2026年06月六级第1套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Children's use of social media is a problem. That doesn't mean it should be stopped. While younger children should not be on platforms where 13 is the minimum age, it is neither practical nor desirable to imagine a world in which teenagers are prevented from accessing the platforms and messaging systems that the adults around them use to organise their lives.

儿童使用社交媒体是个问题，但这并不意味着应当禁止。虽然年龄更小的孩子不应出现在最低年龄要求为13岁的平台上，但设想一个青少年被禁止使用其周围成年人用来安排生活的各种平台和通讯系统的世界，既不现实也不可取。

But the pleasure and stimulation that people of all ages find on their screens and smartphones must not blind us to the harm that spending time in this way can cause. The finding that the alarmingly high rate of depression in British teenage girls is closely correlated to time spent on social media is extremely concerning. Research found that two in five girls are on social media for at least three hours a day—with half as many boys engaged to the same extent. More than a third of depressed girls have experienced online harassment. About half of affected girls suffered disrupted sleep, compared with 20% of depressed boys.

但各年龄段的人在屏幕和智能手机上获得的愉悦和刺激，绝不能使我们对这种消磨时间方式可能造成的危害视而不见。研究发现，英国少女中令人担忧的高抑郁率与在社交媒体上花费的时间密切相关，这一发现极其令人忧虑。研究发现，五分之二的女孩每天至少在社交媒体上花三个小时——达到同样程度的男孩数量只有女孩的一半。超过三分之一的抑郁女孩曾遭遇网络骚扰。约有一半受影响的女孩出现睡眠紊乱，而抑郁男孩中这一比例为20%。

Although the research does not prove that social media causes depression, the importance of the finding that there is a connection should not be underestimated. Schools have done important work in communicating key messages about the risks of online abuse. But when it comes to broader questions about "screen time", many professionals as well as parents are confused and uncertain.

尽管这项研究并未证明社交媒体导致抑郁，但对于两者之间存在关联这一发现的重要性，不应被低估。学校在传达有关网络欺凌风险的关键信息方面做了重要工作。但一旦涉及关于"屏幕时间"的更宽泛的问题，许多专业人士和家长都感到困惑和不确定。

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, wants official guidelines on time and age limits. This idea has the virtue of simplicity, though some experts question its effects and call for a greater degree of differentiation, arguing that time online by itself is not a bad thing and it all depends on what you are doing. Also due this year is information commissioner Elizabeth Denham's Age Appropriate Design Code, covering the use of children's personal data. Both initiatives are welcome. But the government is playing catch-up. Statutory regulation of the digital media giants is long overdue. The failure to protect children from data harvesting and targeted advertising thus far is as shocking as the lack of concern shown by the companies themselves with regard to children's psychological health.

卫生大臣 Matt Hancock 希望出台关于时间和年龄限制的官方指导方针。这一想法的优点在于简单，尽管一些专家质疑其效果，并呼吁进行更大程度的区分，认为上网时间本身并非坏事，一切取决于你在做什么。同样将在今年出台的还有信息专员 Elizabeth Denham 的《适龄设计准则》，涉及儿童个人数据的使用。这两项举措都值得欢迎。但政府是在追赶补课。对数字媒体巨头进行法定监管早就应该实施了。迄今未能保护儿童免受数据收割和定向广告之害，其令人震惊的程度，不亚于这些公司自身对儿童心理健康所表现出的漠不关心。

Of course, social media companies are not the source of all our ills, and can offer a too-easy target for politicians keen to divert attention from inadequately resourced schools and health services. There are other reasons for the rising incidence of depression in young people, with increasing pressure to succeed in education and in life more broadly—to be famous, beautiful, rich—often cited as a source of unhappiness or anxiety which can, if aggravated by other factors, and not managed, tip into ill health. Safeguarding means more than the avoidance of physical threat.

当然，社交媒体公司并非我们所有弊病的根源，对那些急于转移人们对资源不足的学校和医疗服务的注意力的政客而言，它们可能是一个过于轻易的靶子。年轻人抑郁发病率上升还有其他原因，在教育以及更广泛的人生中取得成功——出名、漂亮、富有——所带来的日益增大的压力，常被认为是不快乐或焦虑的来源；如果被其他因素加剧且得不到疏导，这种焦虑可能演变为疾病。保护孩子，意味着的远不止是避免身体上的威胁。