介绍： Life Is Better With Siblings
I trained as an economist in the years when smaller families were widely treated as good news. The assumption in the field was straightforward: Fewer children meant more investment in each. Quality over quantity.
But after years of interviewing parents of large families, I've come...

介绍： Life Is Better With Siblings
I trained as an economist in the years when smaller families were widely treated as good news. The assumption in the field was straightforward: Fewer children meant more investment in each. Quality over quantity.
But after years of interviewing parents of large families, I've come to think that that calculus was incomplete. Some of what shapes a child can't be supplied by parents at all, no matter how attentive or well resourced. It comes from siblings.
In many large families, everybody shares a room; small disputes have to be hashed out; older children naturally take responsibility for younger ones. "There are tons of opportunities for them to be self-sacrificing and patient and charitable," said one mother, a former litigator with six children, adding, "just endless opportunities for conflict and resolution."
Parents in small families have to manufacture, through summer programs and sports leagues and carefully cultivated extracurriculars, the kind of character-forming experiences that large households once provided gratis.
We hear constantly that Americans are more atomized, more polarized, more isolated than ever. The problem isn't freedom. It's that we have lost the primary institution where virtues are formed—the household in which children form one another. Quantity is a quality of its own when it comes to human beings.
This wisdom explains, too, why modern parenting has become paradoxically harder. Siblings were doing some of the work. And in our haste to make our children's lives better, we accidentally took credit for a value they alone provided.
生词好句
1.sibling 英 [ˈsɪblɪŋ] 美 [ˈsɪblɪŋ] n. 兄弟姐妹
2.trained as 接受某种职业培训
I trained as a software engineer, but later found my passion in product management.
我是软件工程师科班出身的，但后来发现自己真正的热爱其实是做产品。
3.widely treated as 被广泛视为
treat v. 看待
4.assumption 英 [əˈsʌmpʃn] 美 [əˈsʌmpʃn] n. 假设，前提
5.straightforward 英 [ˌstreɪtˈfɔːwəd] 美 [ˌstreɪtˈfɔːrwərd] adj. 直接的，显而易见的
6.calculus 英 [ˈkælkjələs] 美 [ˈkælkjələs] n.（本文）社会科学和商业中泛指复杂的、精密的利益权衡、策略计算；微积分
辨析：calculus比单纯的estimation或者evaluation要冷酷得多，专门形容那种剥离了情感的、冷冰冰的算计。
7.incomplete 英 [ˌɪnkəmˈpliːt] 美 [ˌɪnkəmˈpliːt] adj. 不完整的
8.shape 英 [ʃeɪp] 美 [ʃeɪp] （本文）v. 塑造，创造；n. 形状
Childhood experience could shape one's view of the world. 一个人幼年时的经历会塑造他的世界观。
9.attentive 英 [əˈtentɪv] 美 [əˈtentɪv] adj. 无微不至的，注意力高度集中的
10.well resourced 资源雄厚的，不差钱的
11.hash out 通过充分讨论，把一个复杂的问题彻底解决（It means to thoroughly discuss and negotiate a problem to reach a solution.）
hash v. 切碎
chop v. 切碎，砍断
hash browns 薯饼
It took the legal teams three weeks of intense negotiations to hash out the contract.法务团队花了三周进行密集谈判，才把合同给彻底敲定下来。
12.tons of 数不清的
13.self-sacrificing 英 [ˌself ˈsækrɪfaɪsɪŋ] 美 [ˌself ˈsækrɪfaɪsɪŋ] adj. 自我牺牲的
14.charitable 英 [ˈtʃærətəbl] 美 [ˈtʃærətəbl] adj. 宽容的，仁慈的
15.litigator 英 [ˈlɪtɪɡeɪtə] 美 [ˈlɪtɪɡeɪtər] n. 诉讼律师
16.manufacture 英 [ˌmænjuˈfæktʃə] 美 [ˌmænjuˈfæktʃər] v. 批量制造，生产
manufactured food 人工制造的食品
naturally grown food 天然食物
home cooking 家常菜
17.summer programs 夏令营
18.sports leagues 体育联赛（尤其指团体运动的联赛，足球、棒球、篮球等）
19.carefully cultivated 英 [ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd] 美 [ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd] 精心栽培的，刻意打磨的
cultivate v. 培养关系，打造形象
The sales director spent months carefully cultivating relationship with key clients.销售总监花了几个月的时间，精心培养与核心客户的关系。
20.extracurricular 英 [ˌekstrəkəˈrɪkjələ] 美 [ˌekstrəkəˈrɪkjələr] n. 课外活动
21.character-forming adj. 塑造品格的，修身养性的
22.gratis 英 [ˈɡrɑːtɪs] 美 [ˈɡrætɪs] adv. 免费地（for free）
23.atomized 英 [ˈætəmaɪzd] 美 [ˈætəmaɪzd] adj. 原子化的
24.polarized 英 [ˈpəʊləraɪzd] 美 [ˈpoʊləraɪzd] adj. 两极分化的
25.isolated 英 [ˈaɪsəleɪtɪd] 美 [ˈaɪsəleɪtɪd] adj. 被孤立的
26.primary institution 首要机构
institution n. 社会建制（a social system or custom）；机构
the institution of marriage 婚姻制度；婚姻这一社会建制
27.paradoxically 英 [ˌpærəˈdɒksɪkli] 美 [ˌpærəˈdɑːksɪkli] adv. 自相矛盾地，似是而非地
paradox n. 悖论
28.haste 英 [heɪst] 美 [heɪst] n. 仓促，急忙
Haste makes waste. 欲速则不达。