《经济学人》双语：成功女性的身材更苗条？（Part 3）

原文标题：
The economics of thinness
THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
瘦身经济学
世界的重量
 
It is economically rational for ambitious women to try as hard as possible to be thin
从经济上讲，成功女性会尽最大努力保持苗条的身材

[Paragraph 21]
It is economically rational for everyone to devote time to education because it has clear returns in the labour market and for future wages.
从经济学理性的角度看，每个人花时间接受教育回报很高，无论是在劳动力市场还是未来的工资方面都是如此。

In the same way it appears to be economically rational for women to pursue being thin.
但身材苗条似乎也能对女性起着同样的作用。
 
Obsessing over what and how much to eat and paying for fancy exercise classes are investments that will bear returns.
控制饮食和付费健身都不失为一种有效投资手段。
 
For men they are not.
但仅限女性。
 

[Paragraph 22]
To some extent women know this.
而女性也在某种程度上深知这一点。
 
A generation ago they seemed to take it for granted.
上一代人似乎认为这是理所当然的。
 
“The most basic thing to get on with after your job—or during it—is how you look and feel.
“在你工作之后或工作期间最基本的事情就是你的外表和给人的感觉。
 
It is unthinkable that a woman bent on ‘having it all’ would want to be fat, or even plump,” wrote Helen Gurley-Brown, the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1980s and 1990s in her book “Having It All”, before rattling off advice about how to survive on 800 calories a day, encouraging women to weigh themselves daily and to accept that “dieting is hell and stop getting depressed about it!”
上世纪八九十年代的《世界》杂志编辑海伦•格利-布朗在她的《拥有一切》一书中写道:“难以想象一个一心要‘拥有一切’的女人会想要变胖，甚至是真的变胖。”她在书中提出了如何在每天摄入800卡路里的情况下正常生活的建议，鼓励女性每天称体重以及接受“节食是地狱，停止沮丧!”
 
[Paragraph 23]
Such attitudes were more acceptable four decades ago.
这种态度在40年前更容易接受。
 
But the economic reality does not seem to have shifted much.
但经济的现状似乎并没有发生太大变化。
 
All that has changed is the narrative, which has embraced body positivity and shunned dieting.
唯一改变的是叙事方式：人们对身体的态度变得积极，不再节食。
 
Instead of the South-Beach diet or Atkins women eliminate foods—becoming gluten-free, vegan, low-sugar—under the guise of health or wellness, to improve their gut health or raise their energy levels.

与南海滩饮食法或阿特金斯饮食法不同，女性不吃某种食物--饮食变得无麸质、纯素食、低糖--以健康为幌子，认为这样能改善肠道健康或提高能量水平。

People spend large sums to attend Soul Cycle classes, a kind of boutique indoor cycling, to be strong and fit, not to burn calories.
人们花费大笔资金参加 "Soul Cycle"课程，一种精品室内自行车运动，是为了变得强壮和健康，而不是为了燃烧卡路里。
 
[Paragraph 24]
Because being very obese comes with elevated health risks, some might argue it is not a problem that there are incentives for women to lose weight.
因为极度肥胖会带来更高的健康风险，有些人可能会认为，女性减肥的动机是正确的。
 
But this relies on two wobbly pillars of logic.
这依赖于两个不稳定的逻辑支柱。
 
First, that people’s weight really is within their control.
首先，人们的体重确实在他们的控制范围内。
 
And second, that shame is an effective motivator.
其次，羞耻感是一种有效的激励因素。
 
[Paragraph 25]
Most people have experienced the effect that eating a little less and moving a little more has on their physical form and so it is common to think that weight and obesity is a mutable trait—one that slim people work to achieve and fat people fail to achieve.
大多数人都经历过少吃多动对身体形态的影响，所以人们普遍认为体重和肥胖是一种可变的特征——苗条的人努力就能改变体重，而肥胖的人却很难改变体重。 
If this were the case, then it might seem possible for women to opt out of discrimination on the basis of weight, by conforming to the body type society demands of them.
如果是这样的话，那么女性似乎有可能通过达到社会要求的体型，来摆脱体重歧视。 
[Paragraph 26]
Yet the perception of total control is misguided.
但完全控制的观念是错误的。
 
People often report gaining weight when they start taking antidepressants; women tend to if they suffer from conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome.
人们经常报告说，当他们开始服用抗抑郁药时，体重会增加；如果女性患有多囊卵巢综合征等疾病，她们体重也会增加。
 
Ms Gay describes how her weight gain occurred in the aftermath of a brutal sexual assault.
盖伊女士描述了她遭遇残酷的性侵后体重增加的经历。 
It also raises the question of why a great slice of humanity collectively lost control of their eating habits in the 1980s, when obesity rates began to soar in developed countries.

这也引出了一个问题，为什么20世纪80年代有很大一部分人集体失去了对饮食习惯的控制，与此同时，发达国家的肥胖率开始飙升。

 
Scientists are unsure of the answer (some point to the rise of processed foods) but they do agree that it is almost impossible to lose weight and stay smaller—and people who achieve this are far rarer than those who spend their lives trying, failing and blaming themselves.
科学家们不确定原因，一些人指出是因加工食品的兴起。但科学家们确实认同这样的观点：减肥和保持身材苗条几乎是不可能的，而且能做到这一点的人远比那些一生都在努力、失败和自责的人少得多。
 
[Paragraph 27]
Perhaps shame can work for some people, on the margin.
也许羞耻感对某些人来说是有用的，但也仅是少数。
 

It worked for Ms Guiliano. When asked why her reaction to her father’s comment was to decide to lose weight, rather than to tell him off, she pauses for a moment.“But, of course,” she says, “he was right.”

