Peter Ostrander, the tireless coordinator¹ and cheerleader for a renowned² science and mathematics magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., was not satisfied. Over the past few years, the pool of applicants³ had included nearly as many girls as boys, and the acceptance rate — based largely on test scores and grades — had followed suit。

作为马里兰州银泉市蒙哥马利布莱尔高中(Montgomery Blair High School)科学和数学磁石计划(magnet program)的协调员，彼得·奥斯特朗德(Peter Ostrander)一直在为这项声名远播的计划大声疾呼，但他很不满意。在过去的几年中，申请人中的男孩和女孩人数差不多，接受率——主要基于考试成绩和等级——亦是如此。

Yet when it came to which of the invitees ended up choosing Blair’s magnet option over other offerings in the area, the scales tilted⁴ male. In 2012, for example, 80 percent of the eligible⁵ boys said yes, but only 70 percent of the girls. In 2010, the figures had been 93 percent and 56 percent。

然而，当涉及到哪些受邀者放弃该地区其他项目，转而选择这项磁石计划的时候，天平倾向了男生。比如，在2012年符合条件的男生中，有80%的人选择加入，但同意加入的女生仅有70%。2010年的这项比例分别为93%和56%。

Convinced the program could do better at pitching its product to girls, Mr. Ostrander recruited teams of upper-class girls last spring to call their hesitant young counterparts. Extol⁷ the wonders of the program, he said. Dispel⁸ the tired geek myths。

奥斯特朗德深信，这项计划可以更好地向女孩们推广其产品。去年春天，他招募了一批高年级女生，让她们给那些依然犹豫不决的姐妹们打电话，他说，这样能颂扬磁石计划的神奇之处，并驱散令人厌烦的极客神话。

“The stereotype⁹ is out there that the magnet is filled with nerdy people,” he said. “Whatever that means。”

“外界的刻板印象向来是，参与磁石计划的皆是一些毫无生趣的书呆子，”他说。“无论‘书呆子’这个词究竟意味着什么。”

The upper-class students took to the phone banks with verve. (Full disclosure: my daughter was one of them。) They talked of fun, extracurriculars and sisterhood. They secured many yes votes and earned pizza and sandwiches — but still, fewer qualified¹⁰ girls than boys are entering the magnet this fall。

这些高年级女生充满激情地打起了电话(需要说明的是，我的女儿也是其中一员)。她们谈到了学习的乐趣，课外活动和姐妹情谊，并最终说服许多女孩选择加入，也顺便为自己赚到了比萨饼和三明治。但尽管如此，今年秋天加入磁石计划的女孩依然比男孩少很多。

As a result, the demanding, gratifying, even thrilling four-year immersion¹¹ in physics, chemistry, biology, calculus¹², computer science, astronomy, entomology, the proper use of power tools — and yes, the humanities and social sciences — remains¹³ almost two-thirds male。

其结果是，在接下来的四年中，沉浸于物理学、化学、生物学、微积分、计算机科学、天文学、昆虫学、电动工具的正确使用，以及人文和社会科学(没错，磁石计划也包含这两门学科)这一要求严格，但令人满足，甚至激动人心的学习体验之中的学生，将依然以男生为主——大约占学生总数的三分之二。

Montgomery Blair’s experience is by no means unique. Even as girls prove their prowess in science and math, their ambivalence¹⁴ lingers when it comes to fields formerly¹⁵ painted boy blue。

蒙哥马利布莱尔高中的情况一点也不特殊。即使事实证明女孩具备研习科学和数学的实力，但一涉及到这些此前被描绘为男孩专属领域的学科时，她们的矛盾情绪仍然徘徊不去。

As researchers see it, that reluctance¹⁶, that slight and possibly subliminal¹⁷ case of unfounded quantipathy, must be confronted and understood if the wider inequities in science are to be rooted out for good. Ample evidence refutes the notion that female brains just can’t rotate the object, leap the quantum, do the math. Worldwide, girls’ average math scores are on a par⁶ with those of boys。

在研究人员看来，如果想要彻底根除科学领域更广泛的不平等现象，各界就必须直面并理解这种犹豫不决的心理，以及轻微的、可能出自潜意识且毫无根据的反数理学科情绪(quantipathy)。充足的证据已经驳斥了那种认为女性大脑根本不能进行空间思维，量子飞跃和数学题运算的观点。在世界范围内，女孩的数学平均成绩与男孩大体一致，并无优劣之别。

And even among math geniuses who score in the top ten thousandth of the population — the rarefied precinct notoriously deemed a boys’ club by the former Harvard president Lawrence Summers — the male advantage has been shrinking steadily¹⁸, to about 3 boys per girl today from 13 in the 1980s。

