It is a stereotype¹ as old as time: women are chatterboxes, while men tend to be more reticent².

但奥斯汀得克萨斯大学(University of Texas)的研究人员进行的一项新研究发现，在闲聊这个问题上，男性和女性几乎是一样的，他们每天平均用词都达1.6万。

But a new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin has found that when it comes to gabbing³, men and women are about equal, with each using an average of 16,000 words a day.

在今天出版的《科学》(Science)杂志上，这项研究驳斥了10多年来人们一直认为女性每天用词量多于男性的说法。人们通常引用的一组数据是，女性每天用词2万个，而男性只用7000个。

The study, published today in the journal Science, refutes more than a decade of claims that women use more words each day than men. One set of numbers that is commonly tossed around is that women use 20,000 words a day compared with only 7,000 for men.

研究人员首次开发出了一种方法，利用电子激活录音器(electronically activated⁴ recorder)记录正常语言。这种数字录音器能追踪人们的互动行为，包括对话。

The researchers first developed a method for recording⁵ natural language using the electronically activated recorder (EAR). The digital voice recorder tracks people's interactions, including their conversations.