中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Harmonious: The key to a peaceful family life is to have two daughters, a report suggests. |
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Broody couples might want to throw away any dreams of a boy for him and a girl for her. The secret of domestic bliss is having two daughters, according to a study. In a finding that will surprise many parents, researchers concluded that two girls are unlikely to fight, will play nicely together, rarely annoy their parents and tend not to wind each other up. They also make little noise, seldom ignore each other and are more likely to confide in their mother or father, scientists claim. But doubling the number of daughters is a recipe for disaster, with parents of four girls the least happy with their domestic set-up. Researchers questioned thousands of mothers and fathers of under-16s to come up with the recipe for a harmonious family life. Those with two girls were most likely to say their children were easy to reason with, helped around the house and generally got on well with each other. But parents of four girls reported refereeing an average of four fights a day. One in three frequently found it hard to cope, and two-thirds had to buy a bigger house or car to accommodate their brood. Overall, mothers and fathers with four children of any gender were more likely to find family life a struggle, with mornings, mealtimes and bedtimes the most common sources of conflict. And parents of large families more often admitted neglecting one or more of their children on occasion or struggling to share their attention equally. After two girls, the second most appealing combination of children was one girl and one boy, with 86 per cent of parents saying their little boy and little girl were genuine friends. Two siblings of opposite genders rarely argue over toys and are easy to reason with, but suffer from a lack of shared interests as they grow up, the researchers claim. The third most favourable combination was two boys, with parents saying their sons pay each other lots of attention and are close friends – but are less likely to confide in their mum or dad as they grow up. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
打算生小孩的夫婦也許要舍棄一男一女兩個小孩的夢想了。 根據一項研究，家庭幸福的秘訣是有兩個女兒。 這項研究結果會讓許多父母感到吃驚。研究人員得出結論說，兩個女孩不容易打架，在一起會玩得很好，很少會惹父母生氣，而且一般不會作弄對方。 科學家稱，兩個女孩制造的噪音小，很少會不理對方，而且更愿意向母親或父親吐露秘密。 但是，如果女兒的數量加倍，帶來的卻是不幸。相比其他家庭格局，有四個女兒的父母是最不幸福的。 研究人員調查了數千位家里有16歲以下小孩的父母，尋找和諧家庭生活的秘訣。 有兩個女兒的父母多數都說自己的小孩聽話，還說女兒們會幫忙拾掇家務，而且一般相處得也很好。 但是有四個女兒的父母們卻表示他們平均每天要勸架四次。 這些父母有三分之一經常為家事感到頭疼，三分之二不得不買更大的房子或車才能容納家里的小孩。 總體而言，有四個孩子（無論男女）的父母更有可能為家庭生活煩惱，清晨、用餐時間和睡覺時間是最常發生沖突的時段。 更多大家庭的父母承認有時會疏于照顧自己的一個或多個小孩，要平均分配對每個小孩的注意力也很難。 排在兩個女兒組合之后，最吸引人的組合就是一個女兒和一個兒子，有86%的父母說他們的兒子和女兒是真正的好朋友。 研究人員稱，姐弟或兄妹很少會為玩具爭吵，也比較聽話，但是成長過程中沒有多少共同的興趣愛好。 第三個受歡迎的組合是兩個兒子，父母們說他們的兒子互相很關照，是親密的朋友，不過在成長過程中比較不愿意向父母吐露秘密。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馬文英） |
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Vocabulary: broody: (of a woman) wanting very much to have a baby（女人）急于生孩子的 wind somebody up: to deliberately say or do something in order to annoy somebody（惹某人生氣；戲弄某人） referee: to act as the referee in a game（擔任裁判；裁判） brood: a large family of children（一大家孩子） on occasion: 偶爾；偶然；有時 |
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