VOA标准英语2015--肥胖带来了复杂的问题

Obesity¹ Poses Complex Problem 肥胖带来了复杂的问题

For the last 15 years, Plymouth, England has held a symposium² on obesity. It’s estimated that more than half the city’s adults are overweight or obese³. The rest of Britain is not fairing much better. But what’s happening in the U.K. can also be seen the U.S. and many Western countries and a growing number of developing nations. One obesity expert said it’s a long term problem that is very difficult to solve

Professor Jonathan Pinkney said, “No one health issue has the most impact on human health, or engenders⁴ more debate about how to tackle it, than obesity.” Pinkney - a professor of Endocrinology and Diabetes⁵ – took part in the annual Plymouth Symposium on Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolic⁶ Syndrome⁷ on May 21st.

He said obesity is a complex issue that involves more than calorie intake⁸.

“I personally feel that this is such a wide field. There are so many issues. There’s politics. There’s biology. There’s everything you can imagine. There’s the food industry. And I think that sometimes we’re all a bit guilty of just maybe concentrating on one of those areas. And you can go to a conference anywhere in the world where they spend days just talking about bariatric surgery or fizzy drinks. So, I think it’s right to talk about everything under one umbrella.”

Bariatric surgery restricts how much food a person can eat, sharply reducing caloric intake.

The professor gave his definition of obesity as “when body size becomes so huge that it impairs⁹ people’s day to day function and quality of life and well-being¹⁰ and personal relationships. Yeah, that’s kind of devastating¹¹. That tends to occur at a higher level of body weight.”

However, Pinkney said those not considered technically¹² obese are also at high risk for poor health.

“That’s the more important point for the health of the population. You know, all the diabetes and heart attacks and cancers and things. I mean that’s really caused by lower levels of weight gain. As you can see, it’s just the average weight of the population drifting up because we’re just sort of eating the wrong things and not really sufficiently¹³ active,” he said.

The Plymouth symposium showed that much is known about the biology of the brain and appetite control. But Pinkney said, as one speaker pointed¹⁴ out, knowledge is not enough.

“That is completely overridden¹⁵ by things going on around us in the environment: food advertising¹⁶ – food Industry -- the way that it’s all marketed to everybody, including children. And I think the simple fact of the matter is, you know, our bodies are very smart and beautifully built. But it’s just that the biological systems that would keep us slim are just completely swept away by the pressure from the things going on around us,” he said.

And he said it’s difficult to do anything about it whether in Britain, the U.S. or developing countries that have adopted a Western diet heavy in sugar, salt and fat.

“There’s a multinational¹⁷ food industry and there’s huge vested interest in selling a lot of the stuff. I can’t give you a magic word as to how you crack this, but we’ve got exactly the same problem here. And I think you can prescribe all the drugs you want. You can do all the bariatric surgery you could manage to fund, but it’s not going to crack the problem unless you stop the development of the epidemic¹⁸ at source,” said Pinkney.

Going to the source means how eating habits are formed. Poor eating habits can be a learned behavior passed down by parents to their children.

“I think a lot of things start very early in life. You know, it’s difficult to break the habits of a lifetime, isn’t it? I think we all find that. But I think our health and our prospects¹⁹ for the future are kind of laid down fairly early. And I think that’s not surprising. Big kids often have big parents. I think they learn this at an early stage,” he said.

Solving the problem, he said, is a lot harder than simply trying to encourage prevention.

“There isn’t a kind of medical way to prevent the problem. It really does look as if it’s down to politics, policy, marketing²⁰, food industry and preventing children from being exposed to all of this. And I think that’s the toughest thing that we face in the world. It’s very, very difficult.”

Professor Pinkney said too many unrefined carbohydrates²² – sugars – are to blame for much of the obesity epidemic. He said that they don’t satisfy a person’s hunger for long and people eat their next meal sooner.

“Commercially produced processed food with large amounts of carbohydrate²¹ – sweeteners, short acting²³ carbohydrate – and it just sets us up to fail. And I think there are big problems with carbohydrate in the Western diet,” he said.

While it may be difficult to foster better eating habits, Pinkney said there is precedent²⁴ for large scale behavior change.

“Other things have changed. I mean one really interesting thing, I think, was what’s happened over cigarette smoking. And how people complained about not being able to smoke in pubs and restaurants and have to go outside. But it didn’t take very long for that to translate into clear health benefit. So, you know, maybe you can get these things through in time, little by little,” he said.

Some lessons, he said, can be learned from our hunter-gatherer ancestors. 

“The hunter-gatherers going right back to last Ice Age and before that would have had a diet that was rich in complex, sort of, fiber²⁵ kind of carbohydrate. There would be protein in it now and again. But it didn’t have all the sugar. So, the diet that is, of course, followed by traditional peoples is radically²⁶ different.”

He said studies of indigenous²⁷ peoples, who returned to their traditional diets, “took a step back from modern health problems.” Pinkney says a combination of prevention methods, medical interventions²⁸ and political will be needed to stop the obesity epidemic.

In the U.S. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 35 percent of adults – or nearly 79 million people – are obese. More 17 million children were obese. The annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. is nearly $200 million.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 symposium   

n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集

参考例句：

• What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
• The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。

3 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

4 engenders   

v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Sympathy often engenders love. 同情常常产生爱情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Some people believe poverty engenders crime. 有人认为贫困生罪恶。 来自辞典例句

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

6 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

9 impairs   

v.损害，削弱( impair的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Smoking impairs our health. 吸烟会损害我们的健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Almost anything that impairs liver function can cause hepatitis. 任何有损于肝功能的因素，几乎都会引起肝炎。 来自辞典例句

10 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

12 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

13 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

14 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

15 overridden   

越控( override的过去分词 )； （以权力）否决； 优先于； 比…更重要

参考例句：

• The chairman's veto was overridden by the committee. 主席的否决被委员会推翻了。
• Property '{0}' is not declarable, and cannot be overridden. 属性“{0}”是不可声明的，不能被重写。

16 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

17 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

18 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

19 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

20 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

21 carbohydrate   

n.碳水化合物；糖类；(plural)淀粉质或糖类

参考例句：

• You should not have too much carbohydrate in your diet.你日常饮食中不该有过多碳水化合物。
• Cashew nuts are rich in carbohydrate.腰果含丰富碳水化合物。

22 carbohydrates   

n.碳水化合物，糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 )；淀粉质或糖类食物

参考例句：

• The plant uses the carbohydrates to make cellulose. 植物用碳水化合物制造纤维素。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All carbohydrates originate from plants. 所有的碳水化合物均来自植物。 来自辞典例句

23 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

24 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

25 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

26 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

27 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

28 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网