《经济学人》双语：“减肥神药”火了，全球肥胖问题或将终结？ (Part 1)

原文标题：
Eat, inject, repeat
New drugs could spell an end to the world’s obesity epidemic
尽情吃、打一针、循环往复
新药或将终结全球肥胖问题

The long-term effects must be carefully studied. But the excitement is justified
必须仔细研究长期影响，但充满激动也是合理的

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A NEW TYPE of drug is generating excitement among the rich and the beautiful. Just a jab a week, and the weight falls off.
一种新型药物正在富人和美女之间引起轰动。只需一周打一针，就能瘦身。

Elon Musk swears by it; influencers sing its praises on TikTok; suddenly slimmer Hollywood starlets deny they have taken it.
埃隆·马斯克对此坚信不疑，社交媒体上的网红们在TikTok上大肆宣传；突然间，苗条的好莱坞女星则否认使用过此产品。

But the latest weight-loss drugs are no mere cosmetic enhancements.
然而，这种新型减肥药物不仅仅是一种美容产品。

Their biggest beneficiaries will be not celebrities in Los Angeles or Miami but billions of ordinary people around the world whose weight has made them unhealthy.
最大的受益者不是洛杉矶或迈阿密的名人，而是全球数十亿因超重而存在健康问题的普通大众。

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Treatments for weight loss have long ranged from the well-meaning and ineffective to the downright dodgy.
一直以来，减肥疗法有好心却无效的，也有极端危险的，层出不穷。

The new class of drugs, called GLP-1 receptor agonists, seems actually to work.
新一代的药物，叫做GLP-1受体激动剂，似乎真的起作用了。

Semaglutide, developed by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical firm, has been shown in clinical trials to lead to weight loss of about 15%.
丹麦制药公司“诺和诺德”研发的“司美格鲁肽”已在临床试验中显示出约15％的减重效果。

It is already being sold under the brand name Wegovy in America, Denmark and Norway and will soon be available in other countries; Ozempic, a lower-dose version, is a diabetes drug that is also being used “off label” for weight loss.
它已在美国、丹麦和挪威以品牌名Wegovy销售，也将很快在其他国家上市；低剂量版本的糖尿病药物Ozempic也被当作“适应症以外”的减肥药。

A rival GLP-1 drug, made by Eli Lilly, an American firm, is due to come on sale later this year and is more effective still.
美国公司Eli Lilly生产的一种竞品GLP-1药物预计今年晚些时候上市，其效果更佳。

Analysts think the market for GLP-1 drugs could reach $150bn by 2031, not far off the market for cancer drugs today. Some think they could become as common as beta blockers or statins.
分析师认为，到2031年，GLP-1药物市场规模可能达到1500亿美元，接近今天癌症药物市场规模。有人认为这种药物可能会像β受体阻滞剂或他汀药物一样普及。

[Paragraph 3]
The drugs could not have arrived at a better time.
这些药物问世正是时候。

In 2020 two-fifths of the world’s population were overweight or obese. By 2035, says the World Obesity Federation, an NGO, that figure could swell to more than half, with a staggering 4bn people overweight or obese.
2020年，全球有40％的人口超重或肥胖。非政府组织“世界肥胖联盟”称，到2035年，这一比例可能会达到50%以上，40多亿人口出现超重或肥胖。

People everywhere are getting fatter. The populations putting on pounds the fastest are not in the rich West but in countries like Egypt, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
全球各地的人都在变胖，增重最快的人群不是发达的西方国家，而是埃及、墨西哥和沙特阿拉伯等国家。

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These trends are alarming because obesity causes a host of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, as well as dozens of illnesses such as stroke, gout and various cancers. Carrying extra weight made people more likely to die of covid-19.
这些趋势令人担忧，因为肥胖会引起一系列健康问题，包括糖尿病、心脏病和高血压，以及中风、痛风和各种癌症等数十种疾病。超重还会增加人们死于新冠的风险。

And then there is the misery that comes from the stigma associated with being fat, which affects children in schools and playgrounds most cruelly of all.
此外，肥胖会给人带来社会歧视的痛苦，而入学儿童尤其受影响。

