An effort to count the world s sloths

　　來數一數世界上的懶漢

　　A PAPER in the Lancet, shamelessly timed tocoincide with the Olympic games, comparescountries rates of physical activity. The study itdescribes, led by Pedro Hallal of the Federal University of Pelotas, in Brazil, is the mostcomplete portrait yet of the world s busy bees and couch potatoes. It suggests that nearly athird of adults, 31%, are not getting enough exercise.

　　《柳葉刀》①的一篇文章對世界各國人民進行體育鍛煉的比率做了一個比較，而這篇文章的發表時間竟有意選在了奧運會召開之際。文章中的研究由巴西佩洛塔斯聯邦大學的Pedro Hallal主導，是迄今為止對世界上的勤勞之人和電視懶蟲最為完整的描繪。研究顯示，世界上有將近三分之一的成年人缺乏鍛煉。

　　That rates of exercise have declined is hardly a new discovery. Since the beginning of theindustrial revolution, technology and economic growth have conspired to create a world inwhich the flexing of muscles is more and more an option rather than a necessity. But onlyrecently have enough good data been collected from enough places to carry out the sort ofanalysis Dr Hallal and his colleagues have engaged in.

　　人們的鍛煉比率有所下降這并不是什么新發現。自從工業革命開始后，科技和經濟發展合謀創造了一個新世界，在這個世界里，鍛煉身體越來越成為人們的一種選擇，而非迫切的需要。但直到最近，Hallal博士和他的同事才從足夠多的地區收集到了充足的數據來進行這類分析研究。

　　In all, they were able to pool data from 122 countries, covering 89% of the world spopulation. They considered sufficient physical activity to be 30 minutes of moderateexercise five days a week, 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three days a week, or somecombination of the two.

　　Hallal博士和他的同事總共收集了122個國家的數據，覆蓋了89%的世界人口。他們認為，充足的體育鍛煉應該是每周五天進行半小時的適量運動，或是每周三天進行20分鐘的激烈運動，或者對這兩者進行適當結合。

　　There are common themes in different places. Unsurprisingly, people in rich countries are lessactive than those in poor ones, and old people are less active than young ones. Lessobviously, women tend to exercise less than men34% are inactive, compared with 28% ofmen. But there are exceptions. The women of Croatia, Finland, Iraq and Luxembourg, forexample, move more than their male countrymen.

　　不同的地區出現了同樣的模式。富裕國家的人比那些貧窮國家的人鍛煉得更少，老人比年輕人鍛煉得更少，這一點在意料之中。但較為隱秘的一個現象是，女性通常比男性鍛煉得少。女性懶惰人數占總人數的34%，而男性卻只占了28%。但是也有例外情況，如克羅地亞、芬蘭、伊拉克、盧森堡這幾個國家的女性鍛煉得就比本國男性同胞多。

　　Malta wins the race for most slothful country, with 72% of adults getting too little exercise.Swaziland and Saudi Arabia slouch in close behind, with 69%. In Bangladesh, by contrast,just 5% of adults fail to exercise enough. Surprisingly, America does not live up to itssluggish reputation. Six Americans in ten are sufficiently active by Dr Hallal s definition,compared with fewer than four in ten Britons.

　　馬耳他有 72%的成年人缺乏鍛煉，成為世界上最懶的國家。斯威士蘭和沙特阿拉伯緊隨其后，懶惰人數占全國的69%。相比之下，孟加拉國只有5%的成年人缺乏鍛煉。讓人吃驚的是，美國竟然沒有人們所說的那么懶。根據Hallal博士的標準，十個美國人中有六個擁有足夠的鍛煉，而相比之下，十個英國人中擁有足夠鍛煉的人還不到四個。

　　In an accompanying analysis of people s habits, Dr Hallal found equally wide differences. InSouth-East Asia fewer than a quarter sit for at least four hours each day; in Europe 64% do.And even neighbours may differ. Only 2% of Swiss walk to work, whereas 23% of Germansdo so.

　　同時Hallal博士還對人們的生活習慣進行了分析，發現在這方面不同地區的人差別也很大。在東南亞，每天至少坐四小時的人不到四分之一，但在歐洲這樣的人卻占了總人口的64%。而且即使是鄰國之間差別也很大。在瑞士，只有2%的人走路上班，但在德國卻有 23%的人這樣做。

　　These high rates of inactivity are worrying. Paradoxically, human beings seem to haveevolved to benefit from exercise while eschewing it whenever they can. In a state of natureit would be impossible to live a life that did not provide enough of it to be beneficial, whileover-exercising would use up scarce calories to little advantage. But that no longerpertains. According to another paper in the Lancet, insufficient activity these days hasnearly the same effect on life expectancy as smoking.

　　這么高的懶惰率實在令人擔憂。人類似乎已經進化到一種自相矛盾狀態，盡管運動十分有益，但人類卻唯恐避之不及。在自然狀態下，缺乏鍛煉的生活是不可能對人有益的，但過度鍛煉又可能耗盡寶貴的卡路里，對人體無益。但現在這種說法已經不再適用現代人了。《柳葉刀》中的另一篇文章稱，缺乏鍛煉對壽命造成的影響幾乎和抽煙差不多

　　An effort to count the world s sloths

　　來數一數世界上的懶漢

　　A PAPER in the Lancet, shamelessly timed tocoincide with the Olympic games, comparescountries rates of physical activity. The study itdescribes, led by Pedro Hallal of the Federal University of Pelotas, in Brazil, is the mostcomplete portrait yet of the world s busy bees and couch potatoes. It suggests that nearly athird of adults, 31%, are not getting enough exercise.

