快餐之国 第5期

"Fast food is easy,"said Sarah Hudson,a 14-year-old from Portland, Maine, enjoying a snack1 at McDonald' s. "It' s quick and it tastes good."She figures she eats fast food about twice a week.

"As long as it tastes good and it fills you up then that's all I care about," said her friend Ryan Bell, 13. "We buy it because it tastes good. If they made healthy food I doubt we would buy it."

The average American now consumes2 about three hamburgers and four orders3 of French fries4 every week. That's 90 grams of fat and 2,520 calories5. Theaveragepersonneeds about 2,000 calories for a whole day.

Most Americans know that fast food isn't exactly good for them,but can't quite seem to break the habit.In fact, consumption6 of high-fat fast food is increasing,in part because fast food restaurants are an inescapable7 part of American life.

Considering America's love of the French fry,it's no surprise that kids are getting bigger. The percentage of children and teenagers who are overweight has tripled8 in the past 30 years,according to the Center for Disease Control. One-third of overweight students are so heavy they will probably have serious health problems later in life.

Doctors are finding that more and more severely9 over-weight children have medical problems such as a fatty liver10, a precursor11 to liver disease, high blood pressure, and an increasing likelihood of Type 2 diabetes12.In addition, obese13 children are becoming prime candidates14 for heart attacks and strokes15 even while in their teens.

Weight is strongly influenced by genes16――you are more likely to be heavy if your parents are heavy.But, there is something you can do. Doctors say the most important way for kids and adults to lose weight is to change their eating habits.That means finding an alternative17 to all-night pizza delivery18, convenience19 stores, and fast food restaurants.

“快餐非常方便。”萨拉・赫德森，一位来自缅因州波特兰市的14岁姑娘是这么形容的。她非常喜爱麦当劳快餐食品，“快餐又快又好吃。”她估计自己每星期要吃两回。

“食物味道不错，又能填饱我的肚子，我只关心这些问题，”萨拉的朋友， 13岁的瑞安・贝尔说：“我们买快餐只是因为好吃。如果他们做那些健康食品，我不晓得会不会去买。”

一个美国人平均一周要消费掉3个汉堡包和4袋薯条，这些食物中包含着90克脂肪和2520卡路里热量。一个人一整天大约需要2000卡路里热量。

大部分美国人也明白，快餐食品实际上对他们没有好处，但是要他们改掉这个习惯似乎不太可能。实际上，高脂肪快餐食品的消费量只增不降，部分原因是快餐店已经成为美国人生活中不容忽视的组成部分了。

考虑到美国人喜欢吃薯条的现实，就无怪乎他们的孩子为什么长得越来越胖了。疾病防治中心的资料显示：在过去的30年里，美国超重青少年的比率翻了3倍。l/3的超重学生长得太胖，以至于在今后的一生中，他们将碰到许多健康方面的严重问题。

医生发现，越来越多的严重肥胖儿童都存在健康问题，比如得了脂肪肝 (它能引起肝疾病)、高血压，还增加了患有二型糖尿病的可能。更有那些超级肥胖的孩子，才十几岁就成为心脏病、中风等疾病的主要侵害对象。

体重很大程度上是由基因决定的，如果你的双亲很胖，你变胖的可能性就很大。但是你仍然可以做些补救。医生介绍说大人和孩子减肥的最重要途径是改变他们的饮食习惯，这就意味着我们要做出新的选择，来替代通宵比萨快递、便利店和快餐店。

1．snackn．快餐

2．consume vt．(尤指无度地)吃完

3．ordern．定货量，定购，定货

4．French fries法式炸土豆条

5．calorien．卡(路里)

6．consumptionn．消费量，消耗量

7．inescapable adj．逃避不了的，不容忽视的

8．triplevi.增至三倍，成三倍

9．severely adj．非常，严重地

10．fatty liver 脂肪肝

11．precursorn.前兆，先兆

12．diabetes n．糖尿病

13．obese adj．(过分)肥胖的

14．candidate n．候选人

15．stroke n．中风

16．genen. 基因

17．alternativen．供替代的抉择，供选择的东西

18．delivery n．交付，一次交付的货物

19．convenience n.便利，方便