【科学60秒】数学好不好是天生的(双语有声)

作者：hahaleaf 来源：沪江论坛 2011-09-21 08:00

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Ability for Mathematics May Be Inborn

Some people may just be born with a talent for math. I mean, we’ve known that practicing your times tables makes for better multiplication, but new research shows that our inborn sense of numbers is linked to our math ability, even before any training in math.

有些人生来就是数学天才，我是说，我们知道多背背乘法表，乘法运算能力会提高，但一项新的研究发现，即使未经任何训练，人们与生俱来的数字意识和数学运算能力也是密不可分的。

Researchers gave 200 four-year-olds tests of number sense, which is the ability to guess quantities without counting. In this test kids watched groups of blue and yellow dots flash on a computer screen, and had to guess which color was more numerous. Some comparisons were obvious, like two blue and eight yellow. Others were tough, like five blue and six yellow. Researchers also tested the children's basic math skills.

研究人员对200名4岁儿童进行了数字意识测试。所谓数字意识就是指猜数量的能力。测试过程中，研究人员让孩子们看电脑屏幕上蓝色、黄色圆点动画，然后让他们猜那种颜色的比较多。有的数量区别比较明显：蓝色2个，黄色8个；有的数量区别比较模糊：蓝色5个，黄色6个。此外，研究人员还测试了孩子们的基本算术能力。

Kids who could judge that a group of six yellow dots is larger than a group of five blue dots were also better at arithmetic. Meaning that number sense correlated with basic math skills, even in pre-schoolers. The study appears in the journal Developmental Science.

能在5个蓝色、6个黄色中区分出黄色比较多的孩子，算术也相对较好。由此得出，数字意识和基本数学能力有关，在还没上学的小孩子身上就能反映出来。这项研究刊登在《发育科学》期刊山。

Good number sense in adolescents was thought to be linked to good instruction, but turns out from this study that the link between good number sense and good math skills exists before any instruction.

人们曾以为青少年的数字意识离不开后天良好的教导，不过这项研究显示数字意识和数学水平的关系其实早就存在了。