《经济学人》双语：为什么女胖子比男胖子多？
《经济学人》双语：为什么女胖子比男胖子多？
原文标题：
Obesity in the Middle East
Weighty matters
Why women in the Middle East are fatter than men
中东的肥胖问题
重大事项
为什么中东女性比男性胖
Society does not make it easy to shed pounds
特定的社会文化中，减肥谈何容易
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Zeinab, a matronly 60-year-old in a black abaya, washes vegetables in a restaurant in Baghdad, taking home 20,000 dirhams ($13.70) a day.
泽纳布是一位穿着黑色长袍的60岁女性，她在巴格达的一家餐馆打工洗蔬菜，每日收入2万迪拉姆（13.70美元）。
But she cannot afford to buy her family a decent dinner. Her daughters dropped out of school because the fees were too high.
但她买不起一顿像样的晚餐。也因为付不起高昂的学费，她的女儿们都辍学在家。
Zeinab gets by because her boss gives her leftovers—mostly oily food, she says—from the restaurant.
泽纳布一家能勉强度日，因为她的老板会把餐厅的剩菜给她，大多是油腻的食物。
Thursday is the only day of the week she and her daughters eat fruit, since that is when people in her neighbourhood give away food for charity. Zeinab weighs 120kg.
一周中，她和她的女儿们只有在星期四才能吃到水果，因为在周四那天，人们会在她的社区为慈善机构捐赠食物。泽纳布体重120公斤。
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Though grown up, none of her four daughters works. They are likely to become fat, too.
虽然她的4个女儿都已经长大了，但她们都没有去工作。她们也可能变得肥胖。
Zeinab would rather be strapped for cash than risk men harassing them at work. So they sit at home, doing chores, occasionally visiting their extended family.
泽纳布宁愿手头拮据，也不愿让女儿们在工作中冒着被男人骚扰的风险。所以她们待在家里，做家务，偶尔拜访大家族里的亲戚。
Zeinab sometimes takes them out for an ice cream or to visit a holy shrine. “It’s not like they’re in prison—they’ve got phones and the internet,” she says defensively.
泽纳布有时会带她们出去吃冰淇淋或参观圣地。她申辩道：“她们并没有过着监狱般的生活，她们有手机，可上网。”
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Across the world, more women than men are fat.
在全世界范围内，肥胖的女性比男性多。
Obesity is a problem for 15% of women and 11% of men, meaning that they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. But the obesity gap varies across the world.
15%的女性有肥胖问题，11%的男性有肥胖问题，这意味着他们的体质指数（BMI）大于或等于30。但世界各地的肥胖差异各不相同。
The Middle East and north Africa has the biggest and most consistent disparity between the sexes. (Several countries in southern Africa have big gaps, too.)
中东和北非不同性别间的肥胖差异最大，也最为一致。（非洲南部有几个国家肥胖差异也很大。）
In the Middle East 26% of women are obese versus 16% of men. This can be dangerous.
在中东，26%的女性有肥胖问题，而16%的男性有肥胖问题。这很危险。
In 2019, eight Arab countries were among the 11 with the highest share of deaths attributed to obesity (mostly due to heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure).
2019年，因肥胖（主要是心脏病、糖尿病和高血压）致死率最高的11个国家中，有8个是阿拉伯国家。
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Only a fifth of women in Arab countries have paid jobs, says the World Bank. In Iraq the share is one in ten.
世界银行表示，在阿拉伯国家，只有1/5的女性有带薪工作。在伊拉克，这一比例是1/10。
This means that most Arab women spend most of the day indoors, missing out on passive exercise.
这意味着大多数阿拉伯女性每天大部分时间都在室内度过，错过了被动锻炼的机会。
Working women in other regions bustle around in hospitals, classrooms and restaurants.
而其他地区的职业女性可以在医院、教室和餐馆里劳作。
But in Arab countries many such jobs are done mainly by men. In Gulf countries many of the heavier menial household chores are done by foreigners.
但在阿拉伯国家，许多此类工作基本由男性完成。在海湾国家，许多较重的家务活都是由外国人完成。
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Moreover, women in Arab countries have fewer chances to enjoy sport.
此外，阿拉伯国家女性进行体育运动的机会更少。
Young girls and boys play football together in the street. But once a girl reaches puberty, roughhousing in public is frowned upon. Teenage girls become more sedentary, meeting friends indoors.
