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Both Joy and Tommy are growing up in the culture of the United States. They are learning what it means to be a girl and a boy in this culture. Their sex at birth, female and male, is now becoming a gender -- a way of thinking, speaking, and acting that is considered feminine or masculine. Each culture has its own way of defining gender, and very early in life gender becomes a basic part of a person's identity. According to Deborah Tannen, a professor at Georgetown University, gender differences are even reflected in the ways that men and women use language. Tannen and others who study communication believe that these differences begin early in life.
乔伊和汤米都在美国文化中成长。他们一直在学习自己作为女孩和男孩在这种文化中意味着什么。他们与生俱来的生理性别——女性和男性一逐渐转变为社会性别，即女性或男性所独有的思维、言谈和行事方式。每种文化都有界定社会性别的独特模式。在生命的初始，社会性别已经成为一个人的身份标识。据乔治敦大学教授德博拉·坦嫩研究，这种社会性别差异甚至体现在男性和女性使用语言的方式上。在坦嫩以及其他人际交流研究专家看来，这种差异在生命早期就已经出现了。
For example, in the United States and Canada, boys and girls usually play in same-sex groups. Boys might play in large groups in which every boy knows his place. Some are leaders; others are followers. Boys compete with one another for leadership. Many boys like to get attention by boasting, or talking about how well they can do things. The games that they play often have complicated rules, and each boy tries hard to win.
例如，在美国和加拿大，男孩和女孩通常在同性别群体中玩耍。男孩可能会参与人数较多的群体，每个人都清楚自己的位置，其中一些是领导者，一些是追随者。他们为了争夺领导者的地位会相互竞争。为了引起别人的关注，许多男孩喜欢吹嘘或炫耀自己如何能干。他们参与的比赛，其规则通常十分复杂，每个孩子都会全力以赴以赢得比赛。
Girls, in contrast, usually play in smaller groups. Sometimes they play with only one or two "best friends." Most girls want other girls to like them, and this is more important to them than winning. Girls may be interested in playing fairly and taking turns. For example, when girls jump rope together, two girls hold the rope while others jump. Then the rope-holders take their turn jumping.
与此相反，女孩们通常在小群体中玩耍。有时她们只会跟一两个“最好的朋友”一起玩。大多数女孩都想得到其他女孩的欣赏，这一点比赢得比赛更为重要。女孩可能喜欢公平比赛和轮流玩耍。例如，女孩们一起跳绳时，先有两人负责摇绳，其他女孩跳，一轮结束后摇绳的女孩再跳。
