橄榄娃娃的eco精读帖

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痛定思痛，还是决定从基础做起。每天的点滴积累，见证自己的进步。

红  生词

绿  思路分析

蓝 优美表达

The moderator（仲裁人; 调解人）'s opening remarks

Dec 8th 2009 | Mr Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran

Should governments play a stronger role in guiding food and nutrition choices? Our latest debate takes up this contentious question with the following proposition: This house believes that governments should play a stronger role in guiding food and nutrition choices.

On one side of this fence, public health advocates point to the twin nutrition epidemics of under- and over-nutrition. The world's poorest (the "bottom billion") often do not receive enough calories or micronutrients
微量营养素for proper health. Yet even more elsewhere eat too many calories (albeit many empty ones from junk food), fuelling a global epidemic of obesity肥胖; 肥大. The case for government intervention is bolstered, argues this camp, by the never-ending stream of scientific (and pseudo adj. 假的,冒充的-scientific) papers claiming that some particular food or additive is particularly lethal致命的or healthful.

Hang on a minute, respond those of a more liberal mindset. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Or to the glutton's right to live a life that is, if shorter, at least made a bit less nasty and brutish adj. 野兽般的, 野蛮的, 残忍的by the pleasures of tasty food? After all, such folk argue, even supposedly healthy foods and vitamins can do harm if eaten in excess or by people with the wrong genetic makeup.

In his opening statement in support of the proposition, Kelly Brownell takes one of the central arguments of the side opposite—the role of personal responsibility for one's health—head-on, arguing that environment plays a more powerful role in determining food choices than does personal irresponsibility. He wags a disapproving finger at America's soaring adj. 猛增的, 剧增的obesity rates, observing that immigrants tend to lose their thin ways and become obese adj. 极肥胖的when exposed to the country's overbearing culture of fast and unhealthy food. In building the case for government intervention, he invokes the notion drawn from the economic theory of "externalities外部经济效果"—harms resulting from the consumption of a product, say, that are not accounted for in the market price of that given product. He argues that the carbon footprint and other environmental externalities are not priced into the cost of much food; he also suggests that obesity results in health costs to society that are not accounted for in the market price of bacon double cheeseburgers.

The side opposite has not given an inch away in its opening remark. Melanie Leech suggests the very frame of the debate needs to be changed from one that weighs up权衡

the merits of a bigger role for government to one that sees the food industry as an enlightened and progressive adj. 前进的, 渐进的force in dealing with obesity and other nutrition issues. "We have shown real leadership", she insists, pointing to the British food industry's voluntary efforts at on-pack nutrition information and recipe食谱,秘诀,药方formulations. She acknowledges a legitimate role for government in food and nutrition—to "articulate the broad strategy"—but that proves faint微弱的, 无力的, 模糊的praise indeed, as she proceeds to explain why she thinks the government cannot possibly implement
实现, 执行, 使生效its desired strategies vigorously有力地, "without creating a justifiable consumer backlash强烈反对."

Which side do you agree with? Consider the arguments and cast your vote now, before you reach for that forbidden fruit.

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The proposer's opening remarks

Dec 8th 2009 | Kelly Brownell

Three major food issues face the world. Local, national, and global governing authorities专家, 权威,
must take bold and innovative action to avoid catastrophic health consequences, political upheaval大变动, and political and financial instability around the globe. Policies are needed to improve the world's diet.

Problem 1: Imagine the day when obesity rivals hunger as the world’s chief nutrition concern. That day has arrived. Two-thirds of American adults and one-third of children are now overweight or obese. More disturbing are alarming increases in every corner of the world在世界的每一个角落惊人的增长, particularly unlikely countries such as India and China. Approximately 1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. Human biology was simply not designed to cope with an environment that promotes a diet high in sugar, fat, calories and salt.

