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摘要：
美国皮尤研究中心4月11日公布的一份最新调查报告显示，有多达90％的美国人认为他们的大部分同胞都超重，但只有40％的人承认自己胖。
Ninety percent of Americans know that most of their compatriots are overweight, but just 40 percent believe themselves to be too fat, according to a study published on Tuesday.
美国皮尤研究中心4月11日公布的一份最新调查报告显示，有多达90％的美国人认为他们的大部分同胞都超重，但只有40％的人承认自己胖。
“除了我，别人都很胖”
据路透社4月11日报道， 美国皮尤研究中心最近对2250名美国成年人进行了一项电话调查。调查结果显示，很多美国人都过高估计了自己的身高，同时低估了自己的体重，即便他们确实超重了，他们也并不觉得自己胖。
此前，美国政府的统计数字显示，有超过60％的美国人超重，有一半美国人处于肥胖状态，这意味着众多美国人都处在一种健康隐患之中。
“个人习惯导致体形超重”
调查报告中写道：“调查发现，大多数美国人，其中包括那些认为自己超重的人，都认为个人行为习惯而非遗传或其他因素是造成超重的最主要原因。”
报告说，大多数被调查者都指出，缺乏足够的体育锻炼是其中最主要的原因，其次是缺乏控制饮食的意志力。另外，大约还有一半的被调查者还表示，在餐馆和食品店中出售的食物种类也是一个非常重要的因素。还有大约三分之一的人认为基因及遗传因素从中起作用。
调查显示，并非所有被调查者都对自己的体形感觉良好，至少有些人为了控制体重开始采取了节食的做法。“有四分之一的被调查者表示他们目前正在节食，还有大约一半的人（52％）表示他们曾经采取过节食这种做法。在15年前的一项相关调查中，表示有过节食做法的成年人的比率要稍高一些，为57％。”
美国男人对身材更“乐观”
研究人员会向这些参与调查的人询问其身高和体重，然后计算出他们的身体质量指数，以衡量其是否超重或肥胖。按照这些女性被调查者的表述，她们的平均体重为150磅，平均身高为5英尺5英寸，这让她们正处于超重的边缘。但国家统计数字显示，美国妇女实际上的平均体重为155磅，平均身高为5英尺4英寸，这样算出的身体质量指数则不折不扣地属于超重范围。
对于美国成年男性来说，他们对自己身高的评价则要比女性更加“乐观”一些——他们对自己身高的评价整整多出了2英寸。调查中，美国男人自我报告的平均身高为5英尺11英寸，而政府部门的调查则显示为5英尺9英寸。
Everyone‘s Fat But Me, Americans Say in Poll
Ninety percent of Americans know that most of their compatriots are overweight, but just 40 percent believe themselves to be too fat, according to a study published on Tuesday.
Government statistics show that more that 60 percent of the U.S. population is overweight, and half is obese, meaning they are at serious risk of health effects from their weight.
But the Pew Research Center telephone survey of more than 2,000 adults found that many people overestimate how tall they are and underestimate how much they weigh -- and thus do not rate themselves are overweight, even when they are.
"The survey finds that most Americans, including those who say they are overweight, agree that personal behavior -- rather than genetic disposition or marketing by food companies -- is the main reason people are overweight," Pew says in the report, published on the Internet at http://pewresearch.org/assets/social/pdf/Obesity.pdf.
"In particular, the public says that a failure to get enough exercise is the most important reason, followed by a lack of willpower about what to eat. About half the public also says that the kinds of foods marketed at restaurants and grocery stores are a very important cause, and roughly a third say the same about the effect of genetics and heredity."
And at least some people appear to have given up on dieting to control their weight, the survey found.
"One in four respondents in our survey say they are currently dieting, and roughly half (52 percent) say they have dieted at some point in their lives. In a poll taken 15 years ago, the percentage of adults who reported having ever dieted was slightly higher -- 57 percent," the report reads.
The adults polled were asked how tall they are and how much they weigh. Doctors and researchers around the world use a ration of height to weight called body mass index to calculate if someone is obese or overweight.
The women reported they weighed a median of 150 pounds and had a median height of 5 feet five inches, which would put them just barely on the borderline of being overweight.
But national statistics indicate that U.S. women in fact have a median weight of 155 pounds and are only 5 feet 4 inches tall, which puts them squarely into the overweight column.
"As for men, well, they give themselves even more phantom height than women do -- two extra inches (five extra cm)," the report reads. "The self-reported median height of men in the Pew survey is 5 feet 11 inches, compared with 5 feet 9 inches in the government survey."
Those surveyed agreed that maintaining a healthy weight is important.
"Virtually everyone agrees that a person‘s weight has an impact on the chances for a long and healthy life," the report reads.
"More than nine-in-ten (91 percent) believe that weight has an impact on attractiveness, either a little (35 percent) or a lot (56 percent)."
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