手机成学习成绩下降罪魁祸首

 　　They may be called smartphones but the handsets could be damaging some students’ grades。

　　他们被称为“智能”手机，然而这些电子设备也许正在影响学生们的功课成绩。

　　In an experiment, pupils who were given a free iPhone used it for social networking and listening to music rather than helping¹ with their studies, and they admitted being distracted from their work。

　　在一项实验中，研究人员向学生们发放了免费的苹果手机，学生们却没有将手机用作学习工具，而是用手机刷社交网络、听音乐，并且他们承认自己无法集中精神完成学习任务。

　　Psychologists at Rice University wanted to see if the latest mobile technology would be used by the students to improve their learning。

　　赖斯大学的心理学家们想要了解最新的移动技术能否帮助学生们提高他们的学业成绩。

　　When given their new handsets, the students overwhelmingly said that the devices would help them do better in tests and get better grades without being a distraction²。

　　当参加实验的学生们刚获得新手机的时候，他们信心满满的声称，新手机不会干扰他们学习，还会让他们学得更好，取得更好的成绩。

　　When asked at the beginning if they thought the phones would get them higher grades, the average response was a positive score of 3.71 on the scale。

　　在实验开始之初，当学生们被问及，是否认为手机能帮助自己取得更好的学业成绩的时候，学生们给出的答复评分的平均分数为3.71分，这是一个表示肯定的分值。

　　But a year later, when asked if it had helped perform better in tests, the average score had more than halved³ to 1.54 on the same scale, indicating disillusionment with the technology。

　　然而一年之后，当学生们被问及手机是否确实帮助他们获得了更好的考试成绩时，学生们给出的平均分值还不到之前的一半，在同一个分值表上，只有1.54分，这意味着学生们对高科技的梦幻破灭了。

　　The researchers concluded that it’s not enough to give students the right technology, but said they need constant guidance about how to use it。

　　研究者们得出结论，即——仅向学生们提供前沿的电子技术是不够的，他们还需要长时间的引导，需要我们告诉他们如何正确运用移动设备。

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

3 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》