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Making math fairer
考试时间也应当“男女有别”
It's been said by some people that men are better at math and science than women. And taking a look at the figures from college departments, it could be difficult to argue with that. However, one famous British university is trying to put an end to this theory.
有些人常说，男生比女生更擅长数学和理科。高校各系的成绩数据也让人很难反驳这一点。然而，英国一所著名大学正试图终结这一说法。
At Oxford University, math and computer science are two subjects that have big gaps in terms of grades between men and women. For example, just 21.2 percent of women taking math graduated with first-class degrees in 2017, compared to 45.5 percent of men, reported The Times.
在牛津大学，数学和计算机科学是男女生成绩差异显著的两门学科。比如，据《泰晤士报》报道，2017年，该校数学系只有21.2%的女生取得了一等学位，而男生的这一比例为45.5%。
The university believes that female students are more likely to be affected by "time pressure". So to solve this problem, female students at Oxford were given 15 minutes more than male students to finish their math and computer science exams in the summer of 2017.
牛津大学认为，女学生们更容易受到“时间压力”的影响。因此，为了解决这一问题，在2017年夏季学期的数学和计算机科学考试中，牛津大学为女生延长了15分钟的考试时间。
The decision came not long after the university's history department allowed its female students to take exams at home in 2017, reported The Independent. The aim of that plan was also to close the gap between men and women in the subject's exam results.
据《独立报》报道，在做出这一决定的前不久，该校历史系允许女生在家中完成2017年的考试。这一做法的初衷也是为了消除男女生在历史这门学科上的成绩差距。
These changes were welcomed by some people, who saw them as a positive sign.
这些改变受到了一些人的欢迎，大家认为这是个积极信号。
"I am happy when people see gaps between groups of people who should not reasonably have such gaps, such as between genders, races or classes, and take that as a starting point to think about the kinds of people they unintentionally are leaving behind," Antonia Siu, a representative from Oxford Women in Computer Science, told The Telegraph.
“我很高兴人们发现了不同人群之间（如性别、种族或是阶层等）并不合理的差距，并开始思考哪些人在不知不觉中落在了后面，”牛津大学计算机科学女学生代表安东尼娅·肖在接受《电讯报》采访时表示。
However, others criticized the decisions, saying they suggest that females are the weaker sex.
然而，还有一些人对这些做法持批判态度，称这么做表明女性处于弱势。
"You are saying that the girls can't take the stress of sitting in the exam room, which does raise one's anxiety levels," Amanda Foreman, a research fellow at the University of Liverpool, UK, told The Telegraph.
“这表示女孩们无法承受考场压力，反而让她们更加焦虑，”英国利物浦大学研究员阿曼达·福尔曼在接受《电讯报》采访时表示。
"I don't think girls are inherently weaker than boys and can't take it. Women are not the weaker sex."
“我并不认为女孩天生就比男孩差，也无法接受这种说法。女性并非处于弱势。”
Indeed, research from the US Department of Education suggested that girls are as good at math-based subjects as boys are, reported news website Quartz in January. However, they're prevented from cultivating an interest in math and science because of the bias that women aren't good at those subjects, a 2012 report by Forbes said.
新闻网站Quartz今年1月报道，美国教育部研究显示，女孩和男孩一样擅长数理学科。然而，《福布斯》杂志2012年的一份报道表明，人们认为女性不擅长这些学科，这种偏见不利于培养女性对数理学科的兴趣。
But according to Quartz, there are better ways to equalize education between the sexes, such as giving more resources to girls to help them fall in love with math and science.
但据Quartz报道，有更好的方法来均衡不同性别之间的教育，如为女孩们提供更多资源，让她们爱上数理学科。
And for girls who think they're bad at these subjects, it could all just be in their imagination. "The truth is, you probably are a math person, and by thinking otherwise, you are possibly hamstringing your own career," wrote The Atlantic.
对于认为自己不擅长这些学科的女孩们来说，或许这一切都是她们的错觉。“事实上，你或许十分擅长数学，却因为不自信而阻碍了自己的职业发展，”《大西洋月刊》写道。
