unit3genderdifference新编大学英语第二版第四册课文翻译.docx

unit3genderdifference新编大学英语第二版第四册课文翻译.docx

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unit3genderdifference新编大学英语第二版第四册课文翻译

GenderRolesfromaCulturalPerspective

Overthepastfewdecades,ithasbeenproveninnumerabletimesthatthevarioustypesofbehavior,emotions,andintereststhatconstitutebeingmasculineandfemininearepatternedbybothheredityandculture.Intheprocessofgrowingup,eachchildlearnshundredsofculturallypatterneddetailsofbehaviorthatbecomeincorporatedintoitsgenderidentity.Someofthislearningtakesplacedirectly.Inotherwords,thechildistoldbyothershowtoactinanappropriatelyfeminineormasculineway.Otherdetailsofgenderbehavioraretaughtunconsciously,orindirectly,asthecultureprovidesdifferentimages,aspirations,andadultmodelsforgirlsandboys.

Recently,forexample,astudyofAmericanpublicschoolsshowedthatthereisaculturalbiasineducationthatfavorsboysovergirls.Accordingtotheresearchers,thebiasisunintentionalandunconscious,butitisthereanditisinfluencingthelivesofmillionsofschoolchildreneveryyear.DoctorsDavidandMyraSadkervideotapedclassroomteachersinordertostudygender-relatedbiasineducation.Theirresearchshowedthatmanyteacherswhothoughttheywerenonsexistwereamazedtoseehowbiasedtheyappearedonvideotape.Fromnurseryschooltopostgraduatecourses,teacherswereshowntocallonmalesinclassfarmorethanonfemalestudents.Thishasatremendousimpactonthelearningprocessfor,ingeneral,thosestudentswhobecomeactiveclassroomparticipantsdevelopmorepositiveattitudesandgoontohigherachievement.Asamatteroffact,inthelate1960s,whenmanyofthebestall-women'scollegesinthenortheasternUnitedStatesopenedtheirdoorstomalestudents,itwasobservedbyprofessorsandwomenstudentsalikethattheboyswere"takingover"theclassroomdiscussionsandthatactiveparticipationbywomenstudentshaddiminishednoticeably.Asimilarsubordinationoffemaletomalestudentshasalsobeenobservedinlawandmedicalschoolclassroomsinrecentyears.

3ResearchdonebytheSadkersshowedthatsometimesteachersunknowinglypreventedgirlsfromparticipatingasactivelyasboysinclassbyassigningthemdifferenttasksinaccordancewithstereotypedgenderroles.Forinstance,oneteacherconductingascienceclasswithnurseryschoolyoungsters,continuallyhadthelittleboysperformthescientific"experiment"whilethegirlsweregiventhetaskofputtingthematerialsaway.Sincehands-onworkwithclassroommaterialsisaveryimportantaspectofearlyeducation,thegirlswerethusbeingdeprivedofavitallearningexperiencethatwouldaffecttheirentirelives.

Anotherdimensionofgender-biasededucationisthetypicalAmericanteacher'sassumptionthatboyswilldobetterinthe"hard","masculine"subjectsofmathandsciencewhilegirlsareexpectedtohavebetterverbalandreadingskills.Asanexampleofaself-fulfillingprophecy,Americanboysdo,indeed,developreadingproblems,whilegirls,whoaresuperiortoboysinmathuptotheageofnine,fallbehindfromthenon.Butthesearecultural,notgeneticpatterns.InGermany,forexample,allstudiesareconsidered"masculine",anditisgirlswhodevelopreadingproblems.AndinJapan,whereearlyeducationappearstobenonsexist,bothgirlsandboysdoequallywellinreading.

Thedifferentattitudesassociatedwiththeeducationalprocessforgirlsandboysbeginathome.Onestudy,forexample,showedthatwhenpreschoolerswereaskedtolookatapictureofahouseandtellhowfarawayfromthehousetheywerepermittedtogo,theboysindicatedamuchwiderareathanthegirls,whogenerallypointedoutaverylimitedareaclosetothehome.Insteadofbeingencouragedtodevelopintellectualcuriosityandphysicalskillsthatareusefulindealingwiththeoutsideworld,asboysare,girlsarefilledwithfearsoftheworldoutsidethehomeandwiththedesiretobeapprovedoffortheir"goodness"andobediencetorules.Theselessonscarryoverfromthehometotheclassroom,wheregirlsaregenerallyobservedtobemoredependentontheteacher,moreconcernedwiththeformandneatnessoftheirworkthanwithitscontent,andmoreanxiousaboutbeing"right"intheiranswersthaninbeingintellectuallyindependent,analytical,ororiginal.Thus,throughtheeducationalprocessthatoccupiesmostofthechild'swakinghours,societyreinforcesitsestablishedvaluesandturnsouteachgenderinitstraditionalandexpectedmold.

