该不该让孩子喝酒?

We're not sure where letting children drink booze fits into permissive, authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles, but a research team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are giving it a shot.

我们不确定让孩子喝酒是属于放养型的教育方式还是专制权威的教育方式，但是新南威尔士大学的一个研究小组正在进行试验。

During their four-year-long study, researchers discovered that kids who were given alcohol by their parents were more likely to be drinking full serves by the time they were 15 or 16, but were far less likely to binge drink.

在他们为期四年的研究中，研究员们发现那些被父母允许喝酒的孩子在15或16岁的时候更有可能喝完一整杯酒，但却不太可能豪饮。

Analysing nearly 2,000 Year 7 students and their parents from Sydney, Perth and Tasmania over a four-year period, the researchers measured the teenagers' consumption of whole drinks, their binge drinking (consuming four or more drinks in one sitting), as well as who supplied them with the alcohol: their parents, friends, or other adults.

为期四年的研究中，研究员们分析了近2000名7年级的学生以及他们的父母，他们来自悉尼、佩思和塔斯马尼亚。研究员们测量了这些青少年的酒量，豪饮的量（一次至少喝四杯），以及让他们喝酒的父母、朋友和其它成人的酒量。

The study found that when children were given alcohol from their parents, they were least likely to binge drink.

研究发现当酒是父母给的时候，他们最不可能豪饮。

But what about the long-reported damages that alcohol can have on developing teenage brains? Lead author of this study, UNSW Professor Richard Mattick, says that giving children alcohol at an earlier age could be serve as a preventative measure of kids developing alcohol-related problems later in life.

但是，有关长期以来声称酒精可能会损害青少年大脑发育的报告又该如何解释呢？这项研究的主要作者新南威尔士大学的理查德·马蒂克教授说："在孩子幼年时期让他们喝点酒可以预防他们将来有酗酒问题。"

"There is a body of research indicating the adolescent brain is still developing well into the early 20s and alcohol may interfere with optimum development," says Professor Mattick, a Principal Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, as reported by Medical Xpress.

《医学快讯》（Medical Xpress）报道，"有一组研究表明青少年大脑在小20岁时仍然发育的很好，而酒精可能会干预最佳发展，"国家药物与酒精研究中心主研究员马蒂克教授说道。

"But also we know parents want to do the right thing for their children and there has been anecdotal evidence that children introduced to alcohol by their parents, as is common in some European cultures, may be less likely to develop problems with alcohol."

"但我们也知道父母们想为孩子做好事，并且也有一些轶事证据表明，在一些欧洲国家，父母让孩子喝点酒是正常事，而且这些孩子不太可能有酗酒问题。"

However, there is one result from the study Professor Mattick can't ignore: that being given alcohol at an early age by the parents doubled a child's likely hood of drinking than their peers.

然而，研究中有一个结果是马蒂克教授不能忽视的：父母在孩子年幼时让他们喝酒，那他们喝酒的可能性是同龄人的两倍。

"There may be later harms that are not yet obvious, and we are aware that early initiation of drinking is strongly associated with later alcohol use problems in adulthood - delay is the best strategy."

"也许有些后期伤害还不明显，但我们要知道幼年开始饮酒与成年后喝酒问题是紧密相连的--延迟孩子的喝酒年龄是最好的方法。"