新奇事件簿 说英语的国家肥胖问题最严重

Six of the seven countries with the highest obesity¹ rates are English-speaking nations. This is according to a new report from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development). The country at the top of the list is the USA. This is followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland. The OECD looked at 33 different countries. The other 26 countries were non-English speaking. The ten slimmest countries included Japan, Korea, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. Health experts are now wondering why English-speaking countries top the world’s obesity league. One theory is that they are all copying an American lifestyle; people eat a lot of fast food and a lot of it is in sizes considerably² larger than those found in the rest of the world.

七个肥胖率最高的国家中有六个是说英语的国家。这是经济合作与发展组织OECD最新一份报告的结果。位于名单首位的是美国，随后是墨西哥，新西兰，澳大利亚，联合王国，加拿大和爱尔兰。OECD调查了33个不同的国家。另外26个国家是不讲英语的。十个最苗条的国家包括日本，韩国，意大利，瑞士和瑞典。卫生专家正在考虑为何说英语的国家是世界上肥胖率最高的国家。一个理论是，他们都仿照美国的生活方式。人们吃很多快餐，许多快餐的分量比世界上其他国家大得多。

The OECD report contains some interesting statistics³. Australia has the fastest growing obesity rates. They are expected to rise by another 15 per cent over the next decade. This compares to an increase of five per cent in South Korea. Education makes a big difference to weight in America and Sweden. Poorly educated women are 30 per cent more likely to be overweight than those who had a good education. Swedish women with poor educations are more than twice as overweight as educated women. In the USA and UK, children are particularly overweight. Around 30 per cent of British kids are overweight, compared with 40 per cent for their American counterparts⁴. In Sweden, one person in ten is obese⁵, although more than half of adult men and a third of adult women are overweight there.

OECD报告包含一些有趣的统计数据。澳大利亚的肥胖增长率最快。未来十年预期还会增加15%。而韩国的增长率为5%。在美国和瑞典，教育程度也对肥胖有影响。教育程度差的女性比受过良好教育的女性肥胖的可能性高30%。受教育程度差的瑞典女性超重的可能性是教育良好的女性的两倍。在美国和英国，儿童肥胖非常明显。大约30%的英国儿童超重，40%的美国儿童肥胖。在瑞典，十分之一的人肥胖，然而超过一半的成年男性和三分之一的成年女性超重。

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 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

3 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

4 counterparts   

与对方地位相当的人，与另一方作用相当的物( counterpart的名词复数 )； 同仁

参考例句：

• Deep-sea valleys are the counterparts of the mountain chains. 深海里的峡谷相当于陆地上的山脉。
• Many states have enacted their own counterparts to RCRA and CERCLA. 许多州都已经针对《资源保护和恢复法》和《综合性环境反应、赔偿与责任法案》制定了他们各自的实施细则。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 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。