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美国人为何普遍肥胖

来源:可可英语 编辑:hepburn   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

With ten dollars, you can buy this many donuts.And this many apples.

十美元大家可以买到这么多甜甜圈,或这么多苹果。
If you opt for the donuts, you get a lot more calories.
如果大家选择买甜甜圈,摄入的卡路里会比买苹果多得多。
But not all calories are created equal.
但不是所有的卡路里来源都是均等的。
Apples contain fiber and vitamins while donuts are full of saturated fats and chemically processed ingredients.
苹果富含纤维素和维生素,甜甜圈则只有饱和脂肪和各种化学添加剂。
Even though apples are healthier for you, you have to eat more of them to get the same number of calories as one donut.
尽管苹果比甜甜圈健康,几个苹果提供的卡路里才能与一个甜甜圈的持平。
And it would cost you about five more dollars, which means...the cost-effective choice is usually not the nutritionally-sound one.
而且买苹果还要贵5美元,换句话说,划算的往往并非健康的。
There’s a strong relationship between diets that are low in fruits and vegetables and obesity and diabetes.
缺少苹果和蔬菜的膳食与肥胖和糖尿病等健康问题有着紧密的联系。
These two chronic diseases now rank among the nation’s gravest health concerns.
而这两种慢性病已经成了美国最严重的健康问题。
Produce is essential for a healthy diet, but Americans aren’t eating enough of it.
饮食要健康,农产品是少不了的。但美国人食用的农产品并没有达到健康的标准。
And part of the problem is cost.
原因之一就是成本。
So what can be done to add more produce to the American plate?
那么,怎样才能让美国人的餐盘里多一些农产品呢?
Fresh vegetables and fruits are often more expensive to farm than other types of crops that end up in processed foods.
种植新鲜果蔬的成本往往高于种植用于制作加工食品的作物。
For example, fresh strawberries have to be picked by hand.
打个比方,新鲜草莓需要人工采摘。
But strawberries destined for preserves can be harvested by a machine.
但用于加工食品的草莓就可以用机器收割。
Bumps and bruises don’t matter in the process, and machines are more efficient and cheaper in the long-run than human labor.
机器采摘过程中的碰撞和擦伤都没有关系,而且,从长远来看,机器比人工更划算,也更高效。
This extra work is reflected in the price difference between fresh strawberries and other crops,
这种额外的工作量不仅体现在了新鲜草莓和其他作物价格的差异上,
and it also makes fresh strawberries more expensive to buy than processed strawberries.
也使新鲜草莓的价格高于加工草莓。
Government subsidies also play a role in the cost difference.
政府补助也在这种价格差异的形成中发挥了作用。
For example, the USDA doesn’t subsidize leafy vegetable crops in the same way it subsidizes wheat, soy, and corn.
例如,美国农业部对叶菜的补助就和对小麦、豆子和玉米的补助不一样。
These three crops make up a lot of processed food, so products full of high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil have an unfair advantage.
这三种作物能加工成各种加工食品,所以,用富含果糖的玉米糖浆和大豆油加工成的食品就有了绝对的优势。
When it comes to cost, the less nutritious food will win out.
说到成本,营养价值较低的食品绝对略胜一筹。
Other incentives are needed to keep people away from cheap, processed foods.
我们还需要其他的激励措施,让人们远离廉价的加工食品。
Taxes on tobacco and alcohol have been effective at curbing consumption.
烟酒税有力地控制了我国的烟酒消费。
This line shows the average price per pack of cigarettes over the past forty years.
这条曲线显示的是过去40年来香烟价格的波动情况。
The rising prices are partly fueled by federal and state cigarette tax increases in 1983, throughout the early 2000’s, and 2009.
香烟价格的上涨,部分原因是1983年一直到本世纪头几年以及2009年,联邦和各州不断上调了烟草税的比例。
1

Meanwhile, per capita cigarette consumption (shown by this line) has steadily decreased as prices have gone up.

同时,我国的人均烟草消费水平,也就是这条曲线,一直在随着烟草价格的上涨稳步下降。
And some researchers are arguing that we need to start thinking about a junk food tax.
于是就有研究者呼吁,政府应该开始考虑征收垃圾食品消费税了。
The tax would focus on non-essential food items like candy, soda and potato chips.
主要针对糖、苏打、薯条之类的副食。
These unhealthy foods would be taxed at the manufacturing level,
按照生产税的水平对不健康食品征税,
and higher costs at checkout could steer customers toward healthier options.
更高的价格或许能够引导顾客选择健康食品。
But a junk food tax alone won’t fix obesity.
然而,仅仅靠征收垃圾食品税还无法解决肥胖的问题,
Or the already high costs of a healthy diet… So what can be done?
也不能解决当前健康饮食成本高昂的问题……那我们应该怎么办呢?
We could make healthy produce sexy.
我们可以把健康的农产品包装得更性感。
Okay, well there are other things too.
好的,其实我们还有别的办法。
To address the cost issue, some programs are springing up that make produce more affordable for lower-income people, through subsidies.
为了解决价格问题,我们已经有人在通过补助的形式帮助低收入人群吃上健康的农产品了。
And since 2014, the USDA has granted over $65 million to expand these programs throughout the US.
而且从2014年开始,美国农业部已经给各地的这些企业拨了6500万美元的款来支持他们。
There’s also the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program or FvRX.
还有一个叫“果蔬处方计划”,简称为“FvRx”的项目。
Doctors can give vouchers for produce to low-income patients who are at high-risk of diet-related disease.
医生可以给很可能因饮食不当患病的低收入病患开农产品领取凭条。
Growing produce in home or community gardens can encourage healthy eating with little investment,
在社区菜园或自己家里种植农产品,我们不花什么投资就能鼓励大家养成健康的饮食习惯,
but finding time to cook, let alone garden, can be a burden for families.
然而,要挤出做饭的时间,更别说打理菜园的时间了,对很多家庭来说都是一个问题。
We don’t yet know which strategies and programs are gonna work best, but they’re worth testing for one simple reason:
虽然我们不知道哪些办法哪些计划效果会最好,但它们都值得我们尝试,原因很简单:
if Americans ate a wider variety of fruits and vegetables and more fruits and vegetables, we know, they’d be a whole lot healthier.
如果我们吃的果蔬种类更丰富,数量也更多,我们也会健康得多。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
obesity [əu'bi:siti]

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n. 肥胖,肥大

 
address [ə'dres]

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n. 住址,致词,讲话,谈吐,(处理问题的)技巧

 
junk [dʒʌŋk]

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n. 垃圾,废旧杂物,中国平底帆船
vt. 丢

 
affordable [ə'fɔ:dəbl]

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adj. 支付得起的,不太昂贵的

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prescription [pris'kripʃən]

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n. 药方,对策,开处方

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essential [i'senʃəl]

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n. 要素,要点
adj. 必要的,重要的,本

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produce [prə'dju:s]

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n. 产品,农作物
vt. 生产,提出,引起,

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chronic ['krɔnik]

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adj. 长期的,慢性的,惯常的

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rank [ræŋk]

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n. 等级,阶层,排,列
v. 分等级,排列,

 
expand [iks'pænd]

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v. 增加,详述,扩展,使 ... 膨胀,
v

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