【正文】 品。去年，麥當勞甚至還宣布要對它的小丑吉祥物 —— 麥當勞叔叔進行翻新改造，使其具有運動型外表，以鼓勵孩子們更為活潑 。但是某些業(yè)內(nèi)人士對此提出質(zhì)疑，認為消費者更渴望在點餐單上看到不加色素、比較健康的膳食，而不會真地去買來吃；這類食品并非是產(chǎn)業(yè)中所謂的“商業(yè)增潔劑”。這么說來，雀巢公司生產(chǎn)的某些更富營養(yǎng)的食品，比如運動員專用的 PowerBar 系列，要比其傳統(tǒng)食品能帶來更高的利潤及增長。 Wobbling all over the world 全球食品業(yè)正經(jīng)受震蕩 The pressure on the industry is most acute in America, which leads the world in obesity. The proportion of Americans characterised as overweight has risen steadily from 47% (（ 5） bad enough in itself) in the late 1970s to around twothirds, including over 30% who are clinically obese. Fastfood chains‘ American sales grew from about $6 billion in 1970 to an estimated $134 billion in 2022. Eric Schlosser, author of ―Fast Food Nation‖, an influential book attacking the industry, has pointed out that Americans spend more on fast food than they do on higher education, PCs or new cars—worrying, when a single meal at a KFC of less than a poundweight of food plus a large Pepsi can top 1,600 calories, not far short of the daily intake remended by the government for adults doing only ―light physical activity‖. 肥胖人數(shù)居世界首位的美國食品業(yè)承受的壓力最大。上世紀 70 年代末期， 美國人中超重人口所占比例從 47%（這個數(shù)字本身已經(jīng)糟糕透了）逐步增長到大約三分之二，其中包括 30%以上臨床肥胖癥患者，而美國快餐連鎖店的銷售額則從 1970 年的 60 億美元增加到 2022 年的大約 1340 億美元。旨在抨擊快餐業(yè)、頗具影響力的《快餐國度》一書作者埃里克 ?施羅瑟曾指出，美國人吃快餐花的錢要比花在高等教育、個人電腦或者買新汽車上的錢多。令他感到擔憂的是，在肯德基快餐店光吃一頓不到一磅重的餐點，再喝一大杯百事可樂，攝入熱量就可能超過 1600 卡路里，這比美國政府為僅從事“輕度體力活動”的成人所推薦的每日攝取 量并不低多少。（言下之意，一餐就攝取如此多熱量，況乎一日三餐？） （ 6） Where the United States leads, others are following. In the European Union, up to 27% of men are considered to be obese, and almost a quarter of all children are deemed overweight. Britain, with its love of burgers and packaged meals, is seen as following closest on America‘s heels, but the rate of obesity has started to swell on the continent too. Some 11% of the adult population of France were obese in 2022, up from 8% in 1997 (the actual level may be higher still since the figures are based on polls asking people if they are fat, and （ 7） selfreporting produces underestimates). France has *latched on to[3] the fastfood culture: it is one of the biggest and most profitable European markets for McDonald’ s. 凡是有美國帶頭的地方，別國都 會亦步亦趨。在歐盟國家，高達 27%的男性被認為患有肥胖癥，幾乎四分之一的兒童則被認為體重超常。愛吃漢堡包和打包食物的英國被看作是跟美國最貼近的“跟屁蟲”，不過其“肥胖隊伍”同樣開始日益壯大。在法國，成人患肥胖癥的比率從 1997 年的 8%一下子增加到 2022 年的 11%（由于統(tǒng)計數(shù)主要基于問卷調(diào)查，因此實際水平可能更高 —— 自己說自己的情況往往導致低估實際水平嘛）。法國已經(jīng)領悟了快餐文化的真諦：它就是麥當勞公司在歐洲最大、最賺錢的市場之一。 No wonder, then, that the past few years have been bad for food panies (8)in image terms—and terrible for the fastfood lot. Attacks on the industry have changed the psychological climate in which it operates, and they may yet change the legislative climate too. So far, lawsuits brought on healthandsafety grounds have been more of a warning than a general threat. In 2022 a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that McDonald‘s had misled customers into believing that its food was healthy (though the suit was later partially reinstated). A number of American states have passed ―monsense consumption laws‖ aimed at deterring obesity cases in local courts. 