即使在那些考试成绩高居总人口前千分之十的数学天才——这个稀有领域，被哈佛大学(Harvard University)前校长劳伦斯·萨默斯 (Lawrence Summers)恶名昭彰地称为男孩地带——当中，男生的优势也一直在稳步萎缩：男女生的比例现在已从上世纪80年代的13比1下降至大约3比1。

Joseph Price of Brigham Young University and his colleagues reported this year that the gender¹⁹ gap in high-stakes math competitions disappeared simply by adding more rounds to a contest. Boys did better than girls in single-shot events, the researchers said, but when put through multiple rematches the boys fumbled²⁰, allowing the girls to catch up and often surpass them。

杨百翰大学(Brigham Young University)的约瑟夫·普莱斯(Joseph Price)及其同事今年发布的研究报告显示，仅仅为高风险的数学竞赛添加更多轮次的较量，优胜者的性别差异就会随之消失。研究人员声称，在单次比赛中，男孩的成绩往往比女孩更好，但当参赛者经受多次复赛的时候，男孩就很容易犯错误，从而让女孩迎头赶上，甚至经常超越他们。

Girls also excel in the classroom. Nationwide, their grade point average in high school math and science is 2.76 out of 4, compared with 2.56 for boys。

女孩的学习成绩也高出一筹。在全美国范围内，高中女生的数学和科学平均绩点是 2.76(总分为4)，男生的平均绩点则为2.56。

The message of equal aptitude²¹ has certainly infiltrated²² today’s youth. In a recent presentation at a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Anthony Derriso of the University of Alabama reported his analysis of a vast 2009 study of more than 21,000 ninth graders nationwide。

男女资质平等这一观念，肯定已渗透到当代青年人的心灵深处。在美国心理学协会(American Psychological Association)最近召开的一次会议上，阿拉巴马大学(The University of Alabama)的安东尼·德里索(Anthony Derriso)发布了他就2009年进行一项大规模调研活动所做的研究分析报告，这项调研活动对遍布全美各地的逾2.1万名九年级学生进行了采访。

Mr. Derriso, who is completing his doctoral dissertation²³ in psychology²⁴, determined²⁵ that students of both sexes rated boys and girls equally competent in science and math; expressed similar levels of confidence in their own math and science skills; and were equally likely to say they felt they were engaged in math and science and were supported by their teachers, parents and peers。

正在撰写心理学博士论文的德里索断定，男女学生都认为男孩和女孩具有均等的科学和数学能力；对于自身的数学和科学技能，他们表达了类似水平的自信心；声称自己正在学习数学和科学，并且受到老师、家长[微博]和其他同学支持的男女学生比例亦大体相等。

Yet aptitude is one thing, aspiration²⁶ another. In answer to the question “Are you likely to pursue a scientific career?” some 2,300 students — 11 percent of the total — said yes. Among the ninth-grade yeasayers, 61 percent were male。

然而，才能是一回事，抱负是另一回事。在回答“你将来有没有可能选择科研类工作？”这个问题时，大约2300名学生(约占受访总人数的11%)做了肯定答复。在有此抱负的九年级学生中，61%是男生。

Mr. Derriso admits to bafflement. “If boys and girls are equally interested in math and science and feel equally confident about their abilities,” he wondered, “why this humongous difference in intent? I don’t have an answer for that。”

德里索承认这种现象让他困惑不解。“如果男孩和女孩对数学和科学同样感兴趣，并且对自身能力具有同等的自信心，”他非常想知道，“他们的职业意向为什么会有如此巨大的差异呢？我目前找不出答案。”

The division marches off to college. Connie Chow, the executive director of the nonprofit group Science Club for Girls, pointed²⁷ out that 29 percent of male college students major in math or science, compared with only 15 percent of female ones. Boys who ace²⁸ science embrace science, but female mathletes keep their skills at arm’s length. Researchers have found that, among students with high scores on the math portion of the SAT, boys cited their desire to major in the physical sciences, engineering or computers, while the girls preferred fields like economics, political science or medicine. One reason for the disparity may be that girls with high math scores, unlike their male counterparts, also tend to have high verbal scores and so may feel their career options are wide open. But still, given the choice, why do so many girls walk away from science and math?