从文化角度看性别角色

1在过去的几十年里，已经无数次地证实了这样一个事实：

构成男子阳刚之气和女子阴柔之气的各种不同类型的行为、情感、和兴趣都既是遗传又是文化熏陶的结果。

在成长的过程中，每个孩子学会了细微的行为举止，数量之多数以百计，这一切都带有文化的烙印，成了他们性别特征的一部分。

有些行为举止是直接学到的。

也就是说，别人教孩子如何恰如其分地行事,男有男的规矩,女有女的标准。

另一些跟性别有关的具体举止是无意识地或间接地学会的，因为文化为女孩子和男孩子提供的形象、向往的目标以及成人的榜样各不相同。

2例如，最近对美国公立学校的一项研究显示，在教育中存在一种男孩比女孩更受偏爱的文化偏见。

据研究人员反映，这种偏爱是无意的、不知不觉的，但它确实存在，并每年都在影响着数百万计学生的生活。

为了研究在教育中存在的性别偏爱，戴维•赛德克博士和迈拉•赛德克博士夫妇录制了教师在课堂上课的情形。

他们的研究显示，许多自认为无性别偏爱的教师惊奇地发现，从录像带上看他们竟是那么偏心。

从幼儿园到研究生课程，都可以看到教师们请男生回答问题的次数远比女生多。

这对学习过程有着巨大的影响，因为总的来说，那些积极的课堂活动参与者对学习更加乐观有信心，并能在今后取得更大的成就。

事实上，在20世纪60年代末期，当美国东北部多所最好的女子学院向男生开放之后，教授们和女学生们都发现男孩们正在“接管”课堂讨论，而女生积极参与的程度则明显下降。

近年来，在法学院和医学院的课堂上也发现了类似的情况：

与男生相比女生处于次要的地位。

3赛德克夫妇所做的研究显示，教师有时候会按照固有的性别模式给女孩子和男孩子不同布置的任务，这样便不知不觉地使女孩子不能像男孩子一样积极地参与。

例如，有位教师在给幼儿园的孩子上自然科学课时，不断地让小男孩去操作科学“实验”，而让女孩子只是做一些安放材料的工作。

既然使用课堂材料动手操作是早期教育的一个重要方面，这些女孩子就这样被剥夺了重要的学习经历，这会影响到她们今后的整个人生。

4美国教师中一个具有代表性的想法是，男孩擅长数学和自然科学，这些学科都是“难懂的”、“适合于男性的”，而女孩会在语言和阅读技能上比男孩强。

这是教育中性别偏见的另一种表现。

结果美国的男孩们确实在阅读上出了问题，而在数学方面女孩尽管在九岁以前一直比男孩强，但此后却落在了他们后面。

这成了预言自我应验的一个例子。

然而这些特征是文化造成的，而非遗传的原因。

例如，在德国，读书学习都被看作是“适合于男性的”，于是在阅读上有问题的便是女孩子了。

而在日本，由于早期教育似乎不分性别，女孩和男孩在阅读上就旗鼓相当。

5在教育过程中对女孩和男孩的不同态度始于家庭。

例如，有一项研究显示了这样一种情况：

让学龄前儿童看一幢房子的图片，然后要他们说出家里允许他们走开多远，这时男孩所指的范围要比女孩大得多，女孩指出的范围很有限，而且离家很近。

女孩们不像男孩那样受到鼓励去发展求知欲和动手能力，尽管这些正是与外部世界打交道时有用的；对女孩灌输的结果是：

对自己家外面的世界充满了恐惧，且期望别人对自己的优良品格和循规蹈矩的服从精神加以认可。

这类教诲从家庭一直延续到课堂。

于是，在课堂里我们常常可以看到女孩们更依赖教师，更注重作业的形式和整洁而非内容，更在乎她们所给的答案是否“正确”而不在乎智力方面的独立自主以及分析能力和创造能力的提高。

教育过程占据了孩子除睡眠以外的大部分时间，社会则通过这一过程加强了它固有的价值观，并按其传统的、期望的模式造就了不同性别的人。

BoysAreTeachers'Pets

Theclassroomisaman'sworld,whereboysgettwo-thirdsoftheteachers'attentionevenwhentheyareinaminority.Theyareallowedtoteasethegirlsandtheyreceivepraiseforsloppyworkthatwouldnotbetoleratedfromgirls.Boysareaccustomedtobeingteacherspets,and,ifgirlsgetanythinglikeequaltreatment,boyswillprotestandevendisruptlessons.