Problem 2: Another 1 billion people are hungry. Hungry people, if fortunate enough to survive, do everything less effectively, including working, learning and caring for their families, giving credence to the Byzantine proverb, "He who has bread has many problems. He who has no bread has only one problem." Hunger is caused in part部分地by the vagaries n. 奇特 of geography and recurring but unpredictable反复但却无法预测problems such as droughts and floods. But problems such as war, political oppression
压迫, genocide and global warming create great numbers of refugees, populations cut off切断 from food and vast numbers of people who cannot feed themselves. There is now enough food to feed the world, but political and economic barriers prevent its distribution.

Problem 3: Modern food production has grave environmental impact严重的环境影响. The carbon footprint of many foods (a fast-food meal can be used as an example) 可以这样举例子is considerable when one accounts for petroleum-based fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and hormones used to produce highly processed foods or to fatten farm animals. In addition, food is often transported long distances. Meat consumption illustrates the inefficient use of fossil fuels.举例子的句型，后文解释
Humans can eat grain directly or use the grain to feed animals, but 2kg, 4kg and 7kg of grain respectively are required to produce 1kg of chicken, pork or beef. Animals also produce gases and waste that degrade the environment. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, global greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture now exceed emissions from transportation.

Water is also a prime example of a political and environmental catastrophe in the making在形成的. According to the United Nations, 20% of the world's population experiences water scarcity缺乏; 不足today; by 2025 the figure will be 67%. When water resources run dry, starvation, migration, collapse of agricultural economies and political unrest are not far behind.用来表明严重结果 Could countries go to war over a shared river or depletion of aquifers含水层耗竭? Seventy percent of world water use is for agriculture, and again, some foods are worse than others. Four and a half times the water is required to produce 1kg of beef compared with 1kg of grain. To produce the food a typical individual now eats requires 5,000 litres (1,320 gallons) of water each day. 用数据来证明非常令人信服，还可根据现有证据推论可怕后果来论证

Ascribing responsibility归因
These problems are conceptualized conceptualize v. 使有概念
in two primary ways. 归因的句型One is to focus on individual misbehaviour as the cause and increased personal responsibility as the solution. The second emphasises the social, political and economic drivers of the problem and underscores强调public policies that make healthy behaviour a more likely default缺席. Nowhere is the divide as sharp as with obesity.，提出两种解释

The personal responsibility position sees overweight people as the problem and education as the solution. This stance这一立场is used frequently by the food industry and has undesirable consequences. Stigma耻辱and discrimination aimed at overweight individuals are rampant猖獗的, 猛烈的, 蔓生的. This stance also permits the food industry to direct attention away from corporate responsibility, captured nicely by Sean McBride, a spokesman for the National Soft Drink Association, saying that obesity is "about the couch and not the can." The outcome is flawed logic about causes, protection of harmful business practices such as marketing foods to children and inaction in the face of crisis.分析其中一种的荒谬，说明不是个人的原因

The personal irresponsibility approach is wrong, and is contradicted by a wealth of scientific evidence. Obesity rates around the world have been rising each year, suggesting a worldwide decline in responsibility. Precisely the opposite is true. Data show people behaving more responsibly in many areas of health. People moving from the United States to countries where people are less obese lose weight and people moving to the United States gain weight. Laboratory animals given access to a healthy diet but also foods high in sugar and fat will eat vast amounts of junk food, sometimes tripling

使成三倍their body weight. When the food environment changes, weight changes. Imploring
恳求;
individuals to become more responsible, penalising
penalize v. 处刑 them for not and counting on指望education to solve the problem has been a failed, 40-year experiment.进一步说明要求个人负责解决不了问题

Changing defaults to correct market failures
It is generally agreed that government intervention is justified when market failures cause sub-optimal production and consumption patterns. Externalities alone argue for constructive government intervention in the case of food. For example, the environmental costs of consuming a fast-food meal are not borne产生by the person making the purchase. In addition, people do not pay the real cost of producing that meal because subsidies cheapen the hamburger, the oil for frying potatoes and sweeteners for the beverage饮料. 分析为什么政府行为导致肥胖

