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  3. When the world was a simpler place, the rich were fat, the poor were thin, and right-thinking people worried about how to feed t

When the world was a simpler place, the rich were fat, the poor were thin, and right-thinking people worried about how to feed t

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问题 When the world was a simpler place, the rich were fat, the poor were thin, and right-thinking people worried about how to feed the hungry. Now, in much of the world, the rich are thin, the poor are fat, and right-thinking people are worrying about obesity.
Evolution is mostly to blame. It has designed mankind to cope with deprivation, not plenty. People are perfectly tuned to store energy in good years to see them through lean ones. But when bad times never come, they are stuck with that energy stored around their expanding bellies.
Thanks to rising agricultural productivity, lean years are rarer all over the globe. Modern-day Malthusians(马尔萨斯主义者), who used to draw graphs proving that the world Was shortly going to run out of food, have gone rather quietly lately. Mankind has won what was, for most of his time on this planet, his biggest battle: to ensure that he and his offspring had enough to eat. But every silver lining has a cloud, and the consequence of prosperity is a new plague that brings with it a host of interesting policy dilemmas.
As a scourge of the modern world, obesity has an image problem. It is easier to associate with Father Christmas than with the four horses of apocalypse(《启示录》), but it has a good claim to lumber along beside them, for it is the world’ s biggest public-health issue today—the main cause of heart disease, which kills more people these days than AIDS, malaria, war; the principal risk factor in diabetes; heavily implicated in cancer and other diseases. Since the World Health Organization labeled obesity an " epidemic" in 2000, reports on its fearful consequences have come thick and fast.
With public-health warnings, combined with media pressure, persuade people to get thinner, just as they finally put them off tobacco? Possibly. In the rich world, sales of healthier foods are booming and new figures suggest that over the past year Americans got very slightly thinner for the first time in recorded history. But even if Americans are losing a few ounces, it will be many years before the country solves the health problems caused by half a century’ s dining to excess. And, everywhere else in the world, people are still piling on the pounds, that’ s why there is now a consensus among doctors that governments should do something to stop them.
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答案 当世界还是个简陋之地时，富人胖，穷人瘦，有识之士担忧的是如何喂饱穷人的问题。如今，在世界的多数地方，富人瘦，穷人胖，有识之士担忧的是肥胖问题。 这主要得归咎于进化。它设计出的人类只能应付贫乏，而不能应对富足。人们已完全适应在好年头储备能量以对付不景气的日子。然而，当坏日子永不来临时，他们受累于储藏在日益膨胀的肚子周围的能量。 由于农业增产，全球不景气的日子更加罕见了。那些曾绘制图表证明世界不久将面临食物匮乏的现代马尔萨斯人口论的信徒们近来已有些沉默。人类已经赢得了最大的战斗：确保自己以及子孙后代过上温饱的生活这是人类在地球上生存的大部分时间里进行的最大的战斗。然而，每一线光明中都有黑暗，繁荣的结果是一场新的灾难，随之而经来的是一连串有趣的政策上的尴尬。 作为现代社会的一种祸害，肥胖症有一个形象问题。人们往往更容易联想到圣诞老人，而不会联想到《启示录》中导致世界末日的那四匹马。但是肥胖理应是与那四匹马并驾齐驱的另一一匹马，因为它属于当今世界最大的公共卫生话题。肥胖是心脏病的主要原因——如今心脏病已经比艾滋病、疟疾和战争导致更多的人死亡；肥胖是糖尿病的主要危险因素；与癌症和其他疾病也密切相关。自从世界卫生组织于2000年将肥胖症列为“流行病”以来，有关肥胖导致一些可怕后果的报道大量涌现。 正如说服人们停止抽烟那样，有关公共卫生的一些警告和来自媒体的压力，是否能说服人们减肥呢?可能的。在富有的国家，健康食品的销售量大增，同时新的数据显示在过去的一年里美国人在有史记载以来首次减了一点点肥。不过，即使美国人减少几个盎司，美国也得花许多年的时间来解决因半个世纪过度饮食而导致的健康问题。另外，在世界上的其他地方，人们的体重还在增加。这就是为什么如今医生们一致认为政府应该采取措施阻止人们继续发胖。
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