12 A new Harvard study shows that immigrant boys and girls fare very differently in the outside world

When it comes to schooling, the Herrera boys are no match for the Herrera girls. Last week, four years after she arrived from Honduras, Martha, 20, graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. She managed decent grades while working 36 hours a week at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Her sister, Marlin, 22, attends a local community college and will soon be a certified nurse assistant. The brothers are a different story. Oscar, 17, was expelled two years ago from Fairfax for carrying a knife and later dropped out of a different school. The youngest, Jonathan, 15, is now in a juvenile boot camp after running into trouble with the law. "The boys get sidetracked more," says the kids' mother, Suyapa Landaverde. "The girls are more confident."

This is no aberration. Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys, according to the preliminary findings of a just-completed, five-year study of immigrant children--the largest of its kind, including Latino, Chinese and Haitian kids--by Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Though that trend holds for U.S.-born kids as well, the reasons for the discrepancy among immigrants are different. The study found that immigrant girls are more adept at straddling cultures than boys. "The girls are able to retain some of the protective features of [their native] culture" because they're kept closer to the hearth, says Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, "while they maximize their acquisition of skills in the new culture" by helping their parents navigate it.

Consider the kids' experiences in school. The study found that boys face more peer pressure to adopt American youth culture--the dress, the slang, the disdain for education. They're disciplined more often and, as a result, develop more adversarial relationships with teachers--and the wider society. They may also face more debilitating prejudices. One teacher interviewed for the study said that the "cultural awareness training" she received as part of her continuing education included depictions of Latino boys as "aggressive" and "really macho" and of the girls as "pure sweetness."

Gender shapes immigrant kids' experiences outside school as well. Often hailing from traditional cultures, the girls face greater domestic obligations. They also frequently act as "cultural ambassadors," translating for parents and mediating between them and the outside world, says Carola Suarez-Orozco. An unintended consequence: "The girls get foisted into a responsible role more than the boys do." Take Christina Im, 18, a junior at Fairfax who arrived from South Korea four years ago. She ranks ninth in a class of 400 students and still finds time to fix dinner for the family and work on Saturdays at her mother's clothing shop. Her brother? "He plays computer games," says Im.

The Harvard study bears a cautionary note: If large numbers of immigrant boys continue to be alienated academically--and to be clear, plenty perform phenomenally--they risk sinking irretrievably into an economic underclass. Oscar Herrera, Martha's dropout brother, may be realizing that. "I'm thinking of returning to school," he recently told his mother. He ought to look to his sisters for guidance.

By Arian Campo-Flores Newsweek; 7/1/2002, Vol. 140 Issue 1, p51, 2/3p, 1c

注(1)：本文选自Newsweek，7/1/2002，p51；

注(2)：本文习题命题模仿对象2005年真题Text 1。

1.In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by

[A]posing a contrast

[B]justifying an assumption

[C]making a comparison

[D]explaining a phenomenon

2.The statement “they also frequently act as ‘cultural ambassadors’”(Line two, Paragraph

4) implies that

[A]they work as a translator for their parents

[B]they help their parents have a better understanding of the foreign culture

[C]they encourage their parents to go into the outside world

[D]their parents help them realize their dream of becoming an ambassador.

3.Immigrant boys do not fare well in the outside world because of the following reasons,

except that

[A]American youth culture has a bad influence on the boys

[B]people have prejudice against them

[C]their sense of responsibility is not as strong as that of the girls

[D]they do not get well along with the teachers and the outside world

4.Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco have eventually found in their study that

[A]the immigrant boys should not be allowed to go into the outside world

[B]the immigrant boys have no judgment about the youth culture

[C]the immigrant girls do a better job than the immigrant boys

[D]the immigrant boys should be severely disciplined

5.What can we infer from the last paragraph?

[A]All the dropouts should receive good education.

[B]Many immigrant boys are likely to fall into trouble in the future.

[C]Schooling education has been neglected.

[D]More attention should be paid to the immigrant children.

