According to the new research appearing in the July 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, obesity isn't just spreading; rather, it may be contagious between people, like a common cold. Researchers from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, reviewed a database of 12,067 densely interconnected people — that is, a group that included many families and friends — who had all participated in a major American heart study between 1971 and 2003. The participants met with heart researchers every two to four years. It was that information the NEJM authors mined to explore obesity in the context of a social network.
According to their analysis, when a study participant's friend became obese, that first participant had a 57% greater chance of becoming obese himself. In pairs of people in which each identified the other as a close friend, when one person became obese the other had a 171% greater chance of following suit. James Fowler, study co-author and a political scientist at UC San Diego says that it's not just that people who share similar lifestyles become friends, He and co-author Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School considered the possibility — and were surprised. For one thing, geographic distance between friends in the study seemed to have no impact: friends who lived a 5-hour drive apart and saw each other infrequently were just as influenced by each other's weight gains as those who lived close enough to share weekly take-out meals or pick-up basketball games. The best proof that friendship caused the weight gain, says Fowler, is that people were much more likely to pattern their own behavior on the actions of people they considered friends — but the relationship didn't work in the other direction. If you had named another person as a friend, and your friend became obese, than you were more than 50% more likely to get fat too. But if your friend had not named you as a mutual friend, and you became obese, it would have no significant impact on your friend's weight.
The obvious question is, Why? Spouses share meals and a backyard, but the researchers found a much smaller risk of gaining weight — a 37% increase — when one spouse became obese. Siblings share genes, but their influence, too, was much smaller, increasing each other's risk 40%. Fowler believes the effect has much more to do with social norms: whom we look to when considering appropriate social behavior. Having fat friends makes being fat seem more acceptable. "We get to choose our friends," says. "We don't get to choose our families."
Fowler and Christakis say that the contagion-effect should hold just as much for weight loss as it does for weight gain. "I would hope this influences individuals to get friends and families involved in decisions about health," Fowler says. After all, he says, a weight-loss plan may be more effective if the people closest to you are on board. And, if you're successful, your good health will help others achieve a healthy weight too. The impact extends not just to your friends, it turns out — but also to your friends' friends, and even to their friends.
注(1):本文选自Economist, 07/25/2007
注(2):本文习题命题模仿对象为2002年真题Text 3。
1. The following are factors causing obesity according to the researchers, EXCEPT that_______.
[A] similar lifestyles among some people
[B] geographical distance between friends
[C] one’s closest friend being fat
[D] being mutual friend with fat guys
2. If can be inferred from the text that _______.
[A] allt he participants have no connection with each other
[B] all the participants have heart diseases
[C] researchers meet the participants irregularly
[D] it is a long-term study
3. The experiment involving both family members and friends is because _______.
[A] researchers fail to find a more diverse sample
[B] researchers have different hypotheses for family members and freinds
[C] researchers can meet these people regularly
[D] researchers can compare the results
4. We can draw a conclusion from the text that _______.
[A] When people choose friends, obesity comes at the first standard
[B] The friends of a fat person must all be very fat
[C] Familiy plays a more important role of affecting obesity
[D] The contagion-effect of obesity also sheds light on weight loss
5. From the text we can see the writer seems _______.
[A] objective
[B] optimistic
[C] sensitive
[D] gloomy
篇章剖析
本文就肥胖在人与人之间的影响和传播性这一问题展开了论述。第一段提出了话题,并说明了研究的背景和方法;第二段展示了研究结果,并结合实例进行说明;第三段讨论了家庭关系和朋友关系对于肥胖的不同影响极其原因;第四段指出了该研究的实用性和将对人们产生的影响。
词汇注释
obesity [Eu`bisiti] n. 肥胖, 肥大 take-out n. 外卖
contagious [kEn`teidVEs] adj. 传染性的, 会感染的 spouse [spauz] n. 配偶(指夫或妻)
dense [dens] adj. 密集的, 浓厚的 norm [nC:m] n. 标准, 规范
难句突破
Researchers from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, reviewed a database of 12,067 densely interconnected people — that is, a group that included many families and friends — who had all participated in a major American heart study between 1971 and 2003.
