9．Boys are not so good at English when there are girls in their class，a research student said．This finding disagrees with the widely held belief that girls always have a good influence on boys in school．
Boys do best with as few girls as possible in English lessons at primary and secondary schools，Steven Proud，a research student at Bristol University，told the Royal Economic Society's conference．
But when it comes to math and science，both boys and girls at primary schools achieve up to a tenth of a grade higher when there is a greater percentage of girls in the class，Proud found．
Proud kept a record of boys'and girls'test results at the ages of 7，11，and 16in 16，000schools in England．He studied the test scores to see whether the percentage of girls made a difference to the results of both boys and girls in math，science and English．
Boys always perform worse when the number of girls they study English with increases，which is especially the case at primary schools．Proud also found that girls are unaffected by the number of boys in their English class．
Proud said boys may do worse in English when there is high proportion（比例） of girls in their class because they think that the girls are better than them．It could also be that teachers use teaching styles more appropriate（適合） to girls when there are more girls than boys in the class．
Proud argues that his results show boys should be taught English in single-sex classes．
However，Professor Alan Smithers，director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham，said，"Boys may be discouraged by how well girls are doing in English，but you can't say that it means boys and girls should be separated．It has very little practical importance to schools．"
五 任務(wù)型閱讀（每空1詞，共10分）
| Theme | Boys may do （71）worsein English in a class with a higher percentage of girls． |
Widely held
（72）belief | Girls always have a good influence on boys in school． |
| Proud's （73）findings | When there are more girls | both boys and girls at primary schools perform better in math and （74）science． |
| When the number of girls （75）increases． | boys perform worse in English |
| When the number of boys changes | girls aren't （76）affectedin an English class． |
| Possible （77）causes/reasons． | Boys think that the girls are better than them．
Teachers use （78）teachingstyles more appropriate to girls． |
| Proud's suggestion | Boys and girls should be taught English in （79）single-sexclasses． |
| Alan's opinion | Don't （80）separatethe boys and girls． |
