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The nation got a report card on obesity today, and the country flunked. Despite all attempts to attack the problem, a new survey shows the adult obesity rate increased in 23 states last year and no state showed a decline. Here’s Dan Harris.
The battle against obesity has been going on for years, with officials doing things like taxing sugary sodas, putting healthier foods in schools and requiring longer, tougher gym classes. But still, Americans keep getting fatter. Today’s study says the fattest state is Mississippi, where nearly a third of all adults are obese. The slimmest state is Colorado, but even there 19% of the adults are obese. Childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1980. Again it’s worst in Mississippi, where 44.4% of children between 10 and 17 are either obese or overweight. This trend may only be exacerbated by the recession as the price of healthy foods rises and so do rates of depression and stress which are often linked to obesity. This crisis is sure to weigh all of us down eventually because obese people require more expensive health care, as president Obama noted today at a health care forum.
Obama: If we can help somebody control obesity, they are less likely to get diabetes. And if they are less likely to get diabetes that means that we are gonna be saving a whole lot of money in hospital costs.
The authors of today’s report say the government needs to take rapid and dramatic steps, perhaps regulating food advertising to children as has been done in some countries in Europe.
Kelly: this just has to stop if we are going to have any hope of dealing with obesity problem.
The study’s authors also say the government needs to start thinking out of the box, things as simple as requiring new communities to have good sidewalks for people to run and walk on could help they say.

词汇讲解

词汇讲解

Flunk: to fail a test (考试，测验等)失败，不及格

I flunked math in second grade.
我二年级时数学不及格。

大家在想表达”我没通过…”时，可以说: I flunked/I failed…/I didn’t pass….

句型：Sth has been going on for …, 表达某事已经持续了多长时间。

Exacerbate: to make a bad situation worse 使恶化，使加剧，使更加糟

His aggressive reaction only exacerbated the situation.
他挑衅性的反应只能使情况更糟。

Take steps: 采取措施

We are taking steps to prevent pollution.
我们正在采取措施防止污染。

To think out of the box: 突破思维定式，有创意，
这算是个很时髦的短语，在课本上可是学不到的呢。