答案：CBACB

篇章剖析

本文采用提出问题——分析问题的模式，指出移民中男孩子和女孩子在学业方面的表现差别很大，并进一步分析其原因，指出可能会造成的后果。文章第一段以马撒的兄弟姐妹为例，指出家中男孩和女孩在学业上的差别；第二段、第三段和第四段来分析造成这一现象的原因；第五段指出可能会造成的后果。

词汇注释

fare [feE(r)] vi进展；成功

Carolina Herrera 卡罗琳娜•赫蕾拉，著名时装品牌创始人

sidetrack [5saIdtrAk] vt.导入侧线, 转移目标, 使受牵制

aberration [AbE5reIF(E)n] n.失常；偏差

outperform [9aJtpE`fR:m] vt.做得比…好，胜过

preliminary [prI5lImInErI; (?@) -nerI] adj. 预备的, 初步的

discrepancy [dI5skrepEnsI] n. 相差, 差异, 矛盾

adept at熟练于...

straddle [5strAd(E)l] v. 跨骑

navigate [5nAvI^eIt] vt. 航行于, 驾驶, 操纵, 使通过

peer [pIE(r)] n. 同龄人；同事

discipline [5dIsIplIn] v. 惩戒，惩罚

adversarial [ 9AdvE`seErIEl] adj. 敌手的,对手的,对抗(性)的

debilitate [dI5bIlIteIt] vt. 使衰弱, 使虚弱

macho [5mB:tFEu] adj. 男子的，男子气的

gender [5dVendE(r)] n. [语法] 性, <口>性别, 性, 性交

hailing from来自，在某地生长

mediate [5mi:dIeIt] v. 仲裁, 调停, 作为引起...的媒介, 居中调停

foist [fCIst] vt. 偷偷插入, 使混入, 硬卖给, 私自添加, 把...强加(于), 把...塞(给)

alienate [5eIlIEneIt] v. 疏远

phenomenally [fI5nRmInElI] adv. 现象上地, 明白地；惊人地

irretrievably [IrI5tri:vEb(E)li] adv. 不能挽回地, 不能补救地

look to sb. for sth. 依赖或指望某人提供或做某事物

难句突破

1.Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys, according to the preliminary findings of a just-completed, five-year study of immigrant children--the largest of its kind, including Latino, Chinese and Haitian kids--by Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

主体句式：Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys…

结构分析：本句是一个简单句。according to意为“依据，按照”，来补充说明“Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys”这一结论缘自何处；“the largest of its kind”是study的同位语；including现在分词进一步修饰study; by表示这项研究是由谁来做的。

句子译文：根据哈佛大学教育学研究生院的马赛罗和卡罗拉•苏瑞兹-欧罗科刚刚完成了一项历时五年的初步研究结果——这项研究是同类研究中规模最大的，研究对象为移民子女，其中包括拉丁美洲人、中国人和海地人，移民女孩子的表现一贯比男孩子出色。

题目分析

1.答案为C,属事实细节题。作者以马撒的兄弟姐妹为例，意在指出男孩和女孩在学业方面的不同表现，从而引出论题。

2.答案为B，属推理判断题。从第二段"while they maximize their acquisition of skills in the

new culture" by helping their parents navigate it.我们知道这些移民孩子的父母对新文化的理解、把握和适应还得益于孩子的帮助。原文对应信息是：“They also frequently act as "cultural ambassadors," translating for parents and mediating between them and the outside world, says Carola Suarez-Orozco.”从这句话我们可以看出"cultural ambassadors"的含义。

3.答案为A，属事实细节题。选项B在文中的对应信息是第三段的“They may also face more

debilitating prejudices.”；选项C在文中的对应信息是第四段的“the girls face greater domestic obligations”；选项D在文中对应的信息是第三段的“They're disciplined more often and, as a result, develop more adversarial relationships with teachers--and the wider society.”；只有选项A不正确，它的意思与文中对应的信息有出入，原文对应信息是第三段的“The study found that boys face more peer pressure to adopt American youth culture--the dress, the slang, the disdain for education.”