Another example of externalities is the health-care costs of obesity. Obesity costs $147 billion per year in the United States today (9% of total health-care expenditures). Half comes from public funds through Medicare医疗保险and Medicaid
医疗补助. The figure is expected to be $344 billion (21% of total costs) by 2018. The cost of treating diabetes糖尿病; is expected to triple by 2034.肥胖带来的经济损失

Current conditions make unhealthy eating the default. Better foods cost more than more healthy choices. The least healthy foods are marketed relentlessly残酷地to children. Portions are massive. Opportunities to eat are omnipresent无所不在的. The government has a clear role in correcting these and other problems, first by changing current trade, agriculture, nutrition and marketing policies to align with以配合health goals, and second, by instituting new policies designed to create better defaults. Such actions are consistent with the government's interest in protecting citizens and creating long-term vitality活力and viability生存能力.提出现在政府干预的必要性以及方法

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The opposition's opening remarks

Dec 8th 2009 | Melanie Leech

The food and drink industry shares society's concerns about the health of the nation, particularly rising obesity levels, and it is committed to它致力于playing a positive role in responding to this vital debate.

In fact, the industry would argue that it has shown real leadership on this particular pillar核心(人物) of public policy for many years.工业对民众健康的作用

In the UK, the industry's commitment承诺is long-standing and on the record. The Food and Drink Federation, which represents UK manufacturers, first formalised willingness to be judged by its actions through the publication of its health and well-being manifesto宣言way back in 2004.政府很早就开始被公众监督

The federation's ambition is to make a real difference for consumers. And much progress to date has been made through voluntary action by industry, particularly in areas such as on-pack nutrition information and recipe食谱; 处方formulations规划, where the UK is now widely acknowledged to be leading the world. FDF members have also been developing workplace schemes方案,that go way beyond the traditional health and safety agenda to focus on the health and well-being of employees, again setting the pace in an area that has only very recently moved up the political agenda.政府在食品健康方面的作用

The federation believes that its voluntary work comes at a fascinating time as society enters a new era of public-health policymaking where an interventionist干涉主义者philosophy looks increasingly antediluvian极其古老的；陈旧的. 政府对自己十分自信

Today's priority is no longer tackling visible dangers to public health, such as dirty smokestacks'烟囱, through a combination of regulation, taxation and bans. Instead, issues such as obesity pose the fresh challenge of trying to encourage consumers to make different choices and purchasing decisions in their everyday lives, leading to long-term sustained持久的changes to their diets and lifestyles. This is a profound and complex task, and one that requires influence and persuasion说服力,, as well as direction. Little wonder it is sometimes hard for policymakers to accept that the government is just one of many players in the complex debates on diet and health and there are, in fact, very few regulatory levers that it can pull to effect change  without creating a justifiable consumer backlash强烈反对.现在政府的作用已经么有那么大了

All of which begs the question of whether the state should intervene干涉to guide people's food choices.

It is a simple question about a complex issue and the answer, inevitably不可避免地, is both yes and no.

It is right for the government to set and clearly articulate the broad strategy, within which all stakeholders work together to deliver achievable, measurable恰当的solutions that will make a lasting impact. And we should never forget that in the debates about obesity, in particular, there must always be two sides to any strategy: diet and exercise or balancing calories in and calories out. It is not just food choices. 政府可以起作用，但作用有限

But the government is often not best placed to deliver such strategies实现这样的战略. Its priority should be to develop a stable long-term policy and regulatory framework框架，结构（）；社会制度which harnesses利用(产生动力)rather than impedes妨碍,阻止both the wealth of knowledge the industry has about consumer needs and behaviour, and the power of industry and other players to invest and innovate to deliver the strategic objectives. 政府能做的有限

One of the biggest frustrations is that there is often a lack of clarity and consistency of approach to public health issues and a desire by the government to dictate命令how as well as what. As a result, there are detailed discussions about possible interventions that are not evidence-based and that will make little difference to the nation’s health.一个政府作为的不好后果

The obsession with so-called traffic light nutrition labelling is a case in point.举例

