研究：有哥哥的孩子语言能力发育更迟缓_BEC初级作文

研究：有哥哥的孩子语言能力发育更迟缓

你可能会以为，有哥哥的孩子每天在更多对话中成长，因而会加速他们的语言能力发展。然而，研究人员表示，实际上这样的孩子语言能力开始发育的时间比哥哥们更晚。

Researchers studied more than 1,000 children from birth to the age of five-and-a-half years old. Each child’s language skills were tested at ages 2, 3, and 5.5, using tests specially designed to measure numerous aspects of language development such as vocabulary, syntax, and verbal reasoning.

研究人员调查了1000多个孩子，从新生儿到5岁半的孩子。每个孩子在2岁、3岁和5岁半的时候都接受了专门设计的语言能力测试，这些测试是为了衡量词汇量、语法和语言推理等语言发育的多个方面。

syntax['sɪntæks]: n. 语法；句法

What the research team discovered was significant: children with an older brother had, on average, a two-month delay in their language development compared to studied children with an older sister.

研究团队有了重要发现：有哥哥的孩子语言发育平均比有姐姐的孩子晚两个月。

As far as explaining this phenomenon, researchers have proposed two hypotheses. The first is that older sisters tend to talk more often than older brothers, which would compensate for parents potentially being less present than they were for their first child. The second hypothesis is that older sisters usually compete with their siblings less than older brothers for their parents’ attention.