VOA慢速英语2019 世卫组织:儿童过多观看电子屏幕有害

WHO: Too Much Screen Time Bad for Children

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its first ever guidance on how much time young children should spend using electronic devices with screens.

世卫组织发布了有史以来第一份指南，内容是关于幼儿应该花费多长时间使用有屏幕的电子设备。

On Wednesday, WHO announced that children under five years old should not spend more than one hour a day watching such devices. Less than that is better, officials say, and children under age one should not get any screen time at all.

世卫组织周三宣布，5岁以下儿童每天看此类设备的时间不应该超过1小时。有关官员称时间越短越好。一岁以下儿童根本不应该看电子屏幕。

“What we are cautioning on is over-use of those electronic screen times with young children,” WHO expert Fiona Bull told reporters.

世卫组织专家菲奥娜·布尔（Fiona Bull）告诉记者：“我们要警惕幼儿过度使用电子屏幕。”

The new guidelines are somewhat similar to advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics. That group recommends children younger than 18 months should avoid screens other than video conferences over the internet. It says parents of children under age two should choose “high-quality programming” with educational value. Boys and girls should be able to watch the program with a parent and understand what they are seeing.

这份新指南跟美国儿科学会的建议有点类似。美国儿科学会建议18个月以下儿童应该避免看屏幕，除了网络视频通话之外。该学会称，2岁以下儿童应该选择具有教育价值的高质量节目。孩子们应该跟父母一起观看节目，并了解他们所看到的内容。

The guidelines say that children under five should also be physically¹ active and get enough sleep to help develop good lifelong behaviors. This will help prevent diseases in later life.

这份指南表示，5岁以下儿童还应该积极锻炼身体并获得充足睡眠，以帮助他们养成良好的终生行为习惯，这将会有助于他们预防晚年疾病。

“In this age group of under-5s, it is currently 40 million children around the world (who) are overweight. Of that (figure) 50 percent are in Africa and the southeast Asia region,” Bull said. The Reuters news agency says that number represents 5.9 percent of all children worldwide.

布尔表示：“在5岁以下儿童这个年龄组中，目前有4千万儿童超重，其中50%在非洲和东南亚地区。”据路透社报道，该数字占到了全球儿童总数的5.9%。

Early childhood is a period of fast physical and mental development during which behaviors are formed and ways of doing things can be changed, noted² WHO. Its guidelines come from evidence in hundreds of studies, many from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States.

世卫组织指出，幼儿期是身心快速发展的时期，在此期间，行为习惯形成，行事方式也能改变。该组织的这份指南出自于数百项研究所提供的证据，其中很多研究来自澳大利亚、加拿大、南非以及美国。

“Sedentary behaviors, whether riding motorized transport rather than walking or cycling, sitting at a desk in school, watching TV or playing inactive screen-based games” are increasingly common, WHO said. It added that such behaviors have been linked to poor health.

世卫组织表示：“久坐不动的行为，无论是骑摩托车都不走路，还是骑自行车、坐在办公桌前，观看电视或玩非互动性的电子游戏”都日益普遍。该组织还称，这类行为与健康不佳有关。

Some groups said WHO’s screen time guidelines failed to consider the possible benefits of electronic media.

一些组织称世卫组织的屏幕使用时间指南未能考虑到电子媒体的潜在好处。

Andrew Przybylski is director of research at the Oxford³ Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. He told the Associated Press that WHO’s screen time advice deals too much with the amount of screen time. He said it fails to consider the quality of the material being watched or how it is being used.

安德鲁·普日比斯基（Andrew Przybylski）是牛津大学互联网研究所的研究主任。他对美联社表示，世卫组织的屏幕使用时间建议过多考虑了屏幕的使用时间。他说，该建议并未考虑到观看内容的质量，或是电子屏幕的使用方式。

“Not all screen time is created equal,” said Przybylski.

普日比斯基表示：“看屏幕也各有不同。”

Britain’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the study data available was too weak to permit its experts to set any measure for the best level of screen time.

英国皇家儿科和儿童健康学院表示，现有的研究数据过于薄弱，不足以让专家设定任何最佳屏幕使用时间的标准。

Max Davie is the college’s Officer for Health Improvement. He told the AP the restricted screen time limits suggested by WHO do not seem proportionate to the possible harm done.

马克斯·戴维（Max Davie）是该学院健康改善部门的官员。他对美联社表示，世卫组织建议的限制接触电子屏幕的时间，似乎与潜在的伤害不成比例。

WHO did not go into much detail about the possible harm caused by too much screen time. But the guidelines did note that lack of sleep in children has been linked with increases in extra fat as measured by body mass index.

世卫组织并未详细说明过度使用屏幕可能造成的伤害。但是该指南确实指出，儿童睡眠不足跟体重指数测量的额外脂肪增加有关。

Shorter periods spent sleeping has been linked with more time spent watching television and playing computer games, it added.

该指南还称，睡眠时间较短与花更多时间看电视和玩游戏有关。

I'm Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

screen(s) – n. the part of a television, computer or other device that you look at when you are using it

caution(ing) – v. to warn or tell someone about a possible danger or problem

recommend(s) – v. to suggest that someone do something

sedentary – adj. doing or involving a lot of sitting

cycling – n. riding a bicycle

benefit(s) – n. a good or helpful result or effect

proportionate – adj. having a size, number, or amount that is directly related to or the best fit for something

body mass index – n. a measurement that shows the amount of fat in your body and that is based on your weight and height

1 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 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。