We have always argued that industry could not be expected to support any scheme方案that ignored calorie information, as traffic light labelling does, which makes it largely irrelevant as a tool for tackling the main public-health concern, which relates to the increase in obesity.
Labelling should not dictate food choices from on high从高处. Rather, it should be both objective, allowing consumers to interpret it in relation to their own requirements, and consistent with the concept of encouraging consumers to achieve a balanced diet in the context of their personal lifestyle.此项措施政府起了反作用That is why food retailers and manufacturers across Europe have supported the use of guideline daily amount (GDA) labelling as a way of providing nutritional information and helping consumers construct a healthy, balanced diet through developing their nutritional knowledge. We strongly believe that when consumers make informed choices for themselves, through a high level of food literacy, they are more likely to stick with坚持those good habits, rather than when someone tells them to make such choices.应该怎样做

Another way in which industry can make a contribution to improving public health is in finding new ways to lower the salt, fat or sugar content of our products to help consumers make healthier choices, so reformulation is right at the heart of all companies' innovation and development work. Sometimes reformulation is not enough, or is technically difficult to achieve. In that case, members are also looking at the development of alternatives to popular brands that are better for people, or a range of appropriate portion sizes, as other ways of helping consumers choose the products best suited to their consumption needs.其他方案

Here in the UK there are encouraging signs that the government recognises the need for collective effort and wants to work in genuine真的partnership with industry, and others, to encourage consumers to eat better and to exercise more.政府已经意识到合作的必要

The UK Department of Health's Change4Life social marketing programme, developed as part of an obesity strategy, demonstrates a real step-change in the quality of the discussions between the government, potential commercial partners and other stakeholders. The early signs are also encouraging in terms of how such an approach can connect with consumers and start motivating them (rather than telling them) to change their lifestyles for the better. 新方案已经初见成效

In a similar vein本着同样的精神, the industry has long believed it is vital to act as an exemplar in the workplace. Again our approach is all about supporting, encouraging and motivating employees to lead healthier lives, not telling them what to do. The food industry has shown real leadership in this arena over many years. But we are not alone in realising the importance of having a healthier workforce. That is why FDF is in partnership with a UK charity, Business in the Community, to support the Business Action on Health campaign, which aims to encourage UK companies to commit to making workplace well-being a boardroom issue.企业的领袖作用，但其他各方的参与式必要的

Through ongoing initiatives from industry and many other players, much is being done to help individuals achieve healthier, more balanced lifestyles.

All parties need to work together, working in the same direction in true collaboration and partnership, if we are to educate individuals to be more aware of the impact of the choices they make both in terms of diet and exercise, for them, their families and, ultimately, society.

Successful approaches must be based on empowering healthier choices, rather than trying to direct and impose them on individuals.

Nanny祖母must learn how to play a different role for the 21st century.强调各方参与的必要性

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Finance

In the wake of a crisis

Nov 13th 2009
From The World in 2010 print edition
By Philip Coggan

The credit crunch ripples on信贷紧缩的余波

After the panic, the relief. Some of the building blocks of the prolonged market长期市场rally召集；n 集会 that began in March 2009 will still be around in 2010. First, central banks, nervous about raising rates until they are sure the financial system has recovered from the trauma精神创伤；外伤of the credit crunch, will keep interest rates利率low. Second, the scale of the recession（经济）不景气means that it will be some time before inflationary pressures can emerge. And, third, with interest rates near zero, investors are bound to be tempted吸引to move money into risky assets风险资产.

Corporate profits around the world took a big hit during 2007 and 2008, particularly in the financial sector财政部门. There should accordingly be scope

范围, 广度, 机会for profits to rebound弹回in 2010—by as much as 28.3%, according to forecasts compiled编辑by Société Générale.

At the same time, the credit crunch has not disappeared. The number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “at risk” list has been increasing, not falling. In many countries commercial property is enduring a rise in vacancies空缺and defaults缺席, in a slow-motion replay of the housing crash. Private-equity私人资本运营groups to roll over debts they incurred in the boom of 2006 and early 2007.

