胖子眼中的世界：山更高路更遠(yuǎn)

Eating too much doesn’t just make your waistline expand, it also makes distances seem bigger.
暴飲暴食不僅會(huì)導(dǎo)致腰圍暴漲，還會(huì)讓你覺得山高路遠(yuǎn)。

Research shows that being overweight distorts perception.
研究表明，過度肥胖會(huì)影響感知功能。

As a result, fat people see distances as being further and slopes as being steeper.
因此，在胖子眼中，坡更陡，路更遠(yuǎn)。

This could put them off exercising and so leave them trapped in a vicious circle, where the fatter they get, the less activity they want to do.
也難怪胖子們對(duì)鍛煉敬而遠(yuǎn)之了。這就是個(gè)惡性循環(huán)，人越胖，便越不愿運(yùn)動(dòng)。

Researcher Jessica Witt said, of Colorado State University, said it is wrong to assume that we all perceive the world in the same way.
科羅拉多州立大學(xué)的研究員杰西卡·威特稱，不應(yīng)盲目認(rèn)為所有人感知到的世界都是相同的。

In one study, she asked 66 people of different shapes and sizes to estimate how far away a traffic cone was.
在一項(xiàng)研究中，她詢問身形體態(tài)各異的66人：他們距前方的路障有多遠(yuǎn)。

The cone was actually 25m away.
正確答案是25米。

Those who were a slim nine stone saw it as being just 15m from them, but those who weighed in at 23 stone judged it to be 30m away - or twice as far.
身形纖瘦、體重9英石（約合57公斤）的采訪對(duì)象表示，他們離路障15米遠(yuǎn)。而重達(dá)23英石（約合146公斤）的人則稱，他們離路障有30米遠(yuǎn)——是前者數(shù)據(jù)的足足兩倍。

Dr Witt’s research, which involved hundreds of people overall, also showed that the overweight perceive slopes as being steeper.
威特博士在研究中共采訪了數(shù)百人，她還得出另一個(gè)結(jié)論：同一個(gè)斜坡，在胖子眼中更加陡峭。

She believes these calculations are done unconsciously and are the body’s way of saving it from the extra effort needed to exercise when overweight.
她認(rèn)為，人腦會(huì)在無意識(shí)中判斷距離。由于胖子不愿運(yùn)動(dòng)，預(yù)估出較遠(yuǎn)的距離便成了絕佳“借口”。

Importantly, they have no control over this.
重點(diǎn)是，整個(gè)判斷過程未受主觀控制。

So, far from being lazy when they baulk at the thought of exercise, the overweight are simply being seeing the world differently.
因此，胖子們或許并不是因?yàn)閼卸辉高\(yùn)動(dòng)，而是因?yàn)槭澜缭谒麄冄壑械臉幼拥拇_不同于其他人。

And if they want to exercise away their flab they should start small.
如果他們想下定決心甩掉贅肉，則需要一步一步來。

She told the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference: ‘Someone trying to help a client with obesity become more active needs to understand the tasks they are asking their client to perform don’t look as easy to them.
威特在美國科學(xué)促進(jìn)會(huì)年會(huì)上發(fā)言道：“在指導(dǎo)肥胖人士鍛煉時(shí)，教練需心中有數(shù)，一些看起來簡單的動(dòng)作對(duì)胖子而言，并非易事。”

‘So the client is going to see these tasks as being daunting or even impossible.
“不少肥胖人士會(huì)認(rèn)為，那根本是可怕的‘不可能任務(wù)’。”

‘And they might be considered to be lazy but maybe lots of us wouldn’t walk a distance that looked twice as far.’
“不少人會(huì)覺得，胖子們就是懶惰成性。但我們不妨捫心自問，讓自己多走一個(gè)來回，你會(huì)愿意嗎？”

The researcher said that alternatively, the obese could try wearing telescopic glasses, to change their perception.
威特稱，肥胖人士不妨嘗試佩戴遠(yuǎn)視眼鏡，強(qiáng)化感知功能。

Dr Witt concluded: ‘We think that these perceptual biases can create a vicious cycle for people with obesity where they see the world as impossible to navigate.
她總結(jié)道：“我們認(rèn)為，感知缺陷會(huì)導(dǎo)致肥胖人士陷入惡性循環(huán)，仿佛萬事萬物都離他們千里之遠(yuǎn)。”

‘They will be less likely to choose to be active – and that’s going to continue this unhealthy lifestyle.’
“如此一來，肥胖人士就更不愿挪動(dòng)腳步了，生活也變得越來越不健康。”

Vocabulary
traffic cone：錐形交通路標(biāo)
flab：松弛的肌肉
telescopic：遠(yuǎn)視的

英文來源：每日郵報(bào)
譯者：garywguo
審校&編輯：杜娟