective, it may even cause long-term harm to the child.

然而，一群一流的儿童健康专家认为情况恰恰相反。这些专家认为，打屁股不仅无效，甚至还会对孩子造成长期伤害。

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently amended 2 its policy on physical punishment for a child.

美国儿科学会最近修改了对儿童体罚的政策。

Released in October, the academy warns that spanking a child can long-term effects. These effects include “aggression, brain changes, substance abuse and suicidal behavior in adulthood 3.”

该学院在10月份发表的报告中警告称，打孩子屁股可能会产生长期影响。这些影响包括“好斗、大脑变化、药物滥用和成年期的自杀行为。”

The report admits that not every child who is spanked 4 will have these problems later in life. It makes this observation: “Although many children who were spanked become happy, healthy adults, current evidence suggests that spanking is not necessary and may result in long-term harm.”

该报告承认并非所有挨打屁股的孩子都会在以后生活中遇到这些问题。它提出了这样的观点：“虽然许多挨打屁股的孩子长成健康快乐的成年人，但现有证据表明打屁股是不必要的，可能会导致长期伤害。”

In recent years, many American experts have been advising parents against the use of physical punishment. Many other countries have already banned corporeal 5 punishment. Sweden was the first nation to do so in 1966.

近年来，很多美国专家一直建议父母不要体罚孩子。很多其它国家已经禁止体罚，瑞典于1966年成为首个这样做的国家。

2012 Canadian study

加拿大2012年的研究

Earlier studies have shown that corporeal punishment can also affect a child’s ability to think and learn.

早期的研究表明，体罚还会影响孩子的思考和学习能力。

In 2012, a Canadian study found that spanking children can cause long-term developmental damage and may even lower a child’s intelligence test scores.

2012年，一项加拿大的研究发现，打孩子屁股会导致长期的发育损害，甚至可能会降低孩子的智力评分。

Joan Durrant of the University of Manitoba is an expert in child development and how violence affects children. She was one of the authors of this report. Her co-author was Ron Ensom, with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

曼尼托巴大学的琼·达兰特（Joan Durrant）是儿童发育以及暴力如何影响儿童方面的专家。她也是这篇报告的作者之一。她的合著者是就职于渥太华市东安大略省儿童医院的罗恩·恩森（Ron Ensom）。

Durrant and Ensom studied 20 years of published research on the long-term effects of physical punishment. They found that such punishment makes children more aggressive and antisocial. They wrote that violence affects development in the brain and its ability to work properly. They also found that it can lead to depression and drug abuse.

达兰特和恩森对20年来已发表的关于体罚长期影响的研究进行了调查。她们发现，这类惩罚会让孩子更具攻击性和反社会性。她们写道，暴力会影响大脑发育及其正常运转的能力。她们还发现它会导致抑郁症和药物滥用。

A report on this study and its findings were published in The Canadian Medical Association Journal.

关于该研究及其成果的报告发表在《加拿大医学会期刊》上。

The American Academy of Pediatrics also warns against using strong verbal abuse or shame to discipline a child. These types of punishment can also cause long-term problems for a child.

美国儿科学会还警告不要使用谩骂或羞辱来惩罚孩子。这类惩罚也会给孩子带来长期问题。

Instead, they suggest other types of punishment that are appropriate for the age of the child.

相反，他们建议采用其它适合孩子年龄的惩罚。

For younger children, punishment could be taking away a favorite toy. For older children, a parent can limit the time the child spends watching television or playing with computers or electronic games.

对于年龄较小的孩子，惩罚可能是拿走一件喜欢的玩具。对于年龄较大的孩子，父母可以限制孩子看电视或是玩电子游戏的时间。

And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report. I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

spanking - n. the act of striking someone else, usually on the person's bottom

opposite - adj. completely different

discipline - n. orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of

corporeal - adj. having, consisting of, or relating to a physical material body

score - n. the number of points that someone gets for correct answers on a test, exam, etc.

author - n. one that originates or creates something

verbal - adj. of, relating to, or consisting of words

shame - n. a feeling of guilt 6, regret, or sadness that you have because you know you have done something wrong

toy - n. something for a child to play with