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We are living through a particularly anxious moment in the history of American parenting. In the nation's big cities these days, the competition among affluent parents over slots in favored preschools verges on the gladiatorial. A pair of economists from the University of California recently dubbed this contest for early academic achievement the 'Rug Rat Race,' and each year, the race seems to be starting earlier and growing more intense. 在培养孩子的问题上，美国的家长们正在经历一个分外焦虑的时期。现如今，在这个国家的各大城市，生活富足的家长之间争抢心仪幼儿园学位的竞争几乎到了角斗般的地步。最近，加州大学(University of California)的两名经济学家把这种在早期学业成就方面的竞争称作“幼儿竞争”(Rug Rat Race)。每一年，这种竞争似乎都比前一年开始得更早，程度也越来越激烈。 At the root of this parental anxiety is an idea you might call the cognitive hypothesis. It is the belief, rarely spoken aloud but commonly held nonetheless, that success in the U.S. today depends more than anything else on cognitive skill - the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests - and that the best way to develop those skills is to practice them as much as possible, beginning as early as possible. 家长的这种焦虑从根本上说源自所谓的认知假设这一观念。它鲜少被人宣扬，却是一个人们普遍持有的观念，那就是：如今要在美国获得成功，最重要的是取决于认知技能（即智商测试所测验的那种智力），而培养这些技能的最佳方式就是尽可能地多练习、尽可能早地开始练习。 | 