这种分裂延伸到了大学。非营利组织女孩科学俱乐部(Science Club for Girls)的执行董事邹瑞儿(Connie Chow)指出，29%的男大学生主修数学或科学，而仅有15%的女大学生选择这些专业。擅长科学的男孩拥抱科学，但参加过数学竞赛的女孩通常会把自身的才能搁置在一旁。研究人员发现，在学习能力评估测试(SAT)数学部分斩获高分的学生中，男孩通常渴望主修物理、工程或计算机，而女孩的首选领域则是经济学、政治学或医学。出现这种差异的原因之一或许是，与男孩不同，数学成绩高的女孩也往往拥有较高的语言成绩，故而可能觉得自己的职业选择非常广阔。但依然有一个问题，既然选择范围如此宽广，那么为什么这么多女孩最终舍科学和数学而去呢？

In this country, women now earn close to 60 percent of bachelor’s degrees overall, but only 20 percent of the degrees in computer science, 20 percent of those in physics and 18 percent of those in engineering. Women constitute half the nation’s work force but just a quarter of its scientific corps²⁹, and women with science degrees are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a scientific occupation. Instead, many end up in health care or education。

在美国，女性现在获得的学士学位接近总数的60%，但其中仅有20%是计算机科学学位，物理和工程学位的比例分别为20%和18%。女性占全美劳动力大军的半边天，但在科技人才群体的占比仅为四分之一。此外，相较于男性，拥有科学学位的妇女不大可能从事科技类工作。恰恰相反，许多人最终选择了医疗保健或教育类工作。

Those fields may be vital and heroic, but nobility comes at a price. Women in nonscience jobs earn just three-quarters the salary accorded those in higher-tech fields, and the paucity³⁰ of female scientists helps explain the overall wage gap between women and men。

这些领域或许至关重要，非常高尚。但崇高是要付出代价的。从事非科学工作的女性赚取的薪水，仅是高科技领域从业者的四分之三。女科学家的缺乏也有助于解释男性和女性之间的整体工资差距。

Advocates for women and minorities in science are not afraid to play the money card. Dr. Chow and her colleagues organize after-school science clubs for girls in low-income communities. The girls love it, expressing stronger interest in science than many privileged students. Yet for some of the girls, Dr. Chow said, “knowing how much you can earn as, say, a marine³¹ engineer really makes a difference。”

呼吁女性和少数族裔从事科技工作的人士，并不畏惧打“收入牌”。邹博士和她的同事为低收入社区的女孩筹办了一些课外科学辅导俱乐部。这些女孩很喜欢参与，她们对科学的兴趣远大于许多富家女。然而，对于一些女孩来说，“知道从事科技类工作(比如说海洋工程师)能够赚取多少钱，的确会产生不一样的激励效果。”

In seeking to explain girls’ persistent³² aversion to science, researchers argue that standard surveys won’t reveal hidden impulses or negative thoughts. People may say they consider women the equals of men, but as Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at Yale University reported last year, simply substituting the name Jennifer for John lowered both men’s and women’s estimation of an aspiring³³ scientist’s résumé。

研究人员一直在尝试着解释女孩对于科学挥之不去的厌恶情绪。他们声称，标准的调查显示不出隐藏的冲动或消极想法。人们可能会说，他们认为女性的能力与男性不相伯仲。但正如耶鲁大学(Yale University)的乔·汉德斯曼(Jo Handelsman)及其同事去年发布的研究报告所述，只需用“詹妮弗”这个名字替换“约翰”，就可降低男性和女性对一位潜在科学家的简历的评价。

Small details can have serious consequences. Women do worse on standardized³⁴ math tests when asked to indicate their sex. When they are told men and women do equally well on such tests, their performance improves. Students show greater gains when they are taught that the mind, like a muscle, gets stronger with work, as opposed to being told that talents are fixed³⁵ and you’re born either quick or slow。

微小的细节有可能产生严重的后果。在标准化数学测试中，如果考生被要求表明其性别，女孩的成绩就会降低。当女考生被告知参加此类考试的男女生的成绩同样好时，她们的表现就会有所改善。如果学生们被告知，智力如同肌肉，是用进废退的——而不是被告知天赋是固定的，一个人思维的快或慢是与生俱来的——他们就将获得更好的成绩。

“It’s a uniquely Western phenomenon³⁶ to say, ‘I’m no good at math, that’s O.K. and I can stop doing it,’ ” Dr. Chow said. “I grew up in Hong Kong, and no parent would say, ‘You’re right, just give up.’ ”

“有些人说，‘我不擅长数学，这没什么大不了的，我不再学数学就是了。’这是一种西方社会独有的现象。”邹博士说。“我是在香港长大的，从来没有听到哪位家长说，‘你说得对，学不会那就干脆放弃吧。’”

Don’t give up, budding scientist. One day you’ll look in the mirror and proudly embrace the term nerd. Whatever that means。

请不要放弃，未来的科学家。终有一天，你将对着镜子，自豪地接纳书呆子这个绰号。随别人怎样解释这个称谓的含义。