据说,在单一性别学校里的男孩更有可能参与到有助于培养他们情感表达能力的文化和艺术活动中,而不会让他们觉得必须遵从“男孩法则”,掩饰自己的真性情从而成为“真正的男人”。
点睛本句的主干是Boys were said to be likely to...。that helped develop their emotional expressiveness为定语从句修饰cultural and artistic activities; rather than作介词,后接动名词结构feeling...,同时该结构中的they had to conform to the "boy code" of hiding their emotions to be a "real man"是feeling的宾语从句。
be said to意为“据说,被认为”。如:
Women are often said to be more emotional than men. 女人常常被认为比男人更易动感情。