Furthermore, investors’ well-known tendency to discount the future, so helpful to the market in 2009, could be a pain to it in 2010. Central banks have introduced an extraordinary flurry慌张of measures to deal with the credit crunch, including guarantees of bank debt and the outright完全的purchase of assets. At some point, they will have to unwind完全的those strategies. Even if that unwinding is delayed until 2011, investors may spend the second half of 2010 speculating about it.

Government bond markets债券市场could provide the trickiest test. Budget deficits预算赤字have soared高扬during the crisis, and are expected to hit more than 10% of GDP in both Britain and America. But bond yields债券收益率have not soared. In part, this was because inflation stayed low and investors were risk-averse不愿承担风险in the alarm of the recession. But central banks also helped by buying bonds. If the recovery reaches full speed, central banks will stop purchasing bonds, and may want to sell those they already own.

Government bond markets could provide the trickiest test

If bond yields are not to soar as a result, governments will need plausible似乎合理的plans to cut their deficits in the medium term. But those plans may be difficult to produce, given that there will be a general election选举in Britain and mid-term elections in America. And there is also a double risk. A move to curb抑制deficits by raising taxes or cutting spending削减开支could stifle the recovery, as the Japanese did by raising the consumption tax in 1997. But if governments do not act, then markets may tighten policy for them, by pushing yields up sharply.

Currency markets may also be affected. Developed countries are hardly likely to default on their bonds. But creditors债权人are still at risk if they are repaid in a devalued currency. Countries that appear to have lost control of their finances could see their exchange rates汇率suffer.

Indeed, although government action has stabilised the global economy, a whole raft of questions remains unanswered. Has the long period of credit expansion—dubbed the “debt supercycle” by Martin Barnes of Bank Credit Analyst—come to an end? If so, will the result be a long period of sluggish growth缓慢增长? Can China and India carry the global economy on their own? Will another surge in oil prices dampen泼凉水recovery, as it has so many times before? Will a more regulated economy, particularly in the financial sector, mean that profits form a lower proportion of GDP?

It may well be that medium-term economic growth will be slower as a result of the crisis. Some capacity has been destroyed and, in developed countries, the baby-boomers are now starting to retire, which will limit the potential size of the labour force劳动力. Japan has spent two uncomfortable decades adjusting to an era of slower growth and greying population老化的人口.

All these issues can be summed up in one big dilemma. If the economy does not enjoy a typically vigorous rebound, then the equity market must come under threat. And if the economy does manage that upturn, then surely government bond prices will fall sharply.

This points to a potentially turbulent难控制的year. In the past, huge market setbacks have been followed, not by periods of calm, but by long stretches of volatility长段的波动. The Great Depression included some of the best years ever for Wall Street, with shares rising by over 50% in 1933 and nearly 40% in 1935. But even though shares reached their bottom in 1932, investors still had to live through a flat year in 1934 and a 38% decline in share prices in 1937. In Britain, the bumper year of 1975, when equities more than doubled, was followed by a fall in 1976.

When a stone falls into a pond, the ripples persist for a while. The credit crunch was a whopping巨大的great boulder.

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      An evolutionary biologist on religion

Spirit level

Dec 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Why the human race has needed religion to survive

Alamy

The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why it Endures. By Nicholas Wade. Penguin Press; 310 pages; $25.95. Buy from Amazon.com

WHEREVER their investigations lead, all analysts of religion begin somewhere. And in the final lines of his densely but skilfully packed account of faith from the viewpoint of evolutionary biology, Nicholas Wade recalls the place where he first felt sanctity

圣洁: Eton College chapel.

The “beauty of holiness” in a British private school is a far cry from是一大段距离the sort of religion that later came to interest him as a science journalist at Nature magazine and then the New York Times. To examine the roots of religion, he says, it is important to look at human beginnings. The customs of hunter-gatherer peoples who survived into modern times give an idea of religion’s first forms: the ecstasy狂喜 of dusk-to-dawn tribal dances, for example.

