(单词翻译:单击)
We usually think of play as something that's done only in one's free time, separate from the serious business of life. For an infant or a toddler, however,learning to play is a crucial part of social development. The ages between eight months and three years are a very busy time for children. This is when they first learn to use language, starting with single words and moving gradually into word groups and finally sentences.
我们通常认为玩耍是在闲暇时光做的事情，应该与正规的生活活动区分开来。然而，对于婴儿或者学步的小孩而言，学会玩耍则是社交能力发展的至关重要的部分。孩子从8个月大至3岁这段时期是最忙的。在这段时期他们第一次学着使用语言，从单个的词语开始，逐渐学会组词造句。
This is also when they learn what psychologists call symbolic play; that is, using gestures or objects to symbolize other events and objects. Just as the abstract words of a language can symbolize real things, the word “house” for a real house, a child's play doll might come to symbolize a real baby. What's more, just as language starts with words, then moves gradually to sentences, symbolic play starts with discrete episodes pretending to change the baby, pretending to answer the phone then moves to more elaborate games.
这段时期也是孩子们学习心理学家称为象征性游戏的时期，即用手势或者物体来象征其它事件或者物体。正如抽象的单词可以象征真实的事物，例如：单词“house” 象征着一间真正的房子，孩子的玩具娃娃可能用来象征一个真正的孩子。更重要的是语言学习是从单词开始，逐渐发展到句子，象征性游戏也是这样，从不连续的情景开始，例如假装给小孩换尿布，假装在回电话，然后换成更为复杂的游戏。
A number of psychologists have studied the connection between play and language mastery. One group found that they could predict how quickly children would learn to speak by carefully watching how they played. Another study seems to indicate that you can actually improve a child's mastery of language by training him or her in the basics of symbolic play, although more research is needed to confirm this.
许多心理学家研究过玩耍和语言能力的联系。其中一组发现可以通过观察孩子们玩游戏来估计他们能多快地学会说话。另一项研究似乎表明通过象征性游戏训练可以提高孩子的语言能力，不过还需要更多的实验来证明这一点。
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