VOA常速英语2016--远离非理性减肥

远离非理性减肥

We Americans have gone nearly certifiably insane over our weight.

我们美国人已经对于减肥一事已经几近疯狂。

It wasn't enough that the government completely re-designed its "food pyramid" nutrition guide into colored bands - wide ones for recommended good stuff like grains and green veggies, skinny bands for naughty sugars and fats. Or that it tries, with little success, to teach us the difference between "good fats" and "bad fats."

美国政府光是把“食物金字塔”的营养指南彻底重塑为宽窄不一的多彩色带还不够（宽的代表比较推荐营养食物，比如谷物和蔬菜；窄的代表糖类和脂肪）。政府还试图教我们区别“好脂肪”和“坏脂肪”，虽然这招也并不太成功。

We did the grapefruit diet. Then the low-fat, low-carbohydrate, high-carbohydrate, South Beach, Detox, Protein Power, Atkins and Zone diets. We count calories or point totals assigned to each and every morsel¹ of food. We grunt² through treadmill³ ordeals⁴, jazzy exercises, and contorted workouts on machines straight out of the Inquisition.

柚子减肥法我们也试过了。然后又尝试了低脂减肥法、低碳水化合物减肥法、高碳水化合物减肥法、迈阿密饮食法(South Beach)、排毒减肥法(Detox)、低糖高蛋白减肥法(Protein Power)、阿特金斯减肥法(Atkins)和分区饮食法(Zone diets)。我们掂掇着食物的卡路里，细数着吃多少口食物会摄入多少能量。我们艰难地穿梭在跑步机、爵士舞和各种让我们惨叫喋喋的健身器械之间，犹如接受审判一般。

But in the mirror, we're still a long way from Adonis and Aphrodite.

但照镜子时，我们离女神和男神的标准仍然还有很大的差距。

A new dieting service allows people to take pictures of their meal to email to a nutritionist for feedback.

现在又出现一种新的瘦身服务，人们可以将所吃的食物拍照，然后发邮件给营养师，听他们的反馈。

So someone has combined three American obsessions⁵ - with weight, with technology, and with convenience and comfort - into something called a "dieting service."

所以就有人将美国人痴迷的三大件儿——减肥、科技、省事儿又舒适，融合在一起，美其名曰“瘦身服务”。

Here's how it works: before you put even a speck⁶ of food in your mouth - a potato chip, a stick of gum, a beefsteak dinner - you flip⁷ open your camera phone, snap a picture of the item, and e-mail it to a dietician. No need to count calories: the picture tells the tale.

所谓的“瘦身服务”是这样一回事：在你把食物放进嘴里之前（比如你吃的是土豆片、口香糖、牛排晚餐），你要先打开手机相机功能，给这些食物拍张张片，然后发邮件给营养师。无需计算卡路里：图片就能表明一切。

Some time after you've dined, back comes the dietician's analysis - and perhaps a scolding - on an Internet Web site designed especially for you.

等你吃完饭一段时间之后，营养师的反馈分析才姗姗来迟——还可能是一段责备的话——这个结果要到一个专门的瘦身服务网站上看。

 

According to common perceptions, Italians gorge⁸ from pasta bowls the size of Sicily; Frenchmen drink jeroboams of red wine; and Greeks can seemingly drip vats⁹ of olive oil directly into their veins¹⁰. They all look like supermodels and live to 125. Weight-obsessed Americans have been reduced to photographing our every crust of bread, in the hope that a picture can save 1,000 calories.

大家普遍认为，意大利人吃面的碗有西西里岛那么大；法国人喝红酒都用香槟酒杯；而希腊人可以将成桶的橄榄油直接注射到血管中。但他们都是超模的身材，还能活到125岁。美国人太过痴迷于减肥，以致于寄希望于给食物拍张照片就能让食物里的1000卡路里凭空消失。

1 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

2 grunt   

v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝

参考例句：

• He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
• I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。

3 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

4 ordeals   

n.严峻的考验，苦难的经历( ordeal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• London had stood triumphant through all her ordeals. 伦敦在经历考验之后仍巍然屹立。 来自辞典例句
• He's come through some bad personal ordeals. 他个人经历了一些沉痛的考验。 来自辞典例句

5 obsessions   

n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰

参考例句：

• 95% of patients know their obsessions are irrational. 95％的病人都知道他们的痴迷是不理智的。 来自辞典例句
• Too often you get caught in your own obsessions. 所以你时常会沉迷在某个电影里。 来自互联网

6 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

7 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

8 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

9 vats   

varieties 变化，多样性，种类

参考例句：

• Fixed rare issue with getting stuck in VATS mode. 修正了极少出现的VATS模式卡住的问题。
• Objective To summarize the experience of VATS clinic application. 目的总结电视胸腔镜手术(vats)胸外科疾病治疗中的临床应用经验。

10 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》