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The consequences of obesity for the public purse and the wider economy are large.
肥胖对公共资金和整个经济的影响是巨大的。

According to modelling by academics the annual cost to the world economy of excess weight could reach $4trn by 2035 (2.9% of global GDP, up from 2.2% in 2019).
根据学者的建模数据，到2035年，每年超重问题的全球经济年成本可能达到4万亿美元（相当于全球GDP的2.9％，高于2019年的2.2％）。

That includes both spending on health care and working time lost to illness and premature deaths tied to obesity.
其中包括与健康保健相关的支出、生病导致工作时间减少、因肥胖而导致的早逝等支出。

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The world’s expanding waistlines are not a sign of the moral failure of the billions who are overweight, but the result of biology.
世界各地人们腰围日益扩大，并非亿万超重人口的道德失败，而是生物学造成的结果。

The genes that were vital to helping humans survive winters and famine still help the body cling on to its weight today.
那些曾经帮助人类在冬季和饥荒中生存的基因，如今仍然帮助人体保持体重。

The superabundance of hard-to-resist processed foods in recent decades has brought greater convenience and lower costs, but also triggered overeating just as lifestyles became more sedentary.
近几十年来，难以抗拒的加工食品带来更大的便利和更低的成本，但也引发了暴饮暴食现象，而久坐的生活方式也加剧了这种现象。

Once the fat is on, the body fights any attempt to diet away more than a little of its total weight.
一旦形成脂肪，身体就会对节食减肥等尝试减轻总体重量的行为产生抵制。

Despite the $250bn that consumers around the world spent on dieting and weight loss last year, the battle to get slim was largely being lost.
尽管去年全球消费者在减肥和减重上花费了2500亿美元，但大多数人的瘦身之战都以失败告终。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量 579/1073 左右）
原文出自：2023年3月4日《The Economist》Leaders版块。
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
GLP-1受体激动剂（GLP-1 receptor agonists )是一类药物，用于治疗2型糖尿病。GLP-1是胰高血糖素样多肽-1的缩写，是一种由肠道细胞分泌的激素，能促进胰岛素分泌、抑制胰高血糖素分泌、延缓胃肠道排空和抑制食欲。GLP-1受体激动剂通过模拟GLP-1的作用，能够降低血糖，改善胰岛素抵抗和减少胰岛素的需要量，同时也可以减轻体重和改善心血管风险。GLP-1受体激动剂可以通过皮下注射或静脉注射的方式给药，通常每周或每天一次。

诺和诺德Novo Nordisk是一家丹麦跨国制药公司，成立于1923年，总部位于丹麦的 Bagsværd。该公司专注于治疗糖尿病和肥胖症等代谢性疾病，并提供血友病治疗药物。Novo Nordisk是全球最大的胰岛素生产商之一，在全球拥有超过4.3万名员工。

司美格鲁肽Semaglutide是一种处方药，属于GLP-1受体激动剂类别，主要用于治疗2型糖尿病和肥胖症。它通过模拟身体自然产生的肽类激素GLP-1来调节血糖水平和胰岛素分泌，从而降低血糖水平。此外，它还可以减少胃肠道的运动，减缓胃排空，增加饱腹感，有助于控制食欲和体重。Semaglutide通常以注射剂的形式给予患者。

【重点句子】（3 个）
Their biggest beneficiaries will be not celebrities in Los Angeles or Miami but billions of ordinary people around the world whose weight has made them unhealthy.
最大的受益者不是洛杉矶或迈阿密的名人，而是全球数十亿因超重而存在健康问题的普通大众。

Treatments for weight loss have long ranged from the well-meaning and ineffective to the downright dodgy.
一直以来， 减肥疗法有好心却无效的，也有极端危险的，层出不穷。

The world’s expanding waistlines are not a sign of the moral failure of the billions who are overweight, but the result of biology.
世界各地人们腰围日益扩大，并非亿万超重人口的道德失败，而是生物学造成的结果。