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Mobile devices stealing away childhoods, study finds
研究发现，移动设备正在偷走孩子们的童年
Children in rural areas spend more time gazing at handset and computer screens than their peers in cities.
相比于城市中的同龄人，农村的孩子们在手机和电脑前花费了更多的时间。
A study by the China National Children’s Center found that after the school day ends, youngsters nationwide now spend more time in front of mobile and computer screens playing games and chatting－over 43 minutes a day－than they do reading, which on average is about 26 minutes a day on weekdays. And the time spent with eyes glued to screens rockets to over 90 minutes a day on weekends.
中国儿童中心的一项研究发现，中国的青少年放学后花费在手机和电脑游戏的时间（工作日平均每天超过43分钟）比读书的时间（工作日平均每天约为26分钟）要多。而到了周末，花费在手机和电脑上的时间激增至每天90分钟以上。
The center’s Annual Report on Chinese Children’s Development (2019), released on Tuesday, noted a striking difference in screen time between children in the countryside and their counterparts in cities, with the average youngster in rural areas spending 20 percent more time using electronic devices.
该中心在本周二发布的《中国儿童发展年度报告（2019）》中指出，农村儿童与城市儿童花费在电子产品上的时间存在显著差异，农村地区青少年花费在电子产品上的时间平均要多出20%。
The findings are based on a study that began in September involving 15,000 children from kindergarten to middle school. Respondents were spread across urban and rural areas in 10 cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Guangdong province and Duyun, Guizhou province.
这项研究从去年9月开始，共涉及了1.5万名从幼儿园到中学的儿童。这些调查对象来自于北京市、广东省广州市、贵州省都匀市等10个城市的城市地区和农村地区。
Sun Hongyan, director of the childhood research institute at the China Youth and Children Research Center, said the internet and electronic devices used to be luxuries for rural children.
中国青少年研究中心少儿研究所所长孙红艳表示，对于农村儿童来说，互联网和电子设备过去就是奢侈品。
But the increasing affordability of smartphones made it easier for migrant worker parents to provide electronic devices to children left behind in their hometowns.
但随着智能手机的不断普及，在外务工的父母很容易就能给留守家乡的孩子买个智能手机了。
According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of rural internet users reached 222 million by the end of last year, accounting for 26.7 percent of the nation’s online population.
根据中国互联网信息中心的数据，截至去年年底，农村互联网用户已达2.22亿，占全国网民总数的26.7%。
"It’s been getting harder for parents to monitor a lot of what their kids are seeing and doing, especially when they are not around," Sun said. "At the same time, they’re relying on the seeming safety benefit of being able to keep the kids at home with a device."
孙红艳说：“家长们越来越难知道孩子们在看什么、做什么，尤其是当他们不在孩子身边时。同时他们也相信，能让孩子待在家里玩电子产品似乎更安全。”
The report also found that children increasingly preferred playing electronic games and chatting online instead of other after-school activities such as reading and outdoor exercise. This was having a negative effect on their developing social skills, as well as impairing vision.
报告还发现，孩子们更喜欢玩电子游戏或在网上聊天，而非进行阅读和户外活动等其他课外活动。这不利于孩子们社交能力的发展，也有害于他们的视力。
Sun Yunxiao, a specialist at the Chinese Association of Education, said schools should pay more attention to fostering children’s internet literacy to make them "masters" rather than "prisoners" of the internet.
中国教育协会的专家孙云晓表示，学校应该更加注重培养孩子的网络素养，让他们做网络的“主人”而非“囚徒”。
(全文共386个词)
重难点词汇：
counterpart n. 副本；配对物；极相似的人或物
luxury n. 奢侈，奢华；奢侈品；享受 adj. 奢侈的
literacy n. 读写能力；精通文学
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