主体句式 Researchers reviewed a database of 12,067 people。
结构分析 这个长句看似结构复杂,主要是因为其中有较多的修饰成分。两个破折号之间的句子是前面people的同位语,对这些人们的身份进行补充说明,其中that is是同位语结构的标志;who引导的定语从句也是修饰people。
句子译文 来自哈佛大学和加州大学圣地亚哥分校的研究者查阅了1971-2003年期间参与美国一项重要心脏研究的12,067位受访者数据库。受访者之间大多都有亲密的关系,包括许多家庭成员和朋友。
题目分析
1.B. 细节题。文章第二段指出地理上的远近对于肥胖问题没有什么影响,同时A,C,D选项都可以在该段落中找到对应信息。
2.D. 细节题。文章第一段就指出此项研究是一个1971-2003年间进行的长期研究。
3.D. 细节题。文章第三段比较了家人和朋友对于肥胖现象的影响,可以看出研究人员研究这两组人的目的在于进行比较。
4.A. 推理题。文章最后一段指出,该研究发现的肥胖传染现象也可能促使相反效果的产生,即一个人减肥会影响他的亲人朋友,从而使得减肥现象也得以传播,从而使胖人们的体重向更健康的趋势发展。
5.A. 态度题。虽然文章最后研究者对其研究结果持非常乐观的态度,但综观全文,作者一直保持客观描述的态度,没有加入个人见解。
参考译文
7月26日出版的《新英格兰医学杂志》认为,肥胖不仅仅在越来越多,更可怕的是,它会像感冒一样。在人与人之间传播。来自哈佛大学和加州大学圣地亚哥分校的研究者查阅了1971-2003年期间参与美国一项重要心脏研究的12,067位受访者数据库。受访者之间大多都有亲密的关系,包括许多家庭成员和朋友,他们每2-4年与心脏研究者见一次面。正是由于这个信息,使得研究者对社会关系对肥胖的影响产生了兴趣。
根据这项研究,如果受访者的朋友肥胖的话,那些受访者自己变胖的可能性会高出常人57%。如果两人互相为挚友的话,那么这一机率将会高出常人171%。加州大学圣地亚哥分校的政治科学家此后詹姆斯·福勒认为并非只是有共同生活习惯的人才会成为朋友。此后詹姆斯·福勒与他的合著者哈佛医学院的尼古拉斯·克里斯塔克斯得出了更为惊人的结论。一方面,研究表明朋友之间的地理位置差距根本不是问题,相距车程仅5小时但经常不见面的朋友关系对肥胖的影响和每周都一起吃外卖或打篮球的朋友关系一样。詹姆斯·福勒称友谊引起肥胖的最好证据就是,人们倾向于和朋友们做一样的事情。如果你把一个人当作朋友,如果他变肥胖了的话,那你的肥胖概率会高出常人50%。要是他不把你当朋友,那么即使你胖了,对他也没影响。
现在的问题是夫妻共处一室,共同进餐,为什么当双方之一变胖的时候,另一方肥胖概率仅仅高了37%呢?兄弟姐妹基因差不多,但他们之间的影响却小得多,只有40%的风险。福勒相信这是由于社会标准的原因,我们看人的时候总是在考虑什么是合适的社会行为。如果你的朋友时肥胖者,这就意味着你认为肥胖是可以接受的。“而配偶并非随你所愿(体态,饮食或是活动量)” 福勒认为没必要和自己的兄弟姐妹比,“我们可以选择朋友,但是我们没法选择家庭。”
福勒和克里斯塔克斯认为这种“传染效应”对于减肥的影响和增肥一样。“我希望这个研究能使人们在考虑健康状况是把家人和朋友的因素也考虑进去。” 毕竟,如果你最亲密的朋友与你一起减肥的时候这个计划会更加成功。同时,如果你成功减肥,那么你的健康也会帮助其他人达到理想的体重。这种效果不不仅对于你的朋友有效,并且对你朋友的朋友,以及他们的朋友都会有影响。
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