那么，過去這幾年食品公司的日子不太好過，而快餐業(yè)就更加糟糕。對食品業(yè)的抨擊，已經(jīng)帶來了人們消費心理上的變化，或許也還將改變立法。迄今為止，基于健康安全的訴訟更多的是一種警醒，而沒有對食品業(yè)形成真正的威脅。2022 年，紐約一名法官駁回了一項訴訟，該訴訟聲稱麥 當勞公司誤導了消費者，讓他們相信其食品是健康的（盡管該訴訟后來又受到部分復議）。美國一些州還通過了《消費常識法》，旨在讓地方法庭拒絕受理肥胖訴訟案例。 Nevertheless, some lawyers still see a similarity between the position of food panies now and that of tobacco panies in the 1960s and 1970s, when private lawsuits paved the way for a coordinated attack on ―big tobacco‖ by attorneysgeneral. Worries about rising obesity rates among children, and fear of subsequent legal actions, have caused panies to （ 9） scale back their marketing of fatty food and soft drinks to minors. 不過 ，有的律師仍然察覺到目前食品公司的處境與上世紀六、七十年代時的煙草公司有一定的相似之處。當時，眾多個人訴訟為后來各州首席檢察官針對“煙草業(yè)巨頭”發(fā)動“協(xié)同攻擊”鋪平了道路。各家食品公司關注到兒童肥胖比例正日益增長，并擔心被起訴，已經(jīng)開始逐步縮減針對未成年人的高脂食品和軟飲料的銷售。 In several countries, government pronouncements and actions have added to the pressure on the industry. The British government‘s push to introduce trafficlight labelling es in the wake of a hardhitting report from the House of Commons Health Select Committee, whose chairman said: ―The devastating consequences of the epidemic of obesity are likely to have a profound impact over the next century.‖ In France, a law has been passed to impose a % tax on the advertising budgets of food panies if they do not encourage healthy eating. The industry may claim, with some justification, that ultimate responsibility for bad diet *rests with[4] the individual, and that the amount of exercise you do is just as important as the amount of food you eat. But as long as governments, lawyers and health campaigners continue to pile on the pressure, it will have to work hard to convince them it is (10)doing its bit to stop people piling on the pounds. 有幾個國家政府已經(jīng)發(fā)布有關聲明并采取了一些舉措，這讓食品業(yè)感到壓力倍增。英國國會下院健康特別委員會一份擲地有聲的報告，迫使英國政府開始全力引入“紅綠燈”標識方案。該委員會主席說：“肥胖癥的流行所引發(fā)的破壞性后果很可能會對下個世紀產(chǎn)生深遠影響。”法國也已通過一項法律，擬對不宣揚健康飲食的食品公司征收 %的廣告預算稅。食品業(yè)也許會略顯理直氣壯地申辯，不良飲食的根本 責任應由消費者個人承擔，每個人的運動量同進食多少同樣重要。不過，只要政府、律師以及健康飲食倡議人士不停止施壓，食品業(yè)就必須努力讓他們確信，為了不讓人們變得越來越胖，它正在盡自己的一份綿薄之力。 注釋： [1]engulf：席卷、吞沒、吞噬 [2]and the like: 等等，諸如此類 [3]latch on to: 明白，了解。 latch 的本義為“抓住，占有，插上插銷”。 [4]rest with: 在于，歸屬于，取決于 拋磚引玉： （ 1） 本句中 cried foul 應該如何翻譯合適？這句話筆者譯為 “大聲疾呼食品公司此舉純屬犯規(guī)”妥當否？難道這里 cry foul 就是比賽場上裁判“喊犯規(guī)叫停”？ （ 2） bigsellers 中的 seller 是銷售商還是銷售商品？ big 是指大型的還是銷路好的或者其它？ （ 3） light 在這個句子里的意思不應該是“輕的”吧？我猜想應該是“原色的，基色的，淺色的”，您認為呢？ （ 4） builder 是“建造者”還是“增潔劑”？比較專業(yè)，請指教。 （ 5） 我思來想去，也找不出比“這個數(shù)字本身就已經(jīng)糟糕透頂”更好的譯法了，或許還真有更好的？ （ 6） Come on, guys! 誰能把這句翻譯更為貼切、更為通達呢？ （ 7） 越譯越暈，我心里明白這個 selfreporting 的意思，可是到底怎么表達出來才準確呢？ （ 8） in image terms，啥意思？我就不拋磚了，免得砸著自己，呵呵！ （ 9） scale up 按比例增加； scale down 按比例縮減，那么 scale back 呢？我想，應該跟 scale down 差不多吧？ （ 10） do one’ s bits 我在詞典上沒有查到相應的短語，不過“ bit”一詞本身是“少許”之意，我想譯為“盡??綿薄之力”應當不壞，您看 呢？ TEXT 4 A question of standards 一個關乎標準的問題 Feb 9th 202