評(píng)論
打印
Finance & economics
財(cái)經(jīng)版塊
Cognitive skills
認(rèn)知技能
Off the books
離開(kāi)書(shū)本
Are adults forgetting how to read?
成年人正忘記如何閱讀嗎？
Are you smarter than a ten-year-old?
你比十歲的孩子更聰明嗎？
New data suggest that a shockingly large portion of adults in the rich world might not be.
新數(shù)據(jù)表明，富裕國(guó)家中相當(dāng)大部分的成年人可能并不是。
Roughly one-fifth of people aged 16 to 65 perform no better in tests of maths and reading than would be expected of a pupil coming to the end of their time at primary school, according to a study released on December 10th by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries.
根據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織（主要由富裕國(guó)家組成的集團(tuán)）于12月10日發(fā)布的一項(xiàng)研究，在16歲至65歲的人群中，大約有五分之一的人在數(shù)學(xué)和閱讀測(cè)試中的表現(xiàn)并不比將要小學(xué)畢業(yè)的學(xué)生更好。
Worse still, adults in many places have grown less literate over the past ten years.
更糟糕的是，在過(guò)去十年里，許多地方的成年人的讀寫(xiě)能力變得更差了。
The OECD’s “Survey of Adult Skills” is carried out only once a decade.
經(jīng)合組織的“成人技能調(diào)查”每十年才進(jìn)行一次。
The researchers arranged for 160,000 adults in 31 countries and regions to sit short tests in numeracy, literacy and problem-solving.
研究人員安排31個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)的16萬(wàn)名成年人參加算術(shù)、讀寫(xiě)、解決問(wèn)題的簡(jiǎn)短測(cè)試。
These aim to gauge if they have the skills to hold down a job, participate in civic life and generally thrive in the real world.
這些測(cè)試旨在衡量他們是否具備保住工作、參與公民生活、在現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中好好生活的技能。
At their most basic, they find out how well people can make sense of the warnings on the back of an aspirin packet, or work out how much wallpaper is needed to cover a room.
在最基本的層面上，測(cè)試會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)人們對(duì)阿司匹林包裝背面的警告語(yǔ)理解程度如何，或者對(duì)于一個(gè)房間需要貼多少墻紙的計(jì)算能力如何。
At more advanced levels, they explore how well people can draw sound conclusions from analysis and charts of the sort one might stumble across in, say, a popular current-affairs magazine.
在更高級(jí)的層面上，測(cè)試探索對(duì)于人們可能在流行的時(shí)事雜志中偶然看到的分析和圖表，人們從中推斷出正確結(jié)論的能力如何。
Finland will rejoice at the results: it posts the highest average score in all three fields.
芬蘭將為測(cè)試結(jié)果感到高興：該國(guó)在所有三個(gè)領(lǐng)域都獲得了最高的平均分。
People in the Netherlands, Norway and Japan, who performed better than average across the disciplines, will also be pleased.
荷蘭、挪威、日本也會(huì)感到高興，這三國(guó)在各個(gè)學(xué)科上的表現(xiàn)都優(yōu)于平均水平。
England has risen up the league table in the ten years since the tests were last run, owing to better performances among young adults.
英國(guó)自十年前上次測(cè)試以來(lái)排名有所上升，這是由于年輕成年人表現(xiàn)更好。
By contrast, America’s results are heading south.
相比之下，美國(guó)的成績(jī)正在走下坡路。
Similarly, Chile, Italy, Poland and Portugal all boast a high share of people who score below the norm.
同樣地，智利、意大利、波蘭、葡萄牙都有很高比例的人得分低于正常水平。
Almost half of Chileans score badly enough to place in the bottom two categories in both maths and reading, compared with just 8% of Japanese people.
幾乎一半的智利人在數(shù)學(xué)和閱讀方面的得分都很差，排名為最末的兩類(lèi)，而日本人的比例只有8%。
Zoom out, and the picture is one of worsening basic skills.
放眼全局，這幅圖景表明基本技能在變得越來(lái)越差。
For almost every country that has seen its score in numeracy rise significantly over the past ten years, there is another that has seen its score fall.
在過(guò)去十年中，每有一個(gè)在算術(shù)方面得分顯著提高的國(guó)家，幾乎就有一個(gè)得分下降的國(guó)家。
When it comes to literacy, countries with falling scores outnumber those making significant progress.
