時尚雙語:“垃圾文化”正在摧毀孩子的童年

Britain's children are being poisoned by a "junk culture"of processed food, computer games and over-competitive education, an influential group of children's authors and experts warned.

In an open letter to The Daily Telegraph, 110 teachers, psychologists and children's authors including the internationally acclaimed author Philip Pullman1 and Penelope Leach, a leading childcare expert--called on the government to act now to prevent childhood being killed off altogether.

Forced "to act and dress like mini-adults," children are becoming increasingly depressed and experiencing escalating levels of behavioral and developmental problems, they said.

Since children's brains are still developing, they cannot adjust as full-grown adults can, to the effects of ever more rapid technological and cultural change," the letter said.

"They need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen based entertainment), first hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.

The experts condemned Britain's increasingly "target-driven" education system and urged the government to recognize children's need for more time and space to develop.

一羣有影響力的兒童作家、專家警告道，由加工食品、電腦遊戲和競爭過於激烈的教育構成的“垃圾文化”正在毒害英國的兒童。

在致《每日電訊報》的一封公開信中，110名教師、心理學家和兒童作家——包括世界聞名的作家菲利普· 普爾曼以及頂級兒童保育專家佩內洛普· 利奇——呼籲政府馬上採取行動，阻止“垃圾文化”把孩子們的童年完全毀掉。

他們說，孩子們被迫採用“小大人”式的行爲方式與穿着打扮，結果變得越來越壓抑，行爲和個人發展方面的問題也日趨嚴重。

信中說道：“由於孩子們的大腦仍處在發育階段，所以面對日新月異的科技、文化帶來的影響，他們無法像成人那樣去調整自己。

“未成年人一直以來就需要的那些東西，如天然食品而不是 “垃圾加工食品”、真實的遊戲而非久坐在電腦屏幕前的娛樂、對自己生活的世界的第一手體驗、與真實生活中那些他們生命中重要的大人經常性的交流，這些東西現在的孩子也需要。”

專家們指責英國愈演愈烈的“目標導向”的教育體系，督促政府認識到兒童需要更多的時間與空間去發展自我。