VOA慢速英语2011--'Sexting' Study Finds Low Rate Among Young（在线收听）

Technology Report - 'Sexting' Study Finds Low Rate Among Young

科技报道 - 新研究表明青少年中性短信并未泛滥

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

New research shows that "sexting" is not as common among young people as earlier findings suggested.

新研究表明，性短信在年轻人中并没有此前研究结果所说的那么普遍。

Last week the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire released two studies. The researchers interviewed more than one thousand five hundred Internet users between the ages of ten and seventeen. Just two and a half percent of them said they had either sent or received naked pictures over their mobile phones or the Internet.

上周，新罕布什尔大学“针对少年儿童犯罪研究中心”发布了两项研究结果。研究人员对超过1500名年龄在10到17岁的互联网用户进行了采访，只有2.5%受访者表示，他们在手机或网络上发送或收到过裸照。

Earlier surveys had suggested that as many as twenty percent of teens were involved in such activities. But one problem is that some of those findings included young adults -- eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds.

此前有调查表明，多达20%的青少年参与了此类活动。但问题之一是其中一些研究结果包含了十八九岁的年轻的成年人。

Dan Rauzi is senior director for technology programs for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He says another problem is confusion among teenagers about what exactly "sexting" means.

Dan Rauzi是美国男孩女孩俱乐部科技项目高级总监。他表示，另一个问题是性短信的确切定义在青少年中被混淆了。

DAN RAUZI: "For example, the University of New Hampshire study -- what they found was that what some teens called sexting were really maybe pictures of themselves in a bathing suit."

DAN RAUZI：“例如，新罕布什尔大学的研究发现，一些青少年所谓的性短信也许就是他们穿着泳装的照片。”

Mr. Rauzi says these and other suggestive images have sometimes been reported as sexting.

Rauzi先生说，这些照片，以及其它暗示性图片有时也被报告为性短信。

Marian Merritt is the Internet safety advocate for the computer security company Norton. She says the New Hampshire researchers considered this confusion in the latest research.

Marian Merritt是计算机安全公司诺顿公司的互联网安全律师。她说，新罕布什尔大学的研究人员在最新的研究中考虑到了这种混淆。

MARIAN MERRITT: "They segmented the really most egregious or dangerous kinds of images people might be posting and sending from texts that might be more suggestive."

MARIAN MERRITT：“他们从可能极具暗示性的短信中细分出了人们可能会张贴、发送的真正最为恶劣和危险的图片。”

Ms. Merritt says very few of the images in this latest study would have been considered illegal.

Merritt女士表示，在这项最新研究中，只有极少数图片会被认为是非法图片。

MARIAN MERRITT: "The kinds of images or videos that might constitute child pornography is very low. It's only one percent. So the good news is it's a very rare phenomenon and most young people are not engaging in these kinds of behaviors."

MARIAN MERRITT：“可能构成儿童淫秽制品的图片或视频非常少，只有1%。所以，好消息是，这是一种非常罕见的现象，大多数年轻人没有从事这类行为。”

Everyone knows young people are early adapters of technology. Dan Rauzi say their experimentation often raises concern with adults -- like the recent fears about sexting. But it also has another effect.

大家都知道年轻人是科技的早期改造者。Rauzi说，他们的实验经常引发成年人关注，例如最近对性短信的恐惧。但它也有另一种效果。

DAN RAUZI: "We get a new technology in and teens, they push that envelope and in some ways as a society help us see all of the possibilities with new technologies, as well."

DAN RAUZI：“我们引入一项新科技，青少年会挑战其极限，也在某些方面作为一个社会阶层帮助我们看到新科技的所有可能性。”

The new study appeared in the journal Pediatrics. In a second study, the New Hampshire researchers found that very few sexting cases investigated by police led to arrests. Marian Merritt is glad about that.

这项新研究发表在儿科杂志上。在第二项研究中，新罕布什尔大学研究人员发现被警方调查的性短信案件很少被逮捕。Marian merritt对此非常高兴。

MARIAN MERRITT: "The other bit of good news is that over the last several years we've seen law enforcement across the country start to take a more modulated approach, and not going for full enforcement of, you know, a mistake - a momentary lapse in judgment from young people who don't understand the power of the images they may be sharing."

MARIAN MERRITT：“其它好消息是，在过去几年，我们看到全国各地的执法机构更多地采用调解方式，而没有对这些不知道他们共享的图片的后果的青少年的一时判断失误做出充分执行。”

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. Next week, we'll talk more about teens and technology, including a practice known as "cyberbaiting." I'm Steve Ember.