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Globesity 肥胖全球化

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本  

Pull two potatoes out of the ground. Take one home, barbecue it and serve it with salt. Given the other to McDonald’s where it’ll be boiled, dried, flavored, frozen, shipped out, deep fried, salted, then served. Both taste delicious, but the first potato has about 200 calories, whereas the one from McDonald’s has twice that many.

从地里拔出两颗马铃薯。把一颗带回家烤熟了、洒上盐再吃。另一颗由麦当劳处理，会把它煮过、烘干、加味、冷冻、运输、油炸、洒盐，然后才由客人享用。两颗马铃薯吃起来都很美味可口，但是第一颗马铃薯只有大约200卡热量，第二颗麦当劳马铃薯的热量却是前者两倍。

The story of these two potatoes helps explain the causes of globesity – or global obesity. The WHO reports that the number of obese adults increased from 200 million in 1995 to 300 million in 2000. Paradoxically, such obesity is often paired with malnutrition.

这两颗马铃薯的故事可以说明肥胖全球化──或全球化的体重过重──的起因。据世界卫生组织的报告，1995到2000年之间，全球超重的成年人数目由2亿增加到3亿。而且很矛盾地，这类体重过重常常伴随着营养不良一起发生。

One reason for this increase is that the number of meals not prepared at homes is on the rise – currently topping 70 percent in Taiwan alone. Another reason is that technological advances – from new preservatives to improvements in packing – have significantly lowered the price of less nutritious processed foods.

体重超重人口增加的一项原因是因为外食人口增加──仅是当前台湾就高达百分之七十。另一项原因是因为科技进步──从最新的防腐剂到包装改良──都让营养较差的加工食品大大降低了售价。

As meals migrated from homes to fast food restaurants, and as homemade food gave way to microwave cuisine, a basic sense of nutrition was lost. Many nutritionists are calling for a revival of home economics classes in schools. Since more than half of obese children become obese adults, teaching kids practical dietary information may prevent them from becoming couch potatoes.

当用餐地点由家里移转为快餐餐厅，家里做的食物由微波料理所取代后，对营养的基本概念就丧失了。很多营养学者呼吁在学校里重新开启家政课。既然半数以上的肥胖儿童将来会变成肥胖成人，教导小孩生活上实际的饮食信息，有助于防止他们变成镇日泡在沙发上看电视的懒鬼。

Vocabulary

单词发音

obesity [oˋbisətɪ] n. 肥胖；过胖

paradoxically [͵pærəˋdɑksɪkəlɪ] adv. 自相矛盾地

malnutrition [͵mælnjuˋtrɪʃən] n. 营养不良

top [tɑp] v. 高于；超过

preservative [prɪˋzɝvətɪv] n. 保护剂；防腐剂

give way to 向…屈服, 让位于, 为…所代替

cuisine [kwɪˋzin] n. 菜肴

call for 要求, 号召

home economics 家政学

couch potato 花大量时间看电视的人

Sentence of the Day

Obesity is a weighty problem.

过度肥胖是严重的问题。

weighty [ˋwetɪ] adj. 重大的，重要的

课文讲解

Sara and Duncan are trying to agree on a place to eat lunch:  莎拉和邓肯两人交换意见要去哪儿吃午餐：

S: I’m starving. Want to grab something at McDonald’s?

我饿了。要不要去麦当劳吃点东西？

D: McWhat? I’m a vegetarian.

麦什么？我吃素。

S: So? You don’t have to get a burger. They’ve got other stuff.

吃素又怎样？你不必点汉堡，那里有别的可以吃。

D: You mean like the fries? They’re not necessarily vegetarian.

妳意思是说像薯条？薯条不一定是素食。

S: Oh yeah, you’re right. I heard they fry them in beef tallow or something.

噢，是哦，你说得对。我听说他们用牛油或什么的来炸薯条。

D: Well, it depends. The fries are processed differently in different countries. In the U.S., they switched to 100 percent vegetable oil a while back for health reasons.

噢，那要看情况。薯条在不同国家用不同的方法处理。在美国，为了健康因素，他们已经改用百分之百的蔬菜油有一阵子了。

S: Yeah, there was more beef fat in the French fries than the hamburgers, right? But if they use vegetable oil now, what’s the problem for vegetarians?

是哦，结果薯条里的牛油比汉堡还多，对不？但是如果他们现在已经用蔬菜油，素食还有什么问题？

D: Well, when they switched to vegetable oil, the fries just didn’t taste as good. So they added some “natural flavor” to the oil – basically, a mishmash of chemicals, at least one of which has an animal source.

他们改用蔬菜油之后，薯条不像以前那么好吃，所以他们在油里加进了所谓的「天然口味」──基本上是一种化学混合制品，其中至少有一种成份是取自动物的。

S: Yeah, well “natural” can mean just about anything under FDA regulations. Did you know that a “natural coloring” is produced by grinding up a dried South American insect?

是啊，依美国食品与药物管理局的规定，「天然口味」几乎可以称呼任何东西。你知道有一种「天然色」，竟然是把一种干的南美昆虫磨碎制成的吗？

D: Ugh! Enough with the Frankenfood already! If you’re still hungry, why don’t we just get soup and salad or something?

恶！够了！别再说这些吓人的科学怪人食物【注】了。如果妳还饿，我们何不去点些汤和色拉或什么的？

【注】：暗指「科学怪人」。

－by David Katz

Vocabulary

单词发音

tallow [ˋtælo] n. 牛（羊）油

process [ˋprɑsɛs] v. 加工

a while back 不久以前; 一段时间之前

mishmash [ˋmɪʃ͵mæʃ] n.【非正式】混杂物﹐ 大杂烩

grind up 磨碎；碾成粉

Frankenfood 科学怪食物；转基因食物（仿科幻小说《科学怪人》中的主人公 Frankenstein 名字构成）

Sentence of the Day

You are what you eat.

人吃什么，就长成个甚么样。