Well, it\'s a start. David Cameron has noticed that health and safety regulations stop schools taking children out on field trips, outdoor activities or just collecting autumn leaves at the park. And the Department for Children, Schools and Families is to issue guidelines about extra-curricular activities, aiming to get pupils back into the real world.

      嗯，这些是个开头。大卫·卡梅隆已经察觉到名目繁多的健康与安全条例使学校不敢放孩子们出去实地考察、课外活动甚至是仅仅在公园捡落叶。而英国的儿童、学校和家庭部不日将颁布有关学生课外活动的指导方针，旨为让孩子们重回现实世界。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     I suppose school-organised, adult-supervised activities are better than nothing. But they\'re really not good enough. Indeed, excessive health and safety measures at school are just the tip of the risk-aversion iceberg leaving increasing numbers of young people without the emotion resilience, social competence and personal confidence to thrive in our city.

      学校组织、大人监管的课外活动至少是聊胜于无，我以为。但这并非良策。事实上，学校里过多的健康和安全措施不过是风险厌恶这一冰山的一角，越来越多缺乏情感受挫力、社交能力和自信心的年轻人正因此而涌现。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     A couple  of years ago, the Institute for Public policy Research found that British youngsters were at or near the top of the European charts for almost every type of teenage misconduct and malaise. Not just knife-crime and antisocial behaviour in inner cities, but underage drinking, sexual activity and drug abuse across the social spectrum.

      几年前，公共政策研究所发现：在全欧洲范围的青少年不端行为及抑郁症调研中，英国的年轻人几乎在各项榜单上都处于或接近榜首。其中条目不仅包括市中心贫民区里的持刀犯罪及反社会行为，还有全国皆见的低龄酗酒、发生性关系、毒品泛滥。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Something is mightily wrong with childhood in Britain, and after 30 years working with children and teachers (the last eight years of which were spent researching "toxic childhood"), I reckon our risk aversion-- not just in schools but in every area of life-- is a major part of the problem.

      在我们英国，孩子们的童年肯定在某个地方出了大问题。作为一个有着30年与儿童和老师打交道的经验（其中后8年致力于研究“有毒害的童年”）的人，本人认为风险厌恶——此症不只是存在于校园，而是已经散布在我们生活的各个领域——是上述问题的关键部分。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Think back to your childhood. What and where did you play when you were six, seven, eight? Most adults remember building and making (dens, mud pies, forts, go-carts), make-believe and role play.

      回想一下我们自己的童年吧。我们6、7、8岁的时候在哪儿玩、玩些啥？大部分过来人想到了挖洞穴、捏泥团、垒碉堡、做小车、扮怪物、过家家。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     There were no grown-ups to supervise the play--children organised it themselves, and by playing together, often in mixed age groups, they learned to get along, to deal with squabbles, to collaborate, to negotiate.  

      那时候，孩子们身边并没有大人照看，孩子们自己玩自己的。玩的时候经常是一群一群，一群里面大大小小的都有。这样一来，孩子们就会学着去和睦相处，去平息争吵，去合作，去让步。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Now think about children you know today. How often do they go "out to play"?

      好了，根据你的了解，想想如今的孩子是个什么情况。他们有没有经常到“外面”去玩呢？

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Over the past 25 years there has been an enormous change in young children\'s leisure experiences.  

      25年来，儿童的课外生活发生了翻天覆地的变化。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     When asked recently by the Good Childhood Inquiry what age children should allowed out alone, many adults suggested 14. And even if they would like to give their children more freedom, parents are prevented by public opinion--any child seen out unaccompanied these days is considered at risk  or a possible threat to public safety.

      家长们最近在被“美好童年调查”问及到什么年龄才能允许孩子单独外出时，很多人都提议说14岁。而且，就算他们愿意给予孩子更多自由，也会因舆论压力而打退堂鼓——如今的时代，哪个小孩要是一人在外无人看护，别人会认为很危险，或很可能威胁到公众安全。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     So for most 21st-century children, the word "play" doesn\'t mean outdoor, physical pursuits or indoor creativity: it means sitting down at a PlayStation, mindlessly gazing at television, or communicating virtually with friends via Bebo or MSN.   

      所以，对大多数21世纪的儿童来说，“玩”这个词并不意味着去户外玩、进行体育锻炼、开展室内益智活动；而是意味着坐着玩PS、傻盯着电视屏幕、通过Bebo或MSN和朋友做虚拟交流。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Instead of first-hand experiences and real interation, they have ersatz experiences on screens.    

      他们没有亲身体验的经历和互动，只有来自各种屏幕的虚假经历。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Children in Britain spend an average of five hours, 20 minutes a day on screen-based activities. Now think what\'s been lost. All the most essential lessons of life--the personal, social and emotional lessons that make us functioning human beings--are caught rather than be taught.

      英国儿童每天花费5小时20分钟在与屏幕有关的活动上。那么好了，想想这样有什么损失？生活中最至关重要的教训——包括个人方面、社会方面以及情感方面，这些教训让我们成为健全的人——全都来自对他人经历的见闻，而不是来自身边人的面对面传授。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     If children don\'t get these vital first-hand experiences, we can\'t be surprised that many end up as fragile or anti-social teenagers, either risk-averse themselves, or ready to take excessive risks, because they \'re unable to make sensible judgements.

      如果孩子们没有这些不可或缺的亲身经历，那以下状况就不足为怪了：很多儿童长大到十几岁时还非常娇嫩，而且厌恶社交；要么逃避风险，要么喜欢大冒险，因为他们无法做出理智的判断。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     A combination of parental anxiety, community intolerance and all-pervaisive risk aversion threatens the mental and physical health of the next generation. It is becoming a matter of urgency that we reclaim public space for our children and relearn skills that came naturally to our parents.

      家长的过分担忧、社区的挑剔苛责以及到处蔓延的风险厌恶情绪——三者的叠加威胁到了下一代的身心健康。我们应当把公共空间还给我们的孩子，我们应当重新学学我们的父母自然而然就具备的教孩子的技巧——这些看来已迫在眉睫。

 译者：Jacky Xiao

     Instead of wrapping children in cotton wool, we have to do what parents in the past (and today in other parts of the world) have always done.

      我们不能再把孩子浸在蜜罐里，而必须效仿从前（或者世界上其他地区）的父母，学学他们一般是怎么教育孩子的。

 译者：Jacky Xiao