原文標題：
The economics of thinness
THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
瘦身經(jīng)濟學
世界的重量
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It is economically rational?for ambitious women to try as hard as possible to be thin
從經(jīng)濟上講，成功女性會盡最大努力保持苗條的身材

[Paragraph 11]
The duchess’s decree
公爵夫人的旨意
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In other words, rich women are much thinner than poor women but rich men are about as fat as poor men.
換句話說，成功女性要比經(jīng)濟困頓的女性更苗條，但貧富程度與體重的關(guān)系并不適用于男性。
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Wallis Simpson, whose marriage to King Edward VIII prompted his abdication, is supposed to have said that a woman “can never be too rich or too thin”.
沃利斯·辛普森與愛德華八世的婚姻促使愛德華八世退位，據(jù)說她曾說過，女人“永遠不會太富有或太苗條”。?
Apparently?she must be both or neither.
顯然，她一定要兩者兼得或兩者皆棄。
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[Paragraph 12]
That ?should give pause to anyone who thinks that poverty can explain why ?people are overweight or obese, or that being rich helps people to ?maintain a lower weight.
這也就影響了人們對貧富與體重之間關(guān)系的看法：貧窮是體重超重的元兇，而富有能讓人維持苗條的身材。
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You must then explain why those dynamics?seem only to affect women.
那又為什么這些關(guān)聯(lián)似乎只影響到女性。
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Perhaps the relationship would look the same for both sexes, but the occupations?they do that require or might result in slimness differ.

也許這些關(guān)聯(lián)性對于男女都一樣適應(yīng)，但職業(yè)不同導致對身材的要求標準不同。

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Men disproportionately?do lower-paid physically active jobs, like construction (although nurses spend as much time walking or standing as builders, and are disproportionately women).

從事低薪體力勞動（比如建筑行業(yè)）的男性占比更高。雖然護士花在走路或站立上的時間和建筑工人一樣多，但護士大部分都是女性。

Some rich women, such as actresses, might be explicitly required to be thin to play certain roles.
一些成功女性，比如女演員，可能會被明確要求身材苗條才能出演某些角色。
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[Paragraph 13]
Still, it is hard to believe that either dynamic explains the entire difference.
但無論是哪種原因都不足以解釋這種差異。
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Data from the American Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) suggest that just 3.5% of civilian workers do intensely?physical jobs (and some of those categories, like exercise instruction and dancing, employ plenty of women).
美國勞工統(tǒng)計局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，只有3.5%的人口從事高強度的體力勞動（而這些體力勞動中，如運動指導和舞蹈，雇員多為女性）。
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Only 0.1% of workers do jobs such as acting.
但只有0.1%的工人從事表演等工作。
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That ?there is a gender gap in the relationship between income and weight, ?which cannot easily be explained by other differences between men and ?women, indicates?another explanation: perhaps being thin helps women ?become rich.
收入和體重之間的關(guān)系存在性別差距，這是男女之間的其他差異解釋不了的。于是有了另一種說法：也許身材苗條有助于女性變富。
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[Paragraph 14]
Myriad ?studies which find that overweight or obese women are paid less than ?their thinner peers while there is little difference in wages between ?obese men and men in the medically defined “normal” range.
大量研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，體重超重或肥胖的女性收入低于更瘦的同齡女性；而肥胖男性和正常體重的男性之間收入差距很小。?
There are exceptions: one Swedish study found that obese men were paid less, but obese women were not.
也有例外：瑞典的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，體重超重的男性的工資較低，但體重超重的女性則不然。
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But research in America, Britain, Canada and Denmark suggests that overweight women do have lower salaries.
但美國、英國、加拿大和丹麥的研究表明，超重女性的工資確實更低。
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The penalty for an obese woman is significant, costing her about 10% of her income.

超重女性受到的很大不利影響，體現(xiàn)在她們比正常女性的收入少10%。

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[Paragraph 15]
The stigma against overweight people has grown with their number

