Schools Take Steps to Counter Youth Obesity

美国学校采取措施对付青少年肥胖症（1）

IN THIS ARTICLE: Many American school children are overweight, but now schools are introducing physical fitness programmes to counter the problem of teenage obesity .----Editor

本文简介：美国许多学龄儿童超重，但现在校方正纷纷开设体格保健课程以对付青少年肥胖症问题。－－编者

[1]As Amanda Bush, 11, pitches her whole body forward to block a grapefruit-sized red ball in a team handball game, her cheeks flush as pink as the rose polish on her small, bitten fingernails. She is exuberant as she flies, then tumbles, giggling breathlessly at her own successful effort.

[2] Two decades ago, this stocky, slightly overweight sixth-grader probably would have endured physical education on the sidelines, humiliated by the team-choosing procedures that left millions of young people forever soured by anything remotely connected to athletics.

[3] But today she participates eagerly in a physical education (PE) programme that emphasizes lifelong fitness and cooperation instead of endless callisthenics and cutthroat competition. Health and fitness advocates say programmes like this are critical at a time when American youths are fatter and less fit than ever before, the downside of inactivity and too much fast food.

[4] Even so, physical education has fought stepchild status, competing with art and music for dollars, space and time in crowded academic schedules--and the ghosts of PE past. "The mentality of 'just roll out the ball and supervise recess' still haunt efforts to enhance or even keep PE requirements at constant levels," says Shirley Holt-Hale, an elementary PE teacher from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We have been our own worst enemies.

[5] Holt-Hale chairs a national task force to write standards for PE teachers. Teacher attitudes have contributed, she says, to a drastic reduction in student participation in physical education. Thirty years ago, nine out of 10 elementary students ran daily PE classes. Today, less than a third do; and, while the vast majority of school districts are required to offer PE, nine out of 10 allow students to be excused or exempted for activities like cheer-leading and band practice, according to a 1994 study of school PE programmes.

[6] Meanwhile, the percentage of overweight children has doubled over the past 30 years, according to the National Centre for Health Statistics. Using even the most generous definitions, 4.7 million schoolage children are classified as over weight today--14 percent of children aged 6 to 11, and 12 percent of children aged 12 to 17.

[1]在一次手球团体赛中，当11岁的阿曼达·布什奋身前扑，去阻挡那葡萄柚般大小的红色小球时，她双颊涨红，好似被她啃过的小小指甲上的玫瑰色指甲油一般，粉红粉红的。当她纵身腾空然后又重重落地时，她兴高采烈，为自己成功的扑救而咯咯地笑得喘不过气来。

[2]要在20年前，这位身材矮壮又稍稍超重的六年级学生很可能是站在一边忍受体育课之苦，在挑选队员的过程中蒙羞----这曾使上百万年轻人因与体育运动关系甚远而变得永远乖戾。

[3]而今天，她积极参与了一种体育课程，这种体育课强调终生健康和相互合作，而不是没完没了的健美操和激烈的竞争。卫生和健康的倡导者们说，在美国青年比以往任何时候更肥胖和更不健康的时代——越发缺少活动和过多的快餐，这种体育课程显得至关重要。

[4]即使如此，体育一直在同低下的地位抗争，在排得满满的课程表中同美术、音乐争费用、场地和时间----并且还得同过去的体育“幽灵”斗争。“那种‘只是踢踢球和管管课间休息’的想法仍然在困扰为提高甚或仅在一定水平上保持体育标准所作的努力，”来自田纳西橡树岭的小学体育教师雪利.霍尔特-黑尔说。“我们成了我们自己最厉害的敌人。”

[5]霍尔特-黑尔负责一个为体育教师编写规范标准的国家特别工作组。她说，教师的态度已造成了学生参加体育活动的人数急剧下降。30年前，十分之九的小学生每天上体育课；今天，不到三分之一的学生参加，并且，根据1994年的一项关于学校体育课程的研究，尽管要求绝大多数学区开设体育课，而十个有九个允许学生可以因像啦啦队和乐队之类的活动而中途退出或不参加体育课。

.