《经济学人》双语：伦敦公交车司机如何改变世界？

原文标题：
The invention of exercise
How London bus drivers changed the world
And led to the invention of exercise
运动的发明
伦敦公交车司机如何改变世界
并由此发明了运动

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A NEW STUDY has found that smiling at London bus drivers—an act rarely attempted in the capital except under experimental conditions—increases their happiness.

一项新研究发现，对伦敦公交车司机微笑--除了在实验条件下，否则很少有人在首都尝试--会增加他们的幸福感。

The finding feels simultaneously obvious (of course it would) and faintly unexpected: London has been operating a control group in which passengers and drivers greet each other with surly indifference for decades; any affection feels anathema.

这项研究既显而易见（当然）又有些出乎意料：几十年来，伦敦一直进行着一项对照组实验，乘客和司机之间彼此冷漠地问候；任何亲切的举动都被视为可憎之事。

The authors of the research, which was conducted by the University of Sussex and others, hope it will lead to “more interaction and kindness on buses”.

该研究由苏塞克斯大学和其他机构合作进行，研究人员希望这项研究能“让公交车有更多的互动和善意”。

On the Number 24 bus to Hampstead Heath, Londoners are sceptical. Bus drivers, says Liz Hands, a passenger, are generally a “miserable” lot.

在前往汉普斯特德希思的 24 路公交车上，伦敦人对此持怀疑态度。乘客莉兹·汉兹表示，公交车司机基本都令人厌烦。

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It might seem improbable that a report on London’s buses could change behaviour.

一份关于伦敦公交车的研究报告似乎不太可能改变人们的行为。

But it has happened before. For London’s buses have an underappreciated role in the history of medical science.

但这种事以前也发生过。因为伦敦公交车在医学史上的作用未得到充分重视。

In the 1940s, a single study of London’s transport workers transformed epidemiology, medicine and the way we live now.

在1940年代，一项针对伦敦交通工人的研究改变了流行病学、医学和我们现在的生活方式。

Every time you go on a run, check your stepcount, or take the stairs instead of the lift, you are treading a path forged by the feet of the workers on London’s buses.
每当你跑步、查看步数，或者走楼梯不乘电梯时，你都走在一条由伦敦公交司机双脚开辟的道路上。

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In the late 1940s, medics were worried. Britain, like many rich countries, was suffering from an “epidemic” of heart disease and no one knew why.

在1940年代末，医学界忧心忡忡。和许多发达国家一样，英国当时正遭受心脏疾病类的“流行病”，而且原因无人知晓。

Various hypotheses, such as stress, were suggested; but one thing that was not exercising researchers was exercise.

人们提出了各种假说，例如压力假说；但研究人员并没有留意“运动”这一因素。

The idea that health and exercise were linked “wasn’t the accepted fact that we know today”, says Nick Wareham, a professor of epidemiology at Cambridge University.

剑桥大学流行病学教授尼克·韦尔汉姆表示，那时候健康与运动之间的关系“并不是我们今天所知道的公认事实”。

Some even felt that “too much physical activity was a bad thing for your health”.

有些人甚至认为“过多的体力活动对健康有害”。

Navvies, miners and farm labourers did physical exercise by the spade-load.

挖掘工、矿工和农民都从事大量的体力劳动。

They also suffered disproportionately from various diseases, died young and featured in novels by D.H. Lawrence. It was a miserable existence.
他们很多人还患有各种疾病，寿命较短，在D.H.劳伦斯的小说中也有所体现。这是一种悲惨的生存状态。

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At this time a young doctor called Jerry Morris started to suspect that the excess deaths from heart disease might be linked to occupation.

此时，一位名叫杰里·莫里斯的年轻医生开始怀疑心脏病导致的过量死亡可能与职业有关。

He began studying the medical records of 31,000 London transport workers.

他开始研究3.1万名伦敦交通工人的病历。

His findings were breathtaking: conductors, who spent their time running up and down stairs, had an approximately 30% lower incidence of disease than drivers, who sat down all day.

他的发现令人震惊：那些在双层巴士上跑上跑下的售票员，他们的患病率比整天坐着的司机低了 30%左右。

Exercise was keeping people alive. Morris looked at postal workers, and found a similar pattern: postmen (who typically sat).
运动让人活得更长。莫里斯还研究了邮政工人，并发现了类似的现象：邮递员（通常坐着）。

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Morris’s research was eventually published in 1953, just three years after a study by Richard Doll proving the link between smoking and lung cancer.

莫里斯的研究最终于1953年发表，而仅在3年前，理查德·多尔证明了吸烟与肺癌之间的关系。

As any Londoner could tell you, you wait centuries for a paradigm-changing epidemiological study to turn up; then two come along at once.

正如任何伦敦人所知，你要等好几个世纪才能看到一项颠覆性的流行病学研究，然而那时2个颠覆性研究几乎同时出现。

Morris’s work had consequences both big and small. Morris (who had given up smoking when he read Doll’s study) now also took up exercise, handing his jacket to his daughter on Hampstead Heath and just running.

莫里斯的研究产生了大大小小的影响。莫里斯（读到多尔的研究后就戒烟了）那时开始运动了，他把夹克交给汉普斯特德西斯的女儿，自己则跑步。

“People thought I was bananas.” Slowly, the rest of the world took off its jacket and followed.
“大家觉得我疯了。” 渐渐地，全世界的人也开始脱掉夹克，加入他的跑步行列。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量542左右）
原文出自：2023年9月9日《The Economist》Britain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）
D.H. 劳伦斯（D.H. Lawrence）（1885年-1930年）是一位英国作家，也是20世纪最重要的文学人物之一。他的作品涵盖了小说、诗歌、散文、戏剧和短篇小说等多个文学体裁。劳伦斯以他的大胆、直接的风格和对性和情感的深入探索而闻名。代表作品有《儿子与情人》、《虹》、《恋爱中的女人》和《查泰莱夫人的情人》等，他的作品通常描绘了个人的情感体验、家庭关系和社会观察。他对性爱、社会阶级、工业化和城乡关系等主题的探索常常引发了争议和批评。

本文的be bananas等于go bananas，是一个英语俚语，意思是“发疯”或“失去控制”。它常常用于形容在某种情况下人们的行为变得疯狂、激动或极度兴奋。

【重点句子】（3个）
London has been operating a control group in which passengers and drivers greet each other with surly indifference for decades; any affection feels anathema.
几十年来，伦敦一直进行着一项对照组实验，乘客和司机之间彼此冷漠地问候；任何亲切的举动都被视为可憎之事。

It might seem improbable that a report on London’s buses could change behaviour.
一份关于伦敦公交车的研究报告似乎不太可能改变人们的行为。

Every time you go on a run, check your stepcount, or take the stairs instead of the lift, you are treading a path forged by the feet of the workers on London’s buses. 
每当你跑步、查看步数，或者走楼梯不乘电梯时，你都走在一条由伦敦公交司机双脚开辟的道路上。