隨著超重的人越來越多，以胖為恥的現(xiàn)象也越來越普遍

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This ?might understate reality because it is hard to measure the wage gap for ?someone who was not offered employment because of their size.
這可能低估了現(xiàn)實情況，因為很難衡量那些因為體型原因而沒有工作的人的工資差距（失業(yè)者沒有工資數(shù)據(jù)）。?
The ?upper estimates of the wage premium?for a women being thin are so ?significant that she might find it almost as valuable to lose weight as ?she would to gain?additional education.
據(jù)估計，體型纖細女性的工資溢價非常顯著。這樣也容易使她們認為維持體重和受高等教育一樣重要。
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The ?wage premium for getting a master’s degree is around 18%, only 1.8 ?times the premium a fat women could, in theory, earn by losing around ?65lbs—roughly the amount that a moderately?obese women of average height ?would have to lose to be in the medically defined “normal” range.
碩士學位的工資溢價約為18%，理論上，這也僅是一個體重超標女性減掉65磅后工資溢價的1.8倍。中等身高的中等肥胖女性減掉65磅就可以達到醫(yī)學定義的“正?！狈秶捏w重。?
The ?penalty appears to be particularly significant for white women—evidence ?for black or Hispanic women is weaker (though could be explained in ?part the fact that studies often use BMI which can misclassify these ?women).
這種不利影響對白人女性中十分明顯--對黑人女性和西班牙裔女性影響相對較弱（也可能因為研究白人女性經(jīng)常使用身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)，而身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)可能錯誤地區(qū)分了這些女性）。
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[Paragraph 16]
Discrimination?against fat women has not diminished?as their numbers have risen.
超重女性雖不斷普遍化，但她們受到的歧視并未減少。
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“We ?might expect a declining penalty due to the increase in the percentage ?of overweight individuals,” wrote David Lempert, an economist, in a ?working paper for the BLS, because it has become more normal to be ?overweight.
經(jīng)濟學家大衛(wèi)·倫伯特在勞工統(tǒng)計局的一份工作論文中寫道：“隨著超重人口比例的增加，我們預(yù)計體重對女性的影響將會減少，因為超重日趨正?；?。
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Instead the?stigma?against overweight people has grown with their number; it almost doubled between 1980 and 2000.
相反，隨著超重的人越來越多，以胖為恥的現(xiàn)象也越來越普遍；這種現(xiàn)象在1980年和2000年之間幾乎翻了一番。?
He suggests this may be because “the increasing rarity of thinness has led to its rising premium.”
他認為這可能是因 "身材纖細者日益稀缺，其溢價上升"。
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[Paragraph 17]
The conclusion of the paper layers one infuriating?sentence on top of another.

該論文的結(jié)論一個句子接一個句子令人憤怒。

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As larger women age, he writes, they incur the effects of years of cumulative?wage discrimination.
他寫道，隨著女性年齡的增長，超重女性會受到多年累積工資歧視的影響。?
Controlling for other factors, their starting wages are lower.
即使在不受其他因素的影響下，她們的起起薪更低。
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Throughout their working careers, these women receive fewer raises and promotions.
在整個工作生涯中，超重女性得到的加薪和晉升也更少。
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His ?paper shows “that an obese 43-year-old woman received a larger wage ?penalty in 2004 than she received at 20 in 1981,” and also that “an ?obese 20-year-old woman receives a larger wage penalty today than she would have in 1981 at age 20.”
論文顯示，"一位43歲的超重女性在2004年的工資，受體重的不利影響比她在1981年20歲時都大，"同時，"一位20歲的超重女性當今的工資，受體重的不利影響比她在1981年20歲時更大。"?
[Paragraph 18]
This might reflect, in part, the higher costs that obese employees might impose on their employers, especially in America.
這可能也是因為超重雇員的用工成本更高，美國尤是如此。
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Health-insurance premiums in America are often paid by employers, and very overweight or obese people tend to incur higher costs, partly because they suffer more health problems as they age.
美國的健康保險費通常由雇主支付，而超重者的保費更高。部分是因為隨著年齡的增長，他們可能出現(xiàn)的健康問題更多。?
Still, it is unclear why these costs would be passed on only to women.
但目前這些費用只轉(zhuǎn)嫁給女性的原因尚不明確。
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And studies in Canada and Europe (where government-funded health care is the norm) find similar sized wage penalties for women.
加拿大和歐洲（他們的醫(yī)療保健由政府出資）的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，女性受到的工資不利影響程度相似。?
[Paragraph 19]
Meanwhile, ?the idea that the penalty for being obese might be rising, not falling, ?is backed up by the data from the “implicit?bias” test run by Harvard ?University.
與此同時，哈佛大學進行的 "隱性偏見 "測試的數(shù)據(jù)也證實了這一觀點：超重者受到的不利影響正在加大而不是下降。?
It asks test-takers to associate people of different races, sex, sexual orientation or weight with words like good or bad.
測試要求測試者將不同種族、性別、性取向或體重的人與好或壞這樣的詞聯(lián)系起來。
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And ?in general the findings are trending in a positive ?direction—discrimination on the basis of race and sex has fallen over ?the last decade.Negative associations of gay people have fallen by a third.
總的來說，測試結(jié)果正朝著積極的方向發(fā)展：基于種族和性別的歧視在過去十年中有所下降；人們對同性戀的負面聯(lián)想也下降了三分之一。
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Weight is the exception—attitudes towards heavy individuals have become substantially?more negative.
但體重是個例外--人們對胖人的態(tài)度變得更加負面。?
[Paragraph 20]
In this context the arguments often made for why women and girls feel such pressure to be thin and suffer from low self-esteem?when they are not appear woefully incomplete.
為什么女性會有身材壓力，為什么她們不完美時會出現(xiàn)低自尊？人們經(jīng)常會就這個話題進行爭論。?
Perhaps women ?do feel bad about themselves because they compare themselves to the ?gazelles that populate the covers of magazines and are duped into ?thinking those photos are unedited and attainable.

