2021年06月四级第3套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Can you remember what you ate yesterday? If asked, most people will be able to give a vague description of their main meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. But can you be sure you've noted every snack bar in your car, or every handful of nuts at your desk? Most people will have a feeling that they've missed something out.

你能记得昨天吃了什么吗？如果被问到，大多数人能模糊地描述他们的主餐：早餐、午餐、晚餐。但你能确定你记录了车上的每一块零食棒，或办公桌旁的每一把坚果吗？大多数人会感觉他们遗漏了什么。

We originally had this suspicion back in 2016, puzzled by the fact that national statistics showed calorie consumption falling dramatically over past decades. We found reliable evidence that people were drastically under-reporting what they ate.

我们最初在2016年就有这种怀疑，对国家统计数据显示过去几十年卡路里摄入量大幅下降这一事实感到困惑。我们找到了可靠的证据，表明人们严重少报了他们吃的食物。

Now the Office for National Statistics has confirmed that we are consuming 50% more calories than our national statistics claim.

现在，国家统计局已证实，我们的卡路里摄入量比国家统计数据声称的多50%。

Why is this happening? We can point to at least three potential causes. One is the rise in obesity levels itself. Under-reporting rates are much higher for obese people, because they simply consume more food, and thus have more to remember.

为什么会这样？我们可以指出至少三个潜在原因。一个是肥胖水平的上升本身。肥胖人群的少报率要高得多，因为他们吃的食物更多，因此需要记忆的也更多。

Another cause is that the proportion of people who are trying to lose weight has been increasing over time. People who want to lose weight are more likely to under-report their eating-regardless of whether they are overweight or not. This may be driven partly by self-deception or "wishful thinking". The final potential cause is an increase in snacking and eating out over recent decades-both in terms of how often they happen and how much they contribute to our overall energy intake. Again, there is evidence that food consumed out of the home is one of the most poorly recorded categories in surveys.

另一个原因是，试图减肥的人口比例一直在增加。想要减肥的人更可能少报他们的饮食——无论他们是否超重。这可能部分是由自我欺骗或‘一厢情愿’驱动的。最后一个潜在原因是，近几十年来零食和外出就餐的增加——无论是发生频率还是它们对我们整体能量摄入的贡献。同样，有证据表明，外出消费的食物是调查中记录最差的类别之一。

So, what's the message conveyed? For statistics, we should invest in more accurate measurement options. For policy, we need to focus on options that make it easy for people to eat fewer calories. If people do not know how much they are eating, it can be really hard for them to stick to a diet. Also, we should be looking for new ways to ensure what people eat wouldn't have much impact on their waistlines. If this works, it won't matter if they can't remember what they ate yesterday.

那么，传达的信息是什么？对于统计数据，我们应该投资于更准确的测量方法。对于政策，我们需要专注于让人们更容易减少卡路里摄入的选择。如果人们不知道自己吃了多少，就很难坚持节食。此外，我们应该寻找新方法，确保人们吃的食物不会对他们的腰围产生太大影响。如果这有效，那么他们是否记得昨天吃了什么就无关紧要了。