Middle-class teenagers are less intelligent than a generation ago due to the dumbing down of youth culture and school tests, a new study suggests.
最新研究显示，因为文化传播与校园教育的低能化，现在中产阶级家庭的青少年的IQ要比他们的上代人偏低。
IQ tests show that scores for the average 14-year-old have dropped by more than two points between 1980 and 2008.
分别在1980年和2008年对一般14岁青少年所作的IQ测试发现，目前的青少年IQ比28年前要低两分。
For those in the upper half of the intelligence scale--a group typically dominated by the children of middle-class families--average IQ scores were six points down on 28 years ago.
在IQ较高的一半人中这个群体的孩子大多数来自中产阶级平均IQ要比28年前低六分。
Leisure time is increasingly taken up with playing computer games and watching TV instead of reading and holding conversations.
休闲活动被电脑游戏和电视占据，而过去的青少年只能阅读看书或和朋友交谈说话。
Education experts said a growing tendency in schools to teach to the test was affecting youngsters' ability to think laterally.
教育专家表示，学校愈加以考试为教学标准，这也致使目前的青少年缺少考虑的能力。
For the study, Professor James Flynn, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, analysed UK children's scores in IQ tests over time.
进行调查的新西兰奥塔哥大学的詹姆斯弗林教授剖析了英国孩子们在这类年的IQ得分数据。
He found that IQs increased among children aged between five and 10 over the 28-year-period, at the rate of up to half a point a year.
他发现，在过去的28年间，5至10岁孩子的IQ在以每年提升0.5分的趋势增长。
He believes these gains are linked to changes to the home environment children experience when they are young, with parents increasingly providing stimulating activities.
他觉得这是因为家庭环境所致，愈加多的父母乐于在孩子小的时候从事促进大脑发育的活动。
But Professor Flynn also found that teenagers' scores had dipped slightly over the past generation.
但弗林教授也发现，青少年的得分却比他们的上代人有所减少。
It is the first time IQ scores have fallen for any age group during the past century, his research suggests.
研究表明，在过去的一个世纪中，智商测试的分数降低还是头一次。
While we have enriched the cognitive environment of children before their teenage years, the cognitive environment of the teenagers has not been enriched.
大家强化了孩子子的认知环境，却忽略了青少年这个年龄段。
Other studies have shown how pervasive teenage youth culture is, and what we see is parents' influence on IQ slowly diminishing with age.
其他研究也显示，青少年的特有文化已相当时尚，父母对这个年龄段孩子的IQ所能起到的影响伴随他们年龄的增长而不断减弱。
What we know is that youth culture is more visually orientated around computer games than they are in terms of reading and holding conversations.
据大家所知，年轻一代的文化明显倾向于电脑游戏，而冷落了阅读和与人聊天交往。
He said previous studies have tended to show IQ increasing as teenagers move into adulthood, entering university or starting work.
他还说，之前的研究倾向于另一种看法，即青少年在成人、上大学以至开始工作的这期间里，他们的IQ在不断地增长。
Previous studies have claimed that using text messages and email can temporarily reduce IQ by causing concentration to drop, while smoking marijuana has also been linked with a decline in IQ.
此前有调查发现，发送手机短信和邮件会干扰注意力，以至于短暂减少一个人的IQ，而吸食大麻也与IQ减少有关。