　　《柳葉刀》①的一篇文章對世界各國人民進行體育鍛煉的比率做了一個比較，而這篇文章的發表時間竟有意選在了奧運會召開之際。文章中的研究由巴西佩洛塔斯聯邦大學的Pedro Hallal主導，是迄今為止對世界上的勤勞之人和電視懶蟲最為完整的描繪。研究顯示，世界上有將近三分之一的成年人缺乏鍛煉。

　　That rates of exercise have declined is hardly a new discovery. Since the beginning of theindustrial revolution, technology and economic growth have conspired to create a world inwhich the flexing of muscles is more and more an option rather than a necessity. But onlyrecently have enough good data been collected from enough places to carry out the sort ofanalysis Dr Hallal and his colleagues have engaged in.

　　人們的鍛煉比率有所下降這并不是什么新發現。自從工業革命開始后，科技和經濟發展合謀創造了一個新世界，在這個世界里，鍛煉身體越來越成為人們的一種選擇，而非迫切的需要。但直到最近，Hallal博士和他的同事才從足夠多的地區收集到了充足的數據來進行這類分析研究。

　　In all, they were able to pool data from 122 countries, covering 89% of the world spopulation. They considered sufficient physical activity to be 30 minutes of moderateexercise five days a week, 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three days a week, or somecombination of the two.

　　Hallal博士和他的同事總共收集了122個國家的數據，覆蓋了89%的世界人口。他們認為，充足的體育鍛煉應該是每周五天進行半小時的適量運動，或是每周三天進行20分鐘的激烈運動，或者對這兩者進行適當結合。

　　There are common themes in different places. Unsurprisingly, people in rich countries are lessactive than those in poor ones, and old people are less active than young ones. Lessobviously, women tend to exercise less than men34% are inactive, compared with 28% ofmen. But there are exceptions. The women of Croatia, Finland, Iraq and Luxembourg, forexample, move more than their male countrymen.

　　不同的地區出現了同樣的模式。富裕國家的人比那些貧窮國家的人鍛煉得更少，老人比年輕人鍛煉得更少，這一點在意料之中。但較為隱秘的一個現象是，女性通常比男性鍛煉得少。女性懶惰人數占總人數的34%，而男性卻只占了28%。但是也有例外情況，如克羅地亞、芬蘭、伊拉克、盧森堡這幾個國家的女性鍛煉得就比本國男性同胞多。

　　Malta wins the race for most slothful country, with 72% of adults getting too little exercise.Swaziland and Saudi Arabia slouch in close behind, with 69%. In Bangladesh, by contrast,just 5% of adults fail to exercise enough. Surprisingly, America does not live up to itssluggish reputation. Six Americans in ten are sufficiently active by Dr Hallal s definition,compared with fewer than four in ten Britons.

　　馬耳他有 72%的成年人缺乏鍛煉，成為世界上最懶的國家。斯威士蘭和沙特阿拉伯緊隨其后，懶惰人數占全國的69%。相比之下，孟加拉國只有5%的成年人缺乏鍛煉。讓人吃驚的是，美國竟然沒有人們所說的那么懶。根據Hallal博士的標準，十個美國人中有六個擁有足夠的鍛煉，而相比之下，十個英國人中擁有足夠鍛煉的人還不到四個。

　　In an accompanying analysis of people s habits, Dr Hallal found equally wide differences. InSouth-East Asia fewer than a quarter sit for at least four hours each day; in Europe 64% do.And even neighbours may differ. Only 2% of Swiss walk to work, whereas 23% of Germansdo so.

　　同時Hallal博士還對人們的生活習慣進行了分析，發現在這方面不同地區的人差別也很大。在東南亞，每天至少坐四小時的人不到四分之一，但在歐洲這樣的人卻占了總人口的64%。而且即使是鄰國之間差別也很大。在瑞士，只有2%的人走路上班，但在德國卻有 23%的人這樣做。

　　These high rates of inactivity are worrying. Paradoxically, human beings seem to haveevolved to benefit from exercise while eschewing it whenever they can. In a state of natureit would be impossible to live a life that did not provide enough of it to be beneficial, whileover-exercising would use up scarce calories to little advantage. But that no longerpertains. According to another paper in the Lancet, insufficient activity these days hasnearly the same effect on life expectancy as smoking.

　　這么高的懶惰率實在令人擔憂。人類似乎已經進化到一種自相矛盾狀態，盡管運動十分有益，但人類卻唯恐避之不及。在自然狀態下，缺乏鍛煉的生活是不可能對人有益的，但過度鍛煉又可能耗盡寶貴的卡路里，對人體無益。但現在這種說法已經不再適用現代人了。《柳葉刀》中的另一篇文章稱，缺乏鍛煉對壽命造成的影響幾乎和抽煙差不多