（New York Times) New research on children and television has put SpongeBob Squarepants on the hot seat.

一項(xiàng)關(guān)于兒童與電視的新研究讓卡通片"海綿寶寶"的作者如坐針氈。

Researchers report that 4-year-olds who had just watched the fast-paced fantasy cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" — which follows the undersea adventures of a yellow sponge — did worse on tests of attention and problem-solving than young children who watched a slower-paced educational program or spent time drawing.

研究者報(bào)道說，"海綿寶寶"講述了一個黃色海綿的海底探險(xiǎn)故事，剛看完這種快節(jié)奏幻想卡通片的4歲兒童在注意力和解決問題能力測試方面要比其他觀看過慢節(jié)奏教育片或?qū)W畫畫的同齡兒童表現(xiàn)差。

Officials from Nickelodeon, the network that produces "SpongeBob," dismissed the significance of the study, saying in a statement that preschool-age children are not the show’s intended audience. "SpongeBob" is designed for 6- to 11-year-olds, according to the network, which questioned the study’s small sample size of white middle- and upper-middle-class children.

對此，制作"海綿寶寶"的Nickelodeon公司在一份聲明中否認(rèn)了這項(xiàng)研究的重要結(jié)論，并表示本片的目標(biāo)受眾并不是學(xué)齡前兒童。根據(jù)該公司網(wǎng)站，"海綿寶寶"是為6至11歲兒童設(shè)計(jì)的，而這項(xiàng)研究的受試者的樣本范圍很小，只局限于中產(chǎn)階級和上層中產(chǎn)階級家庭的白人兒童。

Vocabulary:
undersea adj.海面下的
dismiss v.解散
intend v. 打算