VOA常速：肥胖成为全球性问题

燕山大学 宋葳 编写

u TRANSCRIPT

Los Angeles resident Kathleen Mulcahy has been fighting with her weight for 55 years. My parents had a baby, a son and he died at birth and so that was sort of I was 7 and I think that was the time I started gaining weight. My mother died when I was 12 very suddenly and then my weight just escalated. She is not alone. A growing number of people are overweight or obese particularly in urban areas worldwide including developing countries.

Fast foods, transnational corporations, soft drink companies going into these developing countries, are having a very huge influence on the overweight and obesity epidemic because they’re adding calories and processed foods, salt and sugar into the diet that these people have not normally been eating. People’s lifestyles are also changing in developing countries. As people urbanize and make more money and have more sedentary lives, they are also putting on weight and following the pattern of the United States.

Psychotherapist Dena Solomon says there is also another reason why people are gaining weight globally. You know people are moving away from their family of origin. They don’t have a support system that’s going to help them also manage and have relationships as options for dealing with stress, so people are turning to food.

While fad diet may help with quick weight loss, keeping off the weight is more of a challenge. At sustaining at weight loss, the studies overwhelmingly show that plant-based diets are good long-term, you are motivated. Instead of focusing on what you eat, Solomon helps people maintain weight loss by working with the mind to change a person’s eating behavior. She helps her clients like Mulkahy be more self-aware by having them write down everything they eat before they eat. That awareness, that sense of conscientiousness becomes more powerful than the immediate gratification of food but you have to learn it, it has to become a habit.

It’s worked from Mulkahy who has sustained her current weight for almost three years. You get such a sense of accomplishment and a sense of power and efficacy that you can apply it to everywhere. Maintaining a healthy weight not only helps with a positive self-image but it will also fend off health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and even some forms of cancer.

Elizabeth Lee, VOA News, Los Angeles.

Adapted from http://www.kekenet.com/broadcast/201805/553001.shtml

u VOCABULARY

1. escalate v. If a bad situation escalates or if someone or something escalates it, it becomes great in

size, seriousness, or intensity. 使…加剧; 加剧。例如：Both unions and management fear the

dispute could escalate.

2. obese adj. If someone is obese, they are extremely fat. 肥胖的 ( n. obesity )

3. sedentary adj. Someone who has a sedentary lifestyle or job sits down a lot of the time and does

not do much exercise. 需要久坐的。例如：Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle has been linked with

an increased risk of heart disease.

4. psychotherapist n. A psychotherapist is a person who treats people who are mentally ill using

psychotherapy. 心理治疗师

5. fad diet 节食减肥法

6. conscientiousness n. Someone who is conscientious is very careful to do their work properly. 尽责；凭良心办事

7. gratification n. If you are gratified by something, it gives you pleasure or satisfaction.满意；喜悦；使人满意之事

8. efficacy n. If you talk about the efficacy of something, you are talking about its effectiveness and its ability to do what it is supposed to. 功效。例如：Recent medical studies confirm the efficacy of a healthier lifestyle.

9. diabetes n. Diabetes is a medical condition in which someone has too much sugar in their blood. 糖尿病

u QUESTIONS

Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.

When did Kathleen Mulcahy start gaining weight?

When she was 7.

When she was 12.

When she was 55.

When her mother died.

Which is not mentioned as the influence on the overweight and obesity epidemic?

Fast foods.

Transnational corporations.

Soft drink companies.

Stress.

What did Solomon do to help people maintain weight loss?

To have the fad diet.

To have the plant-based diets.

To be more self-aware by writing down everything before they eat.

To have the immediate gratification of food.

u KEY

A。细节题。命题出处: My parents had a baby, a son and he died at birth and so that was sort

of I was 7 and I think that was the time I started gaining weight.

D。 细节题。 命题出处：Fast foods, transnational corporations, soft drink companies going

into these developing countries,…

C。细节题。 命题出处：She helps her clients like Mulkahy be more self-aware by having them

write down everything they eat before they eat.