Ask anyone why there is an obesity epidemic and they will tell you that it’s al down to eating too much and burning too few calories. That explanation appeals to common sense and has dominated efforts to get to the root of the obesity epidemic and reverse it. Yet obesity researchers are increasingly dissatisfied with it. Many now believe that something else must have changed in our environment to precipitate(促成) such dramatic rises in obesity over the past 40 years or so. Nobody is saying that the “big two” – reduced physical activity and increased availability of food – are not important contributors to the epidemic, but they cannot explain it all.

    问任何一个人为什么有流行性肥胖症，他们会告诉你，都是因为吃得太多，又燃烧太少卡路里所导致的。这个解释引起了（人们）共识，（将其）做为主导地位努力深入研究流行性肥胖症的的根源并（将其）消除。然而，对这个解释肥胖研究人员日益感到不满。现在有许多人认为我们的周遭环境中的某些东西正在改变，而这些东西促成了在过去40年左右肥胖症大幅上升。没有人说“big two”（我不知道怎么翻= =）——即减少屋里锻炼和�甓嘆朕�性食物，——不是（肥胖症）流行的重要原因，但他们无法完全解释这个原因。

    Earlier this year a review paper by 20obesity experts set out the 7 most plausible alternative explanations for the epidemic. Here they are.

    今年早些时候，由20名肥胖症专家作出的综合评论，阐明了7个关于（肥胖症）流行的合理替代性解释，解释如下：

 

    It is widely believed that sleep is for the brain, not the body. Could a shortage of shut-eye also be helping to make us fat?

    人们普遍认为睡眠有益于大脑，而不是（有益于）身体。缺乏睡眠能够促进肥胖吗？

    Several large-scale studies suggest there may be a link. People who sleep less than 7 hours a night tend to have a higher body mass index than people who sleep more, according to data gathered by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Similarly, the US Nurses’ Health Study, which tracked 68,000 women for 16 years, found that those who slept an average of 5 hours a night gained more weight during the study period than women who slept 6 hours, who in turn gained more than whose who slept 7.

    几个大规模的研究提示了两者之间可能有一个联系。根据美国国家健康与营养调查机构收集的数据（表明）：一晚睡眠少于7小时的人往往比睡眠多的人拥有较高的身体质量指数。同样，美国国家护理健康研究机构，其在16年中跟踪研究了68000名妇女，发现在研究期间，这些人中睡眠时间平均一晚5小时的，比平均一晚6小时的人，获得更多重量，依次比平均一晚7小时的获得的更加多。

    It’s well known that obesity impairs sleep, so perhaps people get fat first and sleep less afterwards. But the nurses’ study suggests that it can work in the other direction too: sleep loss may precipitate weight gain.

    众所周知肥胖妨碍睡眠，因此人们一旦发胖就会睡眠不足。但是护理研究表明，（这个理论）也适用于其他领域：睡眠不足可能会促使体重�甓叩�

    Although getting figures is difficult, it appears that we really are sleeping less. In 1960 people in the US slept an average of 8.5 hours per night. A 2002 poll by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that the average has fallen to under 7 hours, and the decline is mirrored by the increase in obesity.

    尽管得到数据很困难，但看来，我们真的睡得太少了。1960年在美国，人们平均一晚睡眠时间为8.5小时，而2002年美国国家睡眠基金会的一项民意调查显示这个平均水平已跌至7小时以下，（平均水平的）下降反映了肥胖率的上升。

2. Climate control（气候控制）

    We humans, like all warm-blooded animals, can keep our core body temperatures pretty much constant regardless of what’s going on in the world around us. We do this by altering our metabolic(新陈代谢的) rate, shivering or sweating. Keeping warm and staying cool take energy unless we are in the “thermo-neutral zone”, which is increasingly where we choose to live and work.

    我们人类，就像所有温血动物一样，无论我们周围的世界发生了什么，都可以把很好得控制自身的核心体温。我们通过改变代谢率、颤抖和出汗来做到这样。保暖或保持冷静能获取能量，除非我们待在“热中性带”，这种区域在我们选择生活、工作的地方会越来越多。

    There is no denying that ambient temperatures(环境温度) have changed in the past few decades. Between 1970 and 2000, the average British home warmed from a chilly 13C to 18C. In the US, the changes have been at the other end of the thermometer as the proportion of homes with air conditioning rose from 23% to 47% between 1978 and 1997. In the southern states – where obesity rates tend to be highest – the number of houses with air conditioning has shot up to 71% from 37% in 1978.

    不可否认，在过去的几十年环境温度被改变了。1970年至2000年间，英国家庭（室内）平均温度从寒冷的13度上升到了18度。在美国，1978年至1997年间，完全是另一种温度变化，使用空调的家庭比例从23%上升到了47%。1978年，在肥胖率日益�畊眦�南部各州，使用空调的房屋数从37%飙升至71%。

    Could air conditioning in summer and heating in winter really make a difference to our weight?

