科學表示:這是養育聰明寶寶的祕訣大綱

Recently, a study revealed that parents should really limit the amount of screen time that their children have to just two hours a day, especially since an increasing body of research suggests that all that eye strain is causing a disturbing rise in nearsightedness in both kids and adults. Now, a new study published in the journal Social Science Research states that, if you want to have a sharp kid, the best thing you can do is not only encourage them to read real books, but also keep a fair number of them around the house.

最近，一項研究揭示：家長應限制孩子看屏幕的時間，每天最多看倆小時，特別是因爲越來越多的研究表明：眼睛疲勞會導致寶寶和成年人都近視。現在，《社會科學研究》（Social Science Research）期刊上發表的一項新研究指出，若想培養聰明寶寶，不僅要讓他/她多讀書，而且家中也要多備些書。

Researchers asked 160,000 adults, from 31 different countries, who took part in the Programme for the InterNational Assessment of Adult Competencies between 2011 and 2015, how many books were present in their homes when they were growing up. They then compared these responses to the results of a series of tests the participants took to measure their literacy, numeracy, and information communication technology (ICT) skills.

來自31個不同國家的16萬成年人蔘加了成人能力國際評估計劃（2011至2015年），研究員請這些成年人回答了這樣一個問題：在成長過程中，你家裏面有多少書？之後，研究員將受試者的回答與他們所進行的一系列測試結果進行對比，以評估他們在識字、算術和信息通信技術方面的技能。

What they found was that those who grew up with almost no books in their homes scored below average on literacy tests, while those who had about 80 in their houses by the time they were teenagers scored about average. The positive correlation between the number of books in the house and literacy levels continued to rise after 80, but plateaued after 350.

他們發現：成長過程中家中幾乎沒有書的成年人在識字測試中的得分低於平均水平，而青少年時期家中約有80本書的成年人的得分大約是平均水平。當家中書的數量超過80本時，家中書的數量與識字水平的正相關性繼續上升，直至書的數量達到350本時趨於持平。

"Adolescent exposure to books is an integral part of social practices that foster long-term cognitive competencies spanning literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills," wrote Dr. Joanna Sikora, a senior lecturer in sociology at Australian National University. "Growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment."

"青少年接觸書籍是社會實踐中不可缺少的一部分，可在識字、算術和信息通信技術等技能方面培養長期的認知能力，"澳大利亞國立大學的社會學高級講師喬安娜·西科拉博士寫道。"在藏書頗多的家庭中成長可以提高成年人的這些技巧，其益處超過了父母教育或自學或職業成就帶來的益處。"

In addition, the paper argues that, for now at least, there's not enough evidence to suggest that the literacy gains of print books can be replaced with e-books consumed on an iPad.

此外，該文章認爲：至少到目前爲止，還沒有足夠的證據可以表明印刷書籍提升的識字能力可以被iPad上的電子書所取代。