少男少女们可以一起在街上踢足球。但一旦女孩子进入青春期，在公共场所嬉戏打闹就不得体了。十几岁的女孩子变得很宅，只能在室内与朋友见面。
“We don’t like girls to be outside,” says a sweaty Iraqi man who plays football outdoors four times a week but does not let his sister follow suit. She has a treadmill at home, he says.
“我们不喜欢女孩在外面玩，”一位满头大汗的伊拉克男子如是说。他每周在户外踢4次足球，但不让他的妹妹玩足球。他说，她妹妹可以在家使用跑步机。
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In any case, headscarves and clothes that cover the female body make public exercise cumbersome.
不管怎样，女性全身由头巾和衣服包裹，这身装备去运动会碍手碍脚相当麻烦。
Harassment in the street often makes jogging unpleasant. “When I walk my dogs, I have to put on music to block out the catcalls,” says an Iraqi woman.
路上的骚扰也常常使女性慢跑者心情不舒畅。一名伊拉克妇女说：“当我遛狗时，我得放大声的音乐来屏蔽口哨声。”
Strolling tends to be in air-conditioned malls. Some gyms cater just to women, but are found mainly in big cities.
人们喜欢在有空调的商场里闲逛。一些健身房只为女性服务，但人们基本只在大城市才能找到健身房。
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In Egypt poor women are on average fatter than rich ones. Rich families tend to be more relaxed about letting their daughters out.
在埃及，贫穷的女性通常比富裕的女性更胖。因为富裕家庭的家规更轻松，更愿意让女儿外出活动。
Still, Egypt has the highest women’s BMI of any country in the world, bar some of the Pacific islands.
尽管如此，除了一些太平洋岛屿外，埃及的女性体质指数在世界排名最高。
Diet bears much of the blame. Egyptians get 30% of their calories from bread, much of it subsidised: the price of a kilo is fixed at $0.61.
饮食是罪魁祸首。埃及人吸收的热量有30%来自面包，其中大部分都想有补贴：每公斤的价格保持在0.61美元上下。
Since 1975 Arab women have grown fatter at a quicker rate than Arab men, while junk food has steadily proliferated.
自1975年以来，垃圾食品与日俱增，阿拉伯女性变胖的速度大于阿拉伯男性变胖的速度。
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Wafa al-Khatib, a housewife in Baghdad, wants to slim down, so she asked her mother to do more of the cooking to help her resist culinary temptation.
巴格达的一位家庭主妇瓦法·哈提卜想要减肥，所以她请母亲做饭，以帮助她抵抗美食诱惑。
“Iraqis’ problem is carbohydrates,” she says. Her family eats rice and bread at nearly every meal.
她说：“伊拉克人变胖的原因是吸收了太多的碳水化合物。”她的家人几乎每一餐都要吃米饭和面包。
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A final cause of obesity, according to some women, is that many Arab men prefer them to be Rubens-esque. Shutting women up at home helps keep them that way.
据一些女性说，肥胖的最后一个原因是许多阿拉伯男性更喜欢女性拥有鲁本斯式的身材。把女性关在家里有助于她们保持这种身材。
Shireen Rashid, another Iraqi housewife, wants to shed a few pounds. But not too many. When you are skinny, “you lose your femininity”, she says.
另一位伊拉克家庭主妇希琳·拉希德想要减掉几磅肉。但不想减掉太多。她说，当你骨瘦如柴的时候，“你就失去了女性气质”。
Her husband does not want her to lose weight at all. He fears she will “feel like a piece of wood in bed”.
她丈夫不希望她减肥。他担心她会“像一块躺在床上的木头”。
Iraqis often cite Enas Taleb, an actress with ample curves (pictured), as the ideal of beauty.
伊拉克人经常称赞埃纳斯·塔勒布是标志美人。塔勒布是一位曲线丰满的女演员（如图）。
Some claim Iraqi women even take weight-gaining pills to be more attractive to men.
一些人说，更有甚者，伊拉克女性会吃增肥药以吸引男性。
Alas, in the Arab world or indeed anywhere else, that is hardly the road to good health, let alone happiness.
唉，在阿拉伯世界或其他任何地方，人们很难拥有健康，更不用说拥有幸福了。
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量776左右）
原文出自：2022年7月30日《经济学人》Middle East & Africa版块