4.答案为C，属事实细节题。文中第一段以对比手段入手，在第二段开头就引出了文章的

论题。原文对应信息是“Immigrant girls consistently outperform boys, according to the preliminary findings of a just-completed, five-year study of immigrant children--the largest of its kind, including Latino, Chinese and Haitian kids--by Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.”

5.答案为B，属推理判断题。原文对应信息是“If large numbers of immigrant boys continue

to be alienated academically--and to be clear, plenty perform phenomenally--they risk sinking irretrievably into an economic underclass.”

参考译文

哈佛大学一项新的研究结果表明，移民中男孩和女孩在外面世界的发展差别很大

谈到学业问题，身穿赫蕾拉美仑美奂时装的男孩根本无法与穿同样时装的女孩相比。上周，也就是从洪都拉斯来到美国四年之后，20岁的马撒从洛杉矶的费尔法克斯高中毕业。尽管每周都要在肯德基快餐店工作36个小时，但是她还是取得了相当好的成绩。她的姐姐马林今年22岁，在当地的一所社区大学读书，不久就将成为一名有资格证书的助理护士。她兄弟们的情况就完全不一样了。17岁的奥斯卡两年前因为携带小刀被费尔法克斯学校开除，后又从另一所学校辍学。最小的乔纳森今年15岁，惹上官司后现在在青少年新兵训练营。“这些男孩子多不走正道，”孩子们的母亲苏雅帕•兰达沃尔德说，“而女孩子却越发自信了。”

这非常合乎常规。根据哈佛大学教育学研究生院的马赛罗和卡罗拉•苏瑞兹-欧罗科刚刚完成了一项历时五年的初步研究结果——这项研究是同类研究中规模最大的，研究对象为移民子女，其中包括拉丁美洲人、中国人和海地人，移民女孩子的表现一贯比男孩子出色。虽然这种趋势在美国出生的孩子中也存在，但是在移民中产生这种差异的原因却是不相同的。研究发现，移民女孩子比男孩子更善于包容不同的文化。马赛罗•苏瑞兹-欧罗科说，“女孩子能保留本民族文化里的一些保护性特点”，因为女孩子跟家庭的关系更加紧密，所以在帮助父母跨越这一新文化的过程中，“她们最大限度地获取了新文化的技能”。

我们再来考虑孩子们在学校的经历。研究发现，与女孩子相比，男孩子在接受美国年轻人文化——衣着、俚语以及对教育的蔑视等——方面面临更多的来自同龄人的压力。他们会受到更多的惩戒，因此，他们跟老师以及外界社会更容易发展成一种敌对关系。他们还可能会面对更多的使人意志衰弱的偏见。研究中接受采访的一位老师说，她所接受的继续教育中的“文化意识培训”部分把拉丁美洲男孩描述成“好斗的”、“真正大男子主义的”的人，而对女孩子的描述是“清纯可人”。

性别也决定了移民孩子的课余生活经历。由于女孩子常常处在传统文化的氛围之中，她们要对家庭承担更多的责任。卡罗拉•苏瑞兹-欧罗科说，她们常常担当“文化大使”的角色，为她们的父母作作翻译，帮助他们与外部世界沟通。这产生了一种意想不到的结果：“与男孩子相比，女孩子不得不承担起更多的责任。”我们以克里斯蒂娜伊•殷为例。她今年18岁，四年前从韩国来到这里，现在是费尔法克斯中学三年级学生。在全班400名学生中，她排名第九位，但她还能抽出时间给她的家人做正餐，每周六还要在她妈妈的服装店里帮忙。她弟弟干什么呢？殷说，“他在打游戏。”

哈佛大学的研究带着一种警示性口气：如果大量的移民男孩子在学业上继续荒废下去—说得清楚些，有很多人荒废得令人难以置信—他们将冒将来在经济上不可挽回地陷入底层社会的危险。马撒辍学的弟弟奥斯卡•赫雷拉可能已经认识到了这一点。他最近告诉他的母亲说，“我在考虑重新回到学校去。”他应该向他的姐姐们求教指导意见。