美第一夫人抵制儿童肥胖 呼吁健康饮食

Michelle Obama has unveiled her campaign against childhood obesity in the US, saying that it is a problem that concerns her both as first lady and as a mother.

Mrs Obama said that the campaign was designed to encourage people to live healthier lives, but admitted that she herself was not immune to the temptations of junk food.

"I love burgers and fries. And I love ice cream and cake. And so do most kids," she said. But, she added: "We're not talking about a lifestyle that excludes all that.

"The question is how do we help people balance that out so that they're not facing life-threatening, preventable illnesses, but they're enjoying their food, they're eating their vegetables, they're doing their running and walking and playing and still have time to get a good, fun meal in every once in a while."

One in three American children is overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other illnesses.

Billions of dollars are spent every year treating obesity-related conditions.

"None of us wants this future for our kids," Mrs Obama said at the White House.

"We have to act, so let's move."

Her campaign has four parts: helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthy food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.

The ambitious campaign, which Mrs Obama hopes will be seen as her legacy, is aimed at solving the childhood obesity problem in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

"This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered. We know the cure for this," she said at the unveiling.

President Barack Obama praised his wife for tackling what he called one of "the most urgent health issues facing the country."

"This has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that are often very difficult," he said.

日前，美国第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马在全国范围内发起了一项抵制儿童肥胖的运动，并称作为第一夫人和母亲，她十分关注这个问题。

米歇尔称，这场运动旨在鼓励人们选择更为健康的生活方式，并坦称自己也抵挡不住垃圾食品的诱惑。

她说：“我喜欢汉堡、炸薯条，也喜欢冰淇淋和蛋糕。大多数孩子也喜欢吃这些食品。”但又称：“我们这里讨论的并不是一种将所有这些东西都排除在外的生活方式。”

“问题的关键在于我们应如何帮助人们平衡饮食，使人们免受那些危害生命但可预防的疾病的威胁。人们可以享用他们的美食，吃蔬菜、跑步、散步，玩乐，同时仍有时间偶尔吃吃那些不错的、有意思的食品。”

目前，美国三分之一的儿童存在体重超标或肥胖问题，使得他们患糖尿病、高血压、高胆固醇和其它疾病的风险增大。

美国每年用于治疗与肥胖相关疾病的费用高达数十亿美元。

当天，米歇尔在白宫（举行的活动发起仪式上）说：“我们都不希望自己的孩子以后会这样。”

“我们必须行动起来，大家一起来吧。”

米歇尔发起的这项运动包括四部分：帮助家长合理安排膳食，在学校自动售卖机和午餐食谱中提供更健康的食品，让健康食品更为普及、价格更合理以及鼓励孩子们多锻炼。

米歇尔发起的这场雄心勃勃的运动试图在一代人中解决儿童肥胖问题，这样现在出生的孩子未来成年时体重就会很正常。米歇尔也希望这能成为她以后为美国留下的一项遗产。

她在发起仪式上说：“这和我们仍在等待治愈疗法的疾病不同。我们知道如何应对。”

美国总统贝拉克•奥巴马对妻子为儿童肥胖问题做出的努力大加赞扬，他称米歇尔应对的是“美国目前面临的最为紧迫的健康问题之一”。

他说：“这场运动将大大改善儿童健康，将为那些不得不做出健康饮食选择的家长们提供支持。”

Vocabulary:

junk food：food that is typically high in fats and salt and low in nutritional value（垃圾食品）

vending machine：a coin-operated machine for selling small articles, beverages, etc.（自动贩卖机）