可能是因為女性常將自己與雜志封面上的模特作比較，以為雜志照片未被修過，自己能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)。這也導致女性自我感覺很糟糕。

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Maybe their parents or a doctor commented on their weight when they were young.
也許是因為她們年輕時曾受過父母或醫(yī)生體重相關(guān)的評價。?
But ?in addition to those pressures is the powerful incentive?of the market: ?women accurately perceive that failing to lose weight or be thin will ?literally cost them.
但是，除了這些壓力之外，還有市場的強大激勵作用：女性準確地認識到，如果不能保持身材身材，她們將會損失慘重。?

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量954/2755左右）
原文出自：2022年12月24日《The Economist》Christmas specials版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Maree本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
華里絲·辛普森Wallis Simpson（1896年6月19日—1986年4月24日），本名Bessie ?Wallis ?Warfield，生于美國，溫莎公爵夫人。兩度結(jié)婚，辛普森為前夫的姓，前夫為恩尼斯特·辛普森。后與英國國王愛德華八世交往，起初是愛德華八世的情婦，后因愛德華八世欲娶她為妻，此舉違反英國王位與英國國教繼承規(guī)定，愛德華遂退位，將王位禪讓予其弟喬治六世。后改稱溫莎公爵，華里絲也獲得“溫莎公爵夫人”的頭銜。
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愛德華八世King Edward VIII（1894年6月23日—1972年5月28日），自1936年1月20日其父喬治五世去世到1936年12月11日退位，為英國和英聯(lián)邦各自治領(lǐng)國王，印度皇帝，共在位326天。溫莎王朝的第二位國王。在愛德華八世作為國王的數(shù)月之中，他的婚姻問題引發(fā)英國的憲政危機——政府、自治領(lǐng)政府、人民和教會均反對他迎娶辛普森夫人。愛德華八世選擇退位，成為英國和英聯(lián)邦歷史上唯一自愿退位的國王。后世在提及“不愛江山愛美人”這一句時，往往會聯(lián)想到溫莎公爵的愛情故事。
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珍妮弗在《偏見》書中寫道：“隱性偏見，是我們大腦結(jié)構(gòu)和社會差異的產(chǎn)物。”比如，我們會指著網(wǎng)上的犯罪嫌疑人照片說，他長得那么兇，一看就是殺人犯。長相與殺人行為，有必然的聯(lián)系嗎？那一刻，偏見就隱藏在我們大腦的某處，我們不僅不知錯，還理直氣壯地認為錯即是對。偏見是什么呢？偏見就是“刻板印象”。這個概念在柏拉圖時代就有，沒想到，到了21世紀依然流行?？贪逵∠髲哪睦飦恚靠贪逵∠髞碜杂诟改傅募彝ソ逃?，還有周圍環(huán)境的影響，即是“偏見傳播現(xiàn)象”。
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【重點句子】（3 個）
In other words, rich women are much thinner than poor women but rich men are about as fat as poor men.
換句話說，成功女性要比經(jīng)濟困頓的女性更苗條，但貧富程度與體重的關(guān)系并不適用于男性。
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The stigma against overweight people has grown with their number
隨著超重的人越來越多，以胖為恥的現(xiàn)象也越來越普遍
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But ?in addition to those pressures is the powerful incentive of the market: ?women accurately perceive that failing to lose weight or be thin will ?literally cost them.
但是，除了這些壓力之外，還有市場的強大激勵作用：女性準確地認識到，如果不能保持身材，她們將會損失慘重。