Theseclaimsaremadeinabookoutthisweek,writtenbyDaleSpender,alecturerattheLondonUniversityInstituteofEducation.Shearguesthatdiscriminationagainstgirlsissotypicalofco-educationalschoolsthatsingle-genderclassesaretheonlyanswer.

Hercaseisbasedontape-recordingsofherownandotherteachers'lessons.Manyofthem,likeSpender,haddeliberatelysetouttogivegirlsafairchance."Sometimes,"saysSpender,"IhaveeventhoughtIhavegonetoofarandhavespentmoretimewiththegirlsthantheboys."

Thetapesprovedotherwise.In10tapedlessons（insecondaryschoolandcollege）,Spendernevergavethegirlsmorethan42percentofherattention（theaveragewas38percent）andnevergavetheboyslessthan58percent.Thereweresimilarresultsforotherteachers,bothmaleandfemale.

Inotherwords,whenteachersgivegirlsmorethanathirdoftheirtime,theyfeelthattheyaredeprivingtheboysoftheirrightfulshare.Andsodotheboysthemselves."Shealwaysaskedthegirlsallthequestions,"saidoneboyinaclassroomwhere34percentoftheteachers'timewasallocatedtogirls."Shedoesn'tlikeboys,andjustlistenstothegirls,"saidaboyinanotherclass,wherehisgendergot63percentoftheteacher'sattention.

Boysregardedtwo-thirdsoftheteacher'stimeasafairdeal—andwhentheygotlesstheycausedtroubleinclassandevencomplainedtoahigherauthority."It'simportanttokeeptheirattention,"saidoneteacher."Otherwise,theybehaveverybadly."

AccordingtoSpender'sresearch,doublestandardspervadetheclassroom."Whenboysaskquestions,protest,orchallengetheteacher,theyareoftenmetwithrespectandrewards;whengirlsengageinexactlythesamebehavior,theyareoftenmetwithcriticismandpunishment."

Aboyseekingattentionwillquicklygetaresponsefromateacher."Butgirlscanbeignored;theirhandscanbeheldupforages,andtheiroftenpoliterequestsforassistancearedisregardedastheteacherisobligedtoremainwiththeboys."

Onegirl,talkingaboutamaleteacher,commented:

"Youwouldn'twanttohaveyourhanduptotellhimtherewasafire,ifyouwereagirl.We'dallburntodeathbeforeheaskedyouwhatyouwantedtosay.

Boys'writtenwork,too,isjudgedbydifferentstandards,saysSpender.Whensheaskedteacherstomarkessaysandprojects,thesameworkgotbettermarkswhenteachersweretoldthatitcamefromboys."Whenaboydecidestomakeathingofit,there'snotagirlthatcanmatchhim,"oneteachersaidofaprojectoninventions.But,infact,theworkhadbeendonebyagirl.

Neatandtidyworkfromgirlswastreatedwithsomecontempt."Ithinkshecouldhavespentmoretimeongettingsomefactsthanonmakingitlookpretty,wasonecomment."Typical,isn'tit?

Allthateffortjusttomakeitlooknice—YOUcan'tbeatgirlsforbeingconcernedwithappearances,"wasanother.ButwhenSpenderindicatedthattheworkcamefromaboy,thetunechangeddramatically.

Spenderconcludesthat,inmixedclasses,thegirlsareatadisadvantage.Iftheyareasnoisyandambitiousastheboys,theyareconsidered"unladylike";iftheyarequietandpassive,theyareignored.

Afewschoolshaveintroducedsingle-gendergroupsformathandscience,saysSpender,andhavefoundsignificantimprovementsingirls'results.Separatingboysandgirlswithinschoolsforcertainsubjects—ratherthanareturn