研究：带孩子购物有助孩子成长

 　　虽然说小孩子们经常会在商店里乱跑让家长一阵头疼，但一项研究却认为带孩子购物对幼儿脑部发育有利。因为该研究认为孩子同家长在购物时的互动有利于培养幼儿们的社交能力并使他们获得更多的快乐。

　　研究表明，购物对孩子成长的有益影响与绘画差不多。另外他们更发现购物对孩子社交能力的提高比看电视或阅读更有效。专家表示，购物让孩子的视野从一家店换到另一家店，这比那些静止的活动更能培养孩子们的社交能力。

　　Children may sulk and play up when being dragged round the shops by their parents, but retail¹ therapy is actually good for their brains.

　　研究：带孩子购物有助孩子成长

　　The interaction between child and parent while shopping helps young people develop social skills and promotes happiness - even if a bawling² toddler shows few signs of it at the time.

　　According to the joint³ study by Oxford⁴ University and the Open University, shopping trips are just as beneficial for the child’s development as painting or drawing activities.

　　They also found shopping is better for a child’s social skills than watching TV or reading.

　　The two universities made these conclusions after studying the results of an economic survey in Germany.

　　This survey looked into the daily routines and habits of 800 parents with two and three-year-olds.

　　It recorded higher perceived levels of happiness among the children who had taken part in activities such as arts and crafts, and shopping.

　　Researchers Professor Paul Anand and Dr Laurence Roope added that the more retail therapy the toddlers were exposed to, the happier they seemed to be, and the more developed their everyday skills became.

　　Shopping may be beneficial because it involves changes of scenery from shop to shop, which improves the child's motor and social skills more than a sedentary activity, the report continued.

　　Reading and storytelling together ranked high for happiness, but being left to read on their own, or watch TV, had a 'negative impact' on the child's development.

　　Professor Anand from the Open University said that during shopping trips ‘children are getting visual stimulation⁵, they've getting out of the house and into a new environment.

　　‘They're bumping into other families where social skills come into play and they may get the chance to do something physical in a shop like run around.’

　　The researchers now want to test their theories on older children to see what activities influence development among other age groups.

　　The research was presented at the annual conference of the Royal Economic Society.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 bawling   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• We heard the dulcet tones of the sergeant, bawling at us to get on parade. 我们听到中士用“悦耳”的声音向我们大喊，让我们跟上队伍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Why are you bawling at me? “你向我们吼啥子？ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。