Grade-school girls have consistently outperformed boys in reading skills over the past 27 years, a new study has found.

　　一项新的研究发现，在过去的27年里，小学女生的阅读能力一直比男生强。

　　Girls in the United States have scored higher on standardized tests for reading and writing in the fourth grade — and have increased the gap in eighth and 12th grades, according to a review by researchers at Griffith University in Australia.

　　澳大利亚格里菲斯大学研究人员进行的一项调查显示，美国女孩在四年级阅读和写作的标准化测试中得分较高，八年级和十二年级之间的差距更大。

　　“The common thinking is that boys and girls in grade school start with the same cognitive ability, but this research suggests otherwise,” lead author David Reilly said. “Our research found that girls generally exhibit better reading and writing ability than boys as early as the fourth grade.”

　　研究报告的主要撰写人大卫.赖利说:“人们普遍认为，小学时，男生和女生的认知能力一开始是一样的，但这项研究的结果却恰恰相反。我们的研究发现，从四年级开始，女生的阅读和写作能力就普遍比男生强。”

　　The research team said the difference can be due to factors such as boys being more likely to have a learning disability.

　　研究小组称，这种差异可能是由于男孩更容易有学习障碍等因素造成的。

　　Other research has shown that girls use both brain hemispheres for reading and writing, while boys typically rely on just one.

　　另一项研究表明，女孩使用两个大脑半球阅读和写作，而男孩通常只使用一个。