    Sadly，there is some evidence that it does-at least with regard to heating. Studies show that in comfortable temperatures we use less energy.

    在夏天使用空调，或者在冬天用空调供热会使我们的体重产生什么变化呢？

3. Less smoking （少量抽烟）

    Bad news: smokers really do tend to be thinner than the rest of us, and quitting really does pack on the pounds, though no one is sure why. It probably has something to do with the fact that nicotine is an appetite suppressant and appears to up your metabolic rate.

    坏消息：抽烟者会比其他人更趋于消瘦，而戒烟确实能�甓誕僚邸た坿彬徑�人知道为什么。可能有这样一个实事就是尼古丁是一种厌食剂，并且似乎能�甓�你的代谢率。

    Katherine Flegal and colleagues at the US National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, have calculated that people kicking the habit have been responsible for a small but significant portion of the US epidemic of fatness. From data collected around 1991 by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, they worked out that people who had quit in the previous decade were much more likely to be overweight than smokers and people who had never smoked .Among men, for example, nearly half of quitters were overweight compared with 37% of non-smokers and only 28%of smokers.

    位于马里兰州海亚次维的美国国家卫生统计中心，Katherine Flegal和同事们计算出人们戒烟会对美国少量但意义重大的一部分流行肥胖症负有责任。从美国健康与营养调查组织在1991年左右收集的数据看，他们发现在过去的十几年戒烟的人比吸烟者和从未吸烟者更有可能超重。男人们中，例如，将近一半的的戒烟者与37%的不吸烟者和只有28%的烟民比起来体重过重。

4. Genetic effects （遗传效应）

    Yours chances of becoming fat may be set, at least in part, before you were even born. Children of obese mothers are much more likely to become obese themselves later in life. Offspring of mice fed a high-fat diet during pregnancy are much more likely to become fat than the offspring of identical mice fed a normal diet. Intriguingly, the effect persists for two or three generations. Grandchildren of mice fed a high-fat diet grow up fat even if their own mother is fed normally-so you fate may have been sealed even before you were conceived.

    你变胖的机会是固定的，至少有一部分是，甚至在你出身前。肥胖儿童的母亲在今后的生活中更有可能变胖。在怀孕期给子代老鼠吃高脂肪食物比子代相同的正常饮食的老鼠可能更会变胖。有趣的是，这个效果持续了二代或三代。给孙代老鼠吃高脂肪的食物会越长越胖，即使他们的母亲吃很正常的食物，你的命运已被决定，即使你之前已经想到了。

5. A little older…（年龄大一点= =？我也不知道怎么翻）

    Some groups of people just happen to be fatter than others. Surveys carried out by the US national center for health statistics found that adults aged 40 to 79 were around three times as likely to be obese as younger people. Non-white females also tend to fall at the fatter end of the spectrum: Mexican-American women are 30% more likely than white women to be obsess, and black women have twice the risk.

    有些人群只是碰巧比其他人胖一些。由国家卫生统计中心做出的调查发现，年龄在40岁到79岁的肥胖成年人是年轻人的三倍左右。非白人女性也会坠入肥胖的最后领域（我翻译不来= =）：30%墨西哥裔美国妇女比白人妇女更可能会心神不宁，�鄂�妇女则有两倍的风险。

    In the US, these groups account for an increasing percentage of the population. Between 1970 and 2000 the US population aged 35 to 44 grew by43%.the proportion of Hispanic-Americans also grew, from under 5% to 12.5% of the population, while the proportion of black Americans increased from 11% to12.3%.these changes may account in part for the increased prevalence of obesity.

    在美国，这些群体占了越来越多的人口比例。1970年至2000年间，美国年龄在35岁至44岁的人口�甓知�43%，拉美裔美国人的人口也�甓知察た邑�从低于5%�甓壇�了12.5%，与此同时�鄂与邑�从11%��长到了12.3%。这些变化解释了部分��长的流行肥胖症。

6. Mature mums （成熟的母亲们= =简称熟女XDDD）

    世界各地的母亲们都在漫漫变老。在英国，生第一胎的（母亲）平均年龄是27.3岁，与1970年的23.7岁相比较。在美国生第一胎的（母亲）平均年龄也�甓知察ば�1970年的21.4岁�甓壇�了2000年的24.9岁。

    This would be neither here nor there if it weren’t for the observation that having an older mother seems to be an independent risk factor for obesity. Results from the US national heart, lung and blood institute’s study found that the odds of a child being obese increase 14% for every five extra years of their mother’s age, though why this should be so is not entirely clear.

