Younger Kids Don't Care What's Fair

If you’ve ever spent time with toddlers, sooner or later you’ll hear the word “Mine!” It’s usually followed by an adult saying, “Now, now, you have to learn to share.” But a study in the August 28th issue of Nature suggests we may be wasting our breath. Because kids in the preschool set have no interest in making sure everyone gets their fair share.

Scientists from Switzerland wondered if, and when, young children begin to consider the welfare of others. So they gathered up over 200 Swiss schoolchildren and a small mountain of candy. And one-by-one they gave each child a choice that goes something like this: I can give one M&M to you and one to one of the other kids. Or I can give one to you—and none to anyone else.

Children who were three or four years old didn’t much care whether or not their friends also got an M&M, or a jellybean or any other sweet. But that attitude changed by the time the kids were seven or eight, when almost 80 percent of them opted to be fair. Okay, that doesn’t exactly make them candidates for a Nobel Peace Prize. But maybe magnanimousness begins with an M…&M.

如果你和蹣跚學(xué)步的幼兒呆在一起，很快你就會(huì)聽到他們叫喊“這是我的！”往往這時(shí)候他們周圍的大人就會(huì)教導(dǎo)他們：“從現(xiàn)在開始，你必須學(xué)會(huì)分享。”但是發(fā)表在8月28日的《自然》(Nature)雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究表明，大人對幼兒的這種教導(dǎo)可能是白費(fèi)口舌。這是因?yàn)閷W(xué)齡前兒童對公平?jīng)]有絲毫興趣。

來自瑞士的科學(xué)家想知道兒童是否以及何時(shí)開始關(guān)注別人的幸福。這些科學(xué)家召集了200多名兒童，同時(shí)還買了一大堆糖果。然后這些科學(xué)家給每個(gè)小孩一些如下選擇的機(jī)會(huì)：我給你一塊M&M（一種巧克力糖）糖果，也給其他的小朋友一塊。另外一個(gè)選擇就是我給你一塊糖果，但是不給其他小朋友。

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)3、4歲的孩子不是很在乎別的小朋友是否也得到一塊糖果、果凍或者其他任何的甜食。但是當(dāng)孩子長到7、8歲的時(shí)候他們表現(xiàn)出不同的態(tài)度，80%的孩子選擇公平。當(dāng)然了，這并不表明他們就可以作為諾貝爾和平獎(jiǎng)的候選人。 不過寬容大度可能就始自于分享一塊糖果呢。

Vocabulary:
Toddler: 初學(xué)步的小孩
Welfare: 福利；好處
Jellybean: 豆型軟糖
Opt: 選擇
Magnanimousness: 寬宏；大度