Charles Darwin, whose idea of the sacred宗教的also came from an English private school, witnessed religion at its most primordial最初的when he went to Australia in 1836. He found it horrifying: “nearly naked figures, viewed by the light of blazing fires, all moving in hideous丑恶的harmony…”

Whatever Darwin’s personal sensibilities, Mr Wade is convinced that a Darwinian approach offers the key to understanding religion. In other words, he sides with those who think man’s propensity for religion has some adaptive

适合的; 适应的function. According to this view, faith would not have persisted over thousands of generations if it had not helped the human race to survive. Among evolutionary biologists, this idea is contested. Critics of religion, like Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker, suggest that faith is a useless (or worse) by-product of other human characteristics.

And that controversy leads to another one. Does Darwinian selection take place at the level only of individuals, or of groups as well? As Mr Wade makes clear, the notion of religion as an “adaptive” phenomenon makes better sense if one accepts the idea of group selection. Groups which practised religion effectively and enjoyed its benefits were likely to prevail over胜过

those which lacked these advantages.

Of course, the picture is muddied by the vast changes巨大变化 that religion went through in the journey from tribal dancing to Anglican hymns. The advent of settled, agricultural societies, at least 10,000 years ago, led to a new division of labour, in which priestly僧的castes社会团体tried to monopolise垄断access to the divine

牧师, and the authorities sought to企图control sacred ecstasy.

Still, the modifications that religion has undergone should not, in Mr Wade’s view, distract from the study of faith’s basic functions. In what way, then, does religion enhance a group’s survival? Above all, by promoting moral rules and cementing cohesion, in a way that makes people ready to sacrifice themselves for the group and to deal ruthlessly with outsiders. These arguments are well made. Mr Wade has a clear mind and limpid prose style which guides the reader almost effortlessly through 200 years of intellectual history. Perhaps, though, he oversimplifies the link between morality, in the sense of obedience服从to rules, and group solidarity based on common participation in ecstatic rites

仪式.

All religion is concerned in varying degrees在不同程度上with metaphysical ideas, moral norms and mystical experience. But in the great religions, the moral and the mystical have often been in tension. The more a religion stresses ecstasy, the less it seems hidebound迂腐的by rules—especially rules of public behaviour, as opposed to purely religious norms标准. And religious movements (from the “Deuteronomists” of ancient Israel to the English Puritans清教徒) that emphasise moral norms tend to eschew the ecstatic.

Max Weber, one of the fathers of religious sociology, contrasted the transcendental先验的feelings enjoyed by Catholic mass-goers with the Protestant新教obsession困扰with behaviour. In Imperial皇家Russia, Peter the Great tried to pull the Russian Orthodox正统的
church from the former extreme to the latter: to curb its love of rite and mystery and make it more of a moral agency like the Lutheran churches of northern Europe. He failed. Russians liked things mystical, and they didn’t like being told what to do.

As well as giving an elegant summary of modern thinking about religion, Mr Wade also offers a brief, provocative history of monotheism一神论. He endorses the radical极端的view that the story of the Jews’ flight from Egypt is myth神话, rather than history. He sympathises with daring ideas about Islam伊斯兰教’s beginnings: so daring that many of its proponents work under false names. In their view, Islam is more likely to have emerged形成from dissident持不同政见者Christian sects派别in the Levant地中海东部及沿岸诸国than to have “burst out of Arabia”, as the Muslim version of sacred history teaches.

At times, the book stumbles失策. In describing the interplay between Hellenic and Hebrew culture at the dawning of Christianity

基督教, Mr Wade makes exaggerated claims. He says there is no basis for a mother-and-child cult狂热崇拜in the religion of Israel. In fact there are many references in the Hebrew scriptures圣经to the Messiah救世主and his mother; the Dead Sea Scrolls have made this even clearer. And his micro-history of Christian theology神学is inaccurate in places.

These objections aside, this is a masterly巧妙的book. It lays the basis for a rich dialogue between biology, social science and religious history. It also helps explain a quest

寻找for collective ecstasy that can take myriad forms采取各种各样的形式. Perhaps his brief autobiographical reference to Eton should have noted the bonding effect not only of chapel, but also of songs like “Jolly Boating Weather”.