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

盡管一些書迷會迅速否決，但這是一個難以忽視的事實。

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.

最新的一項調查顯示，大多數英國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也存在性別歧視后，這項研究應運而生，研究發現，在參與調查的4萬人的閱讀習慣中當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.

據好讀網（美國最大書評網）透露，他們負責整理了研究結果。結果表明，女性讀者給女性作家的作品評分要更高一些。

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

女性讀者對女性作家作品的平均打分為4分（滿分5分），而對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.’

網站發言人說道：“而當好讀網評選2014年最受歡迎書籍時，人們基本上還是偏愛自己的同性作家。”

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·沃爾什發起了一項讓更多人去閱讀女性作品的活動，這也促使好讀網進行了此次調研。

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

來自美國的最新數據顯示，當今的文學出版界中，得到評論的女性作品和來自女性的評論數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’.

好讀網的總編輯、聯合創始人伊麗莎白·庫里·錢德勒稱，把統計數據共享出來的是為了“鼓勵交流和自省”，并“為友好討論這個話題創造出一個空間”。

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

她補充道：“看到我們的會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.

“在大多數情況下，人們對于所讀作品的作家性別，并沒有特別的要求。”

‘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.’

“僅僅是關于作品本身。但當他們看到作家列表時，一些人可能意識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.

研究人員也發現，男性和女性閱讀的書籍數量往往都差不多，但女性更喜歡閱讀新書。

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

錢德勒還說：“一些男性讀者說他們需要閱讀更多男性作家的作品，因為這正是他們所喜歡的類型。

‘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.’

“他們認為，比起女性作家，男性作家則更能寫出吸引他們的體裁和主題。而我們也注意到大多數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，這似乎還是一個亟待研究的領域。”

（譯者 490252028 編輯 丹妮）