    这并不相关如果不观察年龄较大的母亲（承担）肥胖因素的独立风险。由美国国家心、肺和血液研究所的研究结果发现，肥胖儿童的几率比他们母亲的年龄每五年多�甓知�14%，尽管为什么这样还不完全清楚。

    Michael Symonds at the University of Nottingham, UK, found that first-born children have more fat than younger ones. As family size decreases, firstborns account for a greater share of the population. In 1964, British women gave birth to an average of 2.95 children; by 2005 that figure had fallen to 1.79. In the US in1976, 9.6% of woman in their 40s had only one child; in 2004 it was 17.4%. this combination of older mothers and more single children could be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

    在英国诺丁汉大学的Michael Symonds发现，初生的孩子比其他晚出生的孩子更胖。就像家庭规模减小，初生的孩子占有人口的较大份额。1964年，英国妇女平均生育2.95个孩子，2005年这个数字跌至1.79个。1976年英国，9.6%的妇女在其40岁时只有一个孩子，2004年是17.4%。这个由年龄较大的母亲和独生子女的组合会促使肥胖流行。

7. Like marrying like （外貌和外貌结婚= =）

    Just as people pair off according to looks, so they do for size. Lean people are more likely to marry lean and fat more likely to marry fat. On its own, like marrying like cannot account for any increase in obesity. But combined with others—particularly the fact that obesity is partly genetic, and that heavier people have more children—it amplifies the increase form other causes.

    就像人们根据外貌配对一样，他们根据（体形）大小配对。瘦的人可能会和瘦的人结婚，胖的人和胖的人结婚。这本身，外貌和外貌结婚不会占有肥胖��长比率。但是加上其它的——特别是肥胖是部分遗传的这个事实，和较胖的人有较多的孩子（这些条件）——这扩大了�甓歎狙�的其他原因。

1. What is the passage mainly about?（这篇东西主要关于什么的？）

 A) Effects of obesity on people’s health（肥胖对人们健康的影响）

 B) The link between lifestyle and obesity（生活方式和肥胖的联系）

 C) New explanations for the obesity epidemic（流行性肥胖症的新解释）

 D) Possible ways to combat the obesity epidemic（打击肥胖的可能途径）

2. In the US Nurse’ Health Study, women who slept an average of 7 hours a night_______.（美国护理健康研究所调查中，平均一晚睡7小时的妇女______）

 A) gained the least weight（�甓炭脳�体重）

 B) were inclined to eat less（有少吃的倾向）

 C) found their vigor enhanced （发现他们活力��强了）

 D) were less susceptible to illness（不容易生病）

3. The popular belief about obesity is that___________.（人们相信肥胖症是___）

 A) it makes us sleepy（让我们犯困）

 B) it causes sleep loss（让我们减少睡眠）

 C) it increases our appetite（�甓嘆�们的食欲）

 D) it results from lack of sleep（是由于缺乏睡眠）

4. How does indoor heating affect our life?（室内保暖是如何影响我们的生活的_______）

 A) it makes us stay indoors more（它让我们更长时间待在室内）

 B) it accelerates our metabolic rate（加快了我们的代谢率）

 C) it makes us feel more energetic（它让我们活力充沛）

 D) it contributes to our weight gain（它有助于我们�甓誕僚�）

5. What does the author say about the effect of nicotine on smokers?（关于尼古丁对烟民的影响，这个该死的作者都说了什么_______）

 A) it threatens their health（威胁他们的健康）

 B) it heightens their spirits（提高他们的兴致）

 C) it suppresses their appetite（抑制他们的食欲）

 D) it slows down their metabolism （减缓他们的新陈代谢）

6. Who are most likely to be overweight according to Katherine Fergal’s study? （根据Katherine Fergal的研究，谁更可能超重_________）

 A) heavy smokers（老烟枪）

 B) passive smokers（被动吸烟者）

 C) those who never smoke（不吸烟的良好市民）

 D) those who quit smoking（戒烟者）

7. According to the US National Center for Health Statistics, the increased obesity in the US is a result of_______.（根据美国国家卫生统计中心，肥胖症在美国越来越多的原因是____________）

 A) the growing number of smokers among young people（在年轻人中�畭薪�烟民）

 B) the rising proportion of minorities in its population（比率不断上升的少数民族人口）

 C) the increasing consumption of high-calorie foods（日益�甓壇�高热量食品消耗）

 D) the improving living standards of the poor people（正在改善穷人的生活水平）

8. According to the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the reason why older mothers’ children tend to be obese remains __________.

9. According to Michael Symonds, one factor contributing to the obesity epidemic is decrease of ________.

10. When two heavy people get married, chances of their children getting fat increase, because obesity is _____________.