It is an inconvenient truth that some book fans will be quick to deny.

盡管一些書(shū)迷會(huì)迅速否決，但這是一個(gè)難以忽視的事實(shí)。

But according to a new survey, most people in Britain prefer to read books by writers of their own gender – and tend to read fewer of those written by the opposite sex.

最新的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，大多數(shù)英國(guó)人更喜歡閱讀與自己性別相同作家的著作，而傾向于去閱讀異性作家作品的則少之又少。

The research, which comes after claims of sexism in publishing, found a stark gender divide in reading habits in the 40,000 people polled.

在有人提出出版行業(yè)也存在性別歧視后，這項(xiàng)研究應(yīng)運(yùn)而生，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在參與調(diào)查的4萬(wàn)人的閱讀習(xí)慣中當(dāng)中存在著鮮明的性別差異。

Male authors accounted for 90 percent of men’s 50 most-read titles this year, while the reverse was true for the women’s titles.

男性作家占據(jù)了2014年閱讀排行榜前50名的90%，而女性作家的情況大相徑庭。

According to Goodreads, the reading website which collated the research, female readers also rate books by female writers more highly.

據(jù)好讀網(wǎng)（美國(guó)最大書(shū)評(píng)網(wǎng)）透露，他們負(fù)責(zé)整理了研究結(jié)果。結(jié)果表明，女性讀者給女性作家的作品評(píng)分要更高一些。

On average, women rated books by women 4 out of 5 and books by men 3.8 out of 5.

女性讀者對(duì)女性作家作品的平均打分為4分（滿分5分），而對(duì)男性作家作品的平均打分是3.8分。

A website spokesman said: ‘Ultimately, when it comes to the most popular 2014 books on Goodreads we are still sticking to our own sex.’

網(wǎng)站發(fā)言人說(shuō)道：“而當(dāng)好讀網(wǎng)評(píng)選2014年最受歡迎書(shū)籍時(shí)，人們基本上還是偏愛(ài)自己的同性作家。”

Goodreads was prompted to conduct its survey after the author Joanna Walsh launched a campaign to get more people reading female authors at the start of the year.

今年年初，喬安娜·沃爾什發(fā)起了一項(xiàng)讓更多人去閱讀女性作品的活動(dòng)，這也促使好讀網(wǎng)進(jìn)行了此次調(diào)研。

Recent statistics from the US showed a vast imbalance in the numbers of women reviewed and reviewing in today’s literary press.

來(lái)自美國(guó)的最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，當(dāng)今的文學(xué)出版界中，得到評(píng)論的女性作品和來(lái)自女性的評(píng)論數(shù)量都存在著巨大的不平衡。

Elizabeth Khuri Chandler, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Goodreads, said the aim in sharing the data ‘was to stimulate conversation and self-reflection’ and ‘to create a space for some friendly conversation about the subject’.

好讀網(wǎng)的總編輯、聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人伊麗莎白·庫(kù)里·錢(qián)德勒稱(chēng)，把統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)共享出來(lái)的是為了“鼓勵(lì)交流和自省”，并“為友好討論這個(gè)話題創(chuàng)造出一個(gè)空間”。

She added: ‘It’s been fascinating to see our members discussing the male author/female author ratio of their reading.

她補(bǔ)充道：“看到我們的會(huì)員在討論他們閱讀作品中作家性別的比例，我感到十分驚喜。”

‘For the most part, people are saying that they don’t set out to read a male author or a female author.

“在大多數(shù)情況下，人們對(duì)于所讀作品的作家性別，并沒(méi)有特別的要求。”

‘It’s all about the book. But when they look at their lists, some of them are realising that maybe they might want to explore different authors.’

“僅僅是關(guān)于作品本身。但當(dāng)他們看到作家列表時(shí)，一些人可能意識(shí)到或許自己想要尋找不同的作家。

The researchers also found that men and women tend to read the same number of books but that women preferred to read more recent books than men.

研究人員也發(fā)現(xiàn)，男性和女性閱讀的書(shū)籍?dāng)?shù)量往往都差不多，但女性更喜歡閱讀新書(shū)。

Chandler added: ‘Some men said they felt they read more male authors because of the type of books they like to read.

錢(qián)德勒還說(shuō)：“一些男性讀者說(shuō)他們需要閱讀更多男性作家的作品，因?yàn)檫@正是他們所喜歡的類(lèi)型。

‘They thought that more male authors tended to write in the genres or about the topics that interest them than female authors. We also noticed that most people were unaware of the gender breakdown of the book they were reading. It certainly seems like an untapped area to explore.’

“他們認(rèn)為，比起女性作家，男性作家則更能寫(xiě)出吸引他們的體裁和主題。而我們也注意到大多數(shù)讀者并不十分介意他們正在閱讀作品的作家性別。在某種程度上，這似乎還是一個(gè)亟待研究的領(lǐng)域。”

（譯者 490252028 編輯 丹妮）