VOA双语新闻:美国掠影:大号套餐的诱惑(在线收听

  First Lady Michelle Obama has been making the talk-show rounds, plugging an exercise program called "Let’s Move." Designed to get America’s young people in motion, it is one of a number of efforts to attack the nation’s obesity epidemic.
  美国第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马自从发起一项叫作“让我们动起来”的行动计划以来,她在多个电视节目上推广这个计划。这个计划的目的是敦促美国年轻人能够动起来。为了对抗肥胖,美国采取了很多努力,这个计划是其中之一。
  Just this month, the federal Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, proposed rules that would require restaurants, fast-food chains, even vending-machine owners, to clearly post the calorie contents of their items on menus and signs.
  4月,美国食品药物管理局提出一项议案,要求餐馆、快餐连锁店、甚至自动售货机的管理商,都要在菜单和食物标示上清楚标出食品的卡路里含量。
  We can’t yet say this is too little, too late. But we’re pretty sure America is losing the war on fat.
  我们不能说这些努力太少或者太迟。但是我们清楚地知道美国正在输掉一场和肥胖做斗争的战役。
  Just a few examples:
  请看几个例子:
  This month’s "five-dollar foot-long," or 30-centimeter submarine at a popular sandwich chain, features not only meatballs but also pepperoni sausage and cheese.
  有一家很受欢迎的三明治连锁店最近推出了一款名为“5块钱一条一英尺长的三明治”,也就是说,5块钱就能买一条30厘米长的三明治,里面不仅夹着肉丸子,还有意大利香肠和奶酪。
  One pizza company, not content to double its meat and cheese toppings, began stuffing extra cheese inside the crust.
  一家比萨饼店不满足于在饼上面加双份的肉和奶酪,甚至在面皮中间也夹上了奶酪。
  A hamburger chain is touting its "Enormous Omelet" sandwich containing a sausage patty, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and processed American cheese. The clerk will probably ask you if you want deep-fried hash-brown potatoes with your order.
  一家汉堡包连锁店为了招徕顾客,推出了名为“巨无霸煎蛋卷”,蛋卷里包着小圆形香肠、两个鸡蛋、三条培根,以及奶酪。定餐时售货员可能还会问你要不要再点个油炸薯饼吃吃。
  A nationwide diner chain is, in its words, "celebrating" what it calls "baconalia" - featuring seven dishes in which, the company boasts, "bacon isn’t just rationed or relegated to a side dish. Bacon is king." Believe it or not, one of those dishes is an ice-cream sundae, with not one but two layers of ice cream, bacon, and maple-flavored syrup.
  另外一家全国连锁餐馆,用他们自己的话说,“庆祝”他们所谓的“培根那尼亚”套餐。这个套餐包括七道菜,该公司夸口说,“培根不仅仅只是合理份额,或者仅仅是一碟小菜,培根是整个套餐中的国王。”信不信由你,套餐中还包含着一个冰激淋圣代,圣代中铺着两层冰激淋、培根以及枫叶味的糖浆。
  We haven’t even mentioned another chain’s 1,420-calorie "Monster Thickburger" with its 107 grams of fat, 229 milligrams of cholesterol, and 2,651 milligrams of sodium. That’s 651 more milligrams of salt in one sandwich than the FDA recommends we eat in an entire day.
  最厉害的是一家全国连锁餐馆,他们提供一种卡路里含量高达1420的“巨型超厚汉堡包”。这种汉堡包中含有107克脂肪、229毫克胆固醇以及2651毫克的盐。一个汉堡包的含盐量居然比美国食品药物管理居建议的每日盐摄入量多出651毫克!
  And while you can find salad and vegetables in a nationwide chain’s famous "endless buffet," you would have to have amazing willpower to resist its pizza, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese spread before you, not to mention its separate bakery and dessert buffet.
  虽然人们可以在一家以“无穷无尽的自助餐”闻名的全国连锁餐馆中找到色拉和蔬菜,但是人们要有坚强的自制力才能抵挡住摆在面前的比萨饼、炸鸡、意大利通心粉以及奶酪的诱惑,更不要说放在一旁的点心和甜品了。
  You’ll wash it all down with a diet drink, of course, as a gesture to your commitment to healthy eating - starting tomorrow.
  当然,顾客们会喝下一杯无糖饮料,表明自己已经下决心要采取健康饮食习惯了。不过,这个行动明天才开始实行。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/voabn/2011/04/159294.html