對(duì)于讀寫(xiě)能力，分?jǐn)?shù)下降的國(guó)家數(shù)量超過(guò)了取得顯著進(jìn)步的國(guó)家數(shù)量。
This is the case even though more people are completing secondary school, and many more are getting degrees.
盡管有更多人完成了中學(xué)學(xué)業(yè)，還有更多人獲得了大學(xué)學(xué)位，但情況依舊是這樣。
The declines are concentrated among the least proficient, who seem to be scoring even lower than they did before.
分?jǐn)?shù)下降集中在技能最差的人群中，他們的得分似乎比以前更低了。
In many countries, the gap between the most- and least-skilled people is widening.
在許多國(guó)家，最有技能的人和最沒(méi)有技能的人之間的差距正在擴(kuò)大。
Increased migration offers some explanation.
移民增加是部分原因。
Non-native speakers tend to do worse in tests that involve juggling words.
非母語(yǔ)人士在涉及文字游戲的測(cè)試中往往表現(xiàn)更差。
Ageing populations do not help: the data suggest that numeracy and literacy peak at 30 or so.
人口老齡化也不利于成績(jī)提高：數(shù)據(jù)表明，計(jì)算能力和讀寫(xiě)能力在30歲左右達(dá)到頂峰。
But even when these changes are accounted for, literacy scores in lots of countries are falling.
但是即使考慮到這些變化，許多國(guó)家的讀寫(xiě)分?jǐn)?shù)仍在下降。
Andreas Schleicher, head of education and skills at the OECD, speculates that adults are now getting less practice than they used to at reading long and complex texts.
經(jīng)合組織教育與技能部門(mén)負(fù)責(zé)人安德烈亞斯·施萊歇爾推測(cè)，成年人現(xiàn)在對(duì)長(zhǎng)篇復(fù)雜文本的閱讀練習(xí)比過(guò)去少了。
Blame TikTok.
這都怪抖音。
The OECD’s study is not the only one to suggest that improvements in cognitive skills might now be stalling.
經(jīng)合組織的研究并不是唯一一個(gè)表明認(rèn)知技能的提升現(xiàn)在可能出現(xiàn)停滯的研究。
Throughout the 20th century, psychometrists observed that IQ scores were rising reliably, as part of a phenomenon named the “Flynn effect”.
在整個(gè)20世紀(jì)，心理測(cè)量學(xué)家觀察到智商分?jǐn)?shù)在穩(wěn)定上升，這是“弗林效應(yīng)”的一部分。（注：弗林效應(yīng)指一代比一代聰明。）
More recently, the trend in some countries has been that of stagnation or decline.
最近，一些國(guó)家的智商分?jǐn)?shù)趨勢(shì)是停滯或下降。
The cause of this is hotly debated.
這一現(xiàn)象的原因引起了激烈的爭(zhēng)論。
What no one much doubts is that people with nimble brains find it rather easier to swerve life’s worst misfortunes, and are more likely to enjoy the best outcomes.
沒(méi)有人懷疑的是，頭腦靈活的人更容易避開(kāi)生活中最嚴(yán)重的不幸，也更有可能享受最好的結(jié)果。
Surveys carried out alongside the OECD’s tests appear to confirm as much.
與經(jīng)合組織的測(cè)試同時(shí)進(jìn)行的調(diào)查似乎證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)。
People who perform best in the tests boast wages that are 75% higher than those with the worst scores.
在測(cè)試中表現(xiàn)最好的人所擁有的工資比得分最差的人高75%。
And returns to good numeracy and literacy seem to be more than just financial.
而且良好的計(jì)算能力和讀寫(xiě)能力帶來(lái)的回報(bào)似乎不僅僅是經(jīng)濟(jì)上的。
High scorers report that they are happier and in better health.
高分者報(bào)告說(shuō)，他們更幸福，身體也更健康。
Low scorers seem to be more suspicious of others, and more likely to report feeling alienated from politics.
低分者似乎更容易懷疑他人，也更有可能報(bào)告說(shuō)感到與政治疏遠(yuǎn)。
You do not need a first-rate mind to sense trouble ahead.
你不需要有一流的頭腦就能感覺(jué)到未來(lái)的麻煩。