对朱利亚诺来说是有用的。在被问及为什么她对她父亲的评论的反应是决定减肥，而不是让他闭嘴，她停顿了一会儿说：“但是，当然是因为父亲说得对。”

 
[Paragraph 28]
Too high a price
代价高昂
 
But think, too, of the huge cost that the stigma, shame or the fear of becoming overweight has on all of the women and girls who spend their lives worrying about what becoming that way might cost them.
但也要想想，超重带来的耻辱感、羞耻感或恐惧感让所有妇女和女孩付出了巨大的代价，她们一生都在担心变胖的代价。 
It is impossible to move around the world as a woman and not notice the time, energy and investment women make in logging the food they eat, reading diet books and attending exercise classes.
见过世面的女性不可能不注意到她们在所纪录的食物、减肥书籍和锻炼课程上所花费的时间、精力和投资。

Anyone who has tried a juice cleanse or a cabbage soup diet will know that the pursuit of thinness can come at the expense of other important things girls and women might want to do, like being able to focus on exams and work or enjoy food.
任何尝试过果汁排毒法或卷心菜汤减肥法的人都知道，追求苗条可能会以牺牲她们想做的其他重要事情为代价，比如能够专注于考试、工作或享受美食。
 
[Paragraph 29]
According to some surveys, girls as young as six recognise the expectation that they should be thin.
根据一些调查，6岁的女孩就认识到人们对她们应该保持苗条的期望。
 
Then adolescents “overwhelmed by sudden expectations of beauty, transmit anorexia and bulimia to one another like a virus,” writes Ms Tolentino.
然后，青少年“突然被对变美的期望所淹没，厌食症和暴食症像病毒一样相互传播，”托伦蒂诺写道。
 

The tragedy is that there is no escape. Most women seem to try to conform. Some choose not to. Many simply fail.

悲剧就在于我们无处可逃。大多数女性似乎选择屈服。也有一些人反抗了。不过失败了。

 
But whatever path is taken, it seems to come at a great cost.
但无论采取何种方式，似乎都要付出巨大的代价。
 
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量840/2755左右）
原文出自：2022年12月24日《The Economist》Christmas specials版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Maree

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）
南海滩饮食South Beach Diet由佛罗里达心脏病专家 Arthur Agatston 博士于 1990 年代中期创立。根据已发表的采访，Agatston 博士观察到使用阿特金斯饮食的患者正在减轻体重和腹部脂肪。然而，他对阿特金斯饮食中允许的大量饱和脂肪感到不舒服，特别是对于患有心脏病的人。阿加斯顿博士的著作《南海滩饮食》于 2003 年出版，成为全球畅销书。名为The South Beach Diet Supercharged的更新版本于 2009 年出版，并成为全球畅销书。南海滩饮食是一种低碳水化合物饮食，强调瘦肉、不饱和脂肪和低血糖指数碳水化合物。
 
阿特金斯减肥法没有应用之前流行的新陈代谢理论。1972年，阿特金斯博士在他的新书的出版把美国人吓了一跳：那本书颠覆了传统的减肥理念，告诉大众：“肥胖的元凶不是脂肪，而是碳水化合物！”他的减肥理论主要是少吃淀粉多吃肉，受到广泛关注并被上百万的成功减肥人士证实科学有效。
 
 Soul Cycle成立于2006年，最初只有一家规模很小的工作室外加几十辆自行车，他们专注于动感单车项目，致力于为运动者提供时尚精致的环境。慢慢的，他们在曼哈顿上西区拥有了一群忠实的女性支持者。Soul Cycle称得上是健身市场中的“自动提款机”。他们选择按课时计费模式——每个消费者需要为每节45分钟的课程消费34美元。申请上市时，Soul Cycle公司已经将工作室数量增至38家，拥有约30万名顾客。
 
Anorexia厌食症就是由于怕胖、心情低落而过分节食、拒食，造成体重下降、营养不良甚至拒绝维持最低体重的一种心理障碍性疾病。约95%为女性，常在青少年时期就有类似的性格倾向。原因多为营养不良引起的并发症和精神抑郁而引发的自杀行为。常与社会因素有关，多有过度追求身体苗条的心理。此类患者多性格内向，敏感、多疑、偏激、情绪不稳定、无端的挑剔和喜好。
 
【重点句子】（3 个）
Obsessing over what and how much to eat and paying for fancy exercise classes are investments that will bear returns. For men they are not.
控制饮食和付费健身都不失为一种有效投资手段。但仅限女性。
 
All that has changed is the narrative, which has embraced body positivity and shunned dieting.
唯一改变的是叙事方式：人们对身体的态度变得积极，不再节食。
 
But whatever path is taken, it seems to come at a great cost.
但无论采取何种方式，似乎都要付出巨大的代价。