小孩兒常被打屁股易變傻

      The preponderance of evidence points away from corporal punishment, which the European Union and the United Nations have recommended against, but the data suggest that most parents, especially those in the U.S., still spank their kids. Based on his international data, collected by surveying more than 17,000 college students in various countries, Straus found that countries with higher GDP tended to be those where corporal punishment was used less often. In the U.S., the tendency to hit also varies with income, along with geography and culture; it's most common among African-American families, Southern families, parents who were spanked as children themselves and those who identify themselves as conservative Christians.

　　歐盟與聯(lián)合國方面從另一個角度提出，這些證據(jù)除了可證明體罰會有何種后果之外，更為有力地反映出的是現(xiàn)今的某些問題：多數(shù)家長，尤其是美國的父母，對體罰他們的小孩仍是理直氣壯。從斯特勞斯在世界各國家得到的 17000名學生的調(diào)查結(jié)果里面，亦發(fā)現(xiàn)一個國家的GDP越高，這里的家長越少體罰孩子。在美國，體罰現(xiàn)象跟家庭的收入狀況、地理和文化因素有關。在亞裔家庭、南部家庭里面更為常見。如果家長小時侯也被體罰過，或者家長自認為是保守的基督教徒，也更可能體罰孩子。

　　But overall the percentage of parents who spank has been steadily declining. Straus says that in 1968, 94% of Americans told surveyors they agreed with spanking. By 2005, the proportion who said it is "sometimes O.K. to spank a child" had fallen to 72%, although most researchers believe the actual incidence of corporal punishment is higher.

　　不過總的來說，體罰小孩的家長還是越來越少了。斯特勞斯說，1968年的時候，有94%的美國人認可體罰。到2005年，同意“有時候體罰孩子是可以的”的人占的比例下降到72%，雖然有些研究者認為實際上體罰事件發(fā)生的更頻繁了。

　　The practice has its defenders, and Straus himself admits, with chagrin in his voice, that he spanked his own son. In the 1990s, the American Academy of Pediatrics underwent a bitter fight before finally declaring in 1998 that "corporal punishment is of limited effectiveness and has potentially deleterious side effects."

　　連斯特勞斯自己都懊惱地承認，他有時候會打孩子屁股。當然,也會有人為體罰辯護。90年代的時候，美國兒科學會做了許多艱苦的工作，才得以在1998年公開宣布“體罰對孩子沒有多少正面作用，且可能造成潛在的負面影響”

　　Sometimes spanking seems like the only way to get through to an unruly toddler. But the price for fixing his poor short-term conduct might be an even more troublesome outcome in the future.

　　有時候人們會覺得，如果孩子調(diào)皮搗蛋，那不打不行。但是，這種對孩子行為的暫時的修正，卻有可能會給他的將來造成更大的麻煩。