美第一夫人抵制兒童肥胖 呼籲健康飲食
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，美國第一夫人米歇爾•奧巴馬在全國範圍內發起了一項抵制兒童肥胖的運動，並稱作爲第一夫人和母親，她十分關注這個問題。
米歇爾稱，這場運動旨在鼓勵人們選擇更爲健康的生活方式，並坦稱自己也抵擋不住垃圾食品的誘惑。
她說：“我喜歡漢堡、炸薯條，也喜歡冰淇淋和蛋糕。大多數孩子也喜歡吃這些食品。”但又稱：“我們這裏討論的並不是一種將所有這些東西都排除在外的生活方式。”
“問題的關鍵在於我們應如何幫助人們平衡飲食，使人們免受那些危害生命但可預防的疾病的威脅。人們可以享用他們的美食，吃蔬菜、跑步、散步，玩樂，同時仍有時間偶爾吃吃那些不錯的、有意思的食品。”
目前，美國三分之一的兒童存在體重超標或肥胖問題，使得他們患糖尿病、高血壓、高膽固醇和其它疾病的風險增大。
美國每年用於治療與肥胖相關疾病的費用高達數十億美元。
當天，米歇爾在白宮（舉行的活動發起儀式上）說：“我們都不希望自己的孩子以後會這樣。”
“我們必須行動起來，大家一起來吧。”
米歇爾發起的這項運動包括四部分：幫助家長合理安排膳食，在學校自動售賣機和午餐食譜中提供更健康的食品，讓健康食品更爲普及、價格更合理以及鼓勵孩子們多鍛鍊。
米歇爾發起的這場雄心勃勃的運動試圖在一代人中解決兒童肥胖問題，這樣現在出生的孩子未來成年時體重就會很正常。米歇爾也希望這能成爲她以後爲美國留下的一項遺產。
她在發起儀式上說：“這和我們仍在等待治癒療法的疾病不同。我們知道如何應對。”
美國總統貝拉克•奧巴馬對妻子爲兒童肥胖問題做出的努力大加讚揚，他稱米歇爾應對的是“美國目前面臨的最爲緊迫的健康問題之一”。
他說：“這場運動將大大改善兒童健康，將爲那些不得不做出健康飲食選擇的家長們提供支持。”
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.（自動販賣機）
