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Children are getting so fat-they may be the first generation to die before their parents. an expert claimed yesterday. Today's youngsters are already falling prey to potential killers such as diabetes because of their weight. Fatty fast-food diets combined with sedentary lifestyles dominated by televisions and computers could mean kids will die tragically young, says Professor Andrew Prentice. from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

At the same time. the shape of the human body is going through a huge evolutionary shift because adults are getting so fat. Here in Britain. latest research shows that the average waist size for a man is 36-38 inches and may be 42-44, inches by 2032.This compares with only 32.6 inches in 1972. Women's waists have grown from an average of 22 inches in l920 to 24 inches in the Fifties and 30 inches now. One of the major reasons why children now are at greater risk is that we are getting fatter younger. In the UK alone. more than one million under-1.6s are classed as overweight or obese-double the number in the mid-Eighties. One inten four-year-olds are also medically classified as obese.The obesity pandemic-an extensive epidemic-whichstarted m the US, has now spread to Europe. Australia, Central America and the Middle East.

Many nations now record more than 20 per cent of- their population as clinically obese and well over half the population as overweight. Prof. Prentice said the change in our shape has been caused by a glut of easily available high-energy foods combined with a dramatic drop in the energy we use as a result of technology developments.

He is not alone in his concern. Only last week one medical journal revealed how obesity was fuelling a rise in cancer cases. Obesity also increases the risk factor for strokes and heart disease. An averagely obese person's lifespan is shortened by around nine years while a severely obese person by many more.

Prof. Prentice said: "So will parents outlive their children. as claimed recently by an American obesity specialist?" The answer is yes-and no. Yes,when the offspring become grossly obese. This is now becoming an alarmingly common occurrence in the US. Such children and adolescents have a greatly reduced quality of life in terms of both their physical and psychosocial health. So say No to that doughnut and burger.

参考译文

小孩长得太胖了——他们可能会成为先于父母死去的第一代人，一个专家昨天宣称。现在的青少年已经因为超重而成为糖尿病等潜在杀手的受害者。[1]高脂肪的快餐饮食加上久坐于电视和电脑前的生活方式可能意味着孩子会悲惨地早逝，伦敦卫生及热带医学院的教授安德鲁·普伦蒂斯如是说。

与此同时，由于成年人变得非常肥胖，人类的体形正在经历一个巨大的演变。在英国，最新的研究表明，男人的平均腰围达到36-38英寸，到2032年还可能达到42-44英寸。相比之下，1972年的数据仅仅是32.6英寸。女人的平均腰围从1920年的22英寸增长到50年代的24英寸，而现在已达到30英寸。儿童现在面临重大的危险，其中一个主要原因是肥胖的年轻化。[2]仅仅在英国，就有超过lOO万16岁以下的少年被列为超重或肥胖，其数量是80年代中期的2倍。4岁的儿童中每10个就有一个在医学上被认定为肥胖。肥胖流行病——一场广泛的传染病——从美国开始，现已传播到欧洲、澳大利亚、中美洲和中东。

目前，很多国家有超过20%的人口被临床确诊为肥胖．还有大半的人口被确认为超重。[3]普伦蒂斯教授解释说，随手可得的高能量食物的泛滥，加上人们日常的能量消耗因科技进步而显著降低，这些都导致了人们体形的改变。

担心这个问题的不只是他一个人。[4]上周就有一份医学杂志揭示了肥胖如何导致癌症病例的上升。肥胖还会增加中风和心脏病的危险。普通肥胖者的寿命会缩短9年左右，而严重肥胖者的寿命还要缩短更多年。

普伦蒂斯教授说：“那么，是否如最近一个美国肥胖研究专家所声称的那样，父母会比他们的孩子还活得长？”答案是“是”——也是“不是”。如果后代变得很肥胖时那就是“是”。这种现象在美国已变得惊人的常见。这类孩子和青少年的生活质量大为下降，无论从身体健康还是社会心理健康的角度看都如此。[5]因此，让我们向油炸面包圈和汉堡包说“不”吧。

测试题

1.Professor Andrew Prentice says kids will die young because of their__________________.

2.In Britain, overweight or obese under-16s in the mid-Eighties were___________________today.

3.What should be responsible for the change in our body shape according to the passage?

4.The risk of some diseases such as cancer. strokes and heart disease may become greater due to_____________.

5.What does the author suggest we do by saying "say No to that doughnut and burger" ?

答案详解

1.[fatty fast-food diets and sedentary lifestyles/unhealthy lifestyles]
[定位]根据kids will die young查找到第1段第3句。
解析：题干出现在原文中mean的后面，因此答案应该在mean前面查找。本题可使用原词答题，也可用unhealthy lifestyles进行归纳总结。

2.[half as many as]
[定位]根据under-16s查找到第2段倒数第3句。
解析：原文破折号后面的double表明现在英国16岁以下的超重或肥胖人数是80年代中期的两倍，题目问的是80年代中期的情况，因此需填入half as many as，表示80年代中期的人数是现在的一半。

3.[High-energy foods and a drop in the energy we use.//High-energy foods and less energy we consume.]
[定位]根据change in our body shape查找到第3段最后1句。
解析：题目中的responsible for表明了原文的因果关系，关键是对caused by后面的成分进行提炼得出答案。

4.[obesity/overweight]
[定位]根据题干中的疾病名称查找到第4段第2、3句。
解析：原文说到obesity（肥胖）导致癌症病人的增加，还会导致中风和心脏病危险因素的增加，因此答案为obesity或其同义词overweight。

5.[Lead a healthy life.//Do not try unhealthy/junk food.]
[定位]文章最后一句。
解析：上文提到，从身体健康和社会心理健康而言，儿童和青少年的生活质量下降了，由此可知我们应该拒绝炸面包圈和汉堡包等不健康的食品，或者说我们应该过一种健康的生活。