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All This Progress Is Killing Us, Bite by Bite
這一切的發展逐漸地置我們于死地
Gregg Easterbrook
格雷格•伊斯特布包魯克
Your great-great grandparents would find it hard to believe the Boeing 747, but perhaps they'd have a harder time believing last week's news that obesity has become the second-leading cause of death in the United States. Too much food a menace instead of too little!
你們的曾曾祖父母們會很難相信有波音747的存在，但是也許他們更難相信上周的新聞，那就是在美國肥胖已經成為導致死亡的第二大原因。過多的食物成了一種威脅，而不是食物不足！
A study released by the federal Centers for Disease Control ranked "poor diet and physical inactivity" as the cause of 400,000 United States deaths in 2000, trailing only fatalities from tobacco. Obesity, the CDC said, now kills five times as many Americans as "microbial agents," that is, infectious diseases.
聯邦疾病控制中心發布的一份研究將“不良飲食和缺乏鍛煉”列為2000年40 萬美國人死亡的原因，僅次于抽煙導致的死亡。聯邦疾病控制中心表示，現在肥胖導致的美國人的死亡人數是“微生物傳染源”（即傳染?。е碌乃劳鋈藬档?倍。
Moon landings might seem less shocking to your great-great grandparents than abundance of food causing five times as many deaths as germs; OutKast might seem less bizarre to them than the House passing legislation last week to exempt restaurants from being sued for serving portions that are too large.
由食物的豐富導致的死亡人數是病菌導致的死亡人數的5倍，這看起來也許比登 上月球更讓你們的曾曾祖父母們震驚。美國眾議院上周通過立法，豁免了飯店因提供過于大份的食物而被起訴，比起這個，流浪者合唱團對他們來說看起來也許就沒那么怪異了。
Your recent ancestors would further be stunned by the notion of plump poverty. A century ago, the poor were as lean as fence posts; worry about where to get the next meal was a constant companion for millions. Today, America's least well-off are so surrounded by double cheeseburgers, chicken buckets, extra-large pizzas and supersized fries that they are more likely to be overweight than the population as a whole.
讓你們的近代祖先們更為震驚的是“肥胖的貧窮”這個概念。一個世紀以前，窮人們瘦得像柵欄樁一樣；讓數百萬人一直擔心的是下一頓飯的著落。如今，美國最不富裕的人們周圍充斥著雙層芝士漢堡、炸雞桶、超大的比薩餅以及超大份薯條，以至于他們比整體人口更容易超重。
