A new type of drug is generating excitement among the rich and the beautiful.
有钱人和爱美人士正对一种新型药品感到兴奋。
Just a jab a week, and the weight falls off.
只需每周打一针，体重就会减轻。
Elon Musk swears by it; influencers sing its praises on TikTok; suddenly slimmer Hollywood starlets deny they have taken it.
埃隆·马斯克对其深信不疑;网红在TikTok上对它赞不绝口;突然变瘦的好莱坞小明星否认使用了它。
But the latest weight-loss drugs are no mere cosmetic enhancements.
但这款最新的减肥药不仅仅是美容产品。
Their biggest beneficiaries will be not celebrities in Los Angeles or Miami but billions of ordinary people around the world whose weight has made them unhealthy.
它们最大的受益者不是洛杉矶或迈阿密的明星，而是世界上数十亿因超重而变得不健康的普通人。
Treatments for weight loss have long ranged from the well-meaning and ineffective to the downright dodgy.
长期以来，减肥的治疗方法多种多样，从善意而低效、到充满风险的疗法，不一而足。
The new class of drugs, called glp-1 receptor agonists, seems actually to work.
这种新的被称为GLP-1受体激动剂的药品，似乎真的有效。
Semaglutide, developed by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical firm, has been shown in clinical trials to lead to weight loss of about 15%.
由丹麦诺和诺德制药公司开发的司美格鲁肽已在临床试验中被证明可使体重减轻约15%。
It is already being sold under the brand name Wegovy in America, Denmark and Norway and will soon be available in other countries; Ozempic,
它已在美国、丹麦和挪威以品牌名称Wegovy销售，并将很快在其他国家上市。Ozempic,
a lower-dose version, is a diabetes drug that is also being used "off label" for weight loss.
一种剂量较低的版本，也是一种糖尿病药物，也被以“标示外使用”的方式用于减重。
A rival glp-1 drug, made by Eli Lilly, an American firm, is due to come on sale later this year and is more effective still.
另一种由美国礼来公司生产的GLP-1竞争药物将于今年晚些时候上市，而且效果更好。
Analysts think the market for glp-1 drugs could reach $150 billion by 2031, not far off the market for cancer drugs today.
分析师们认为，到2031年，GLP-1药物的市场规模可能达到1500亿美元，与目前的抗癌药物市场相距不远。
Some think they could become as common as beta blockers or statins.
一些人认为它们可能像β受体阻滞剂或他汀类药物一样普及。
The drugs could not have arrived at a better time.
这些药物来得恰逢好时机。
In 2020 two-fifths of the world's population were overweight or obese.
2020年，全球约五分之二的人口超重或肥胖。
By 2035, says the World Obesity Federation, an ngo, that figure could swell to more than half, with a staggering 4bn people overweight or obese.
非政府组织世界肥胖联合会表示，到2035年，这一数字可能会扩大到半数以上，超重或肥胖人口将达到惊人的40亿。
People everywhere are getting fatter.
世界各地的人们都在变胖。
The populations putting on pounds the fastest are not in the rich West but in countries like Egypt, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
体重上升最快的人口并非来自富裕的西方国家，而是埃及，墨西哥和沙特阿拉伯等。
These trends are alarming because obesity causes a host of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure,
这些趋势令人担忧，因为肥胖会导致一系列健康问题，包括糖尿病、心脏病和高血压，
as well as dozens of illnesses such as stroke, gout and various cancers.
以及中风、痛风和各种癌症等数十种疾病。
Carrying extra weight made people more likely to die of covid-19.
超重会使人更有可能死于新冠肺炎。
And then there is the misery that comes from the stigma associated with being fat,
伴随肥胖而来的羞辱也令人悲哀，
which affects children in schools and playgrounds most cruelly of all.
学校和操场上的孩子们受伤害最深。
The consequences of obesity for the public purse and the wider economy are large.
肥胖对公共支出和整体经济的影响也很大。
According to modelling by academics the annual cost to the world economy of excess weight could reach $4 trillion by 2035 (2.9% of global gdp,
根据学者建立的模型显示，到2035年，超重给世界经济造成的年度成本可能达到4万亿美元(占全球GDP的2.9%，
up from 2.2% in 2019).
相较于2019年这个数字是2.2%)。
That includes both spending on health care and working time lost to illness and premature deaths tied to obesity.
这包含公共医疗支出和因肥胖相关疾病和过早死亡导致的工时损失。
The world's expanding waistlines are not a sign of the moral failure of the billions who are overweight, but the result of biology.
人们不断加宽的腰围并不意味着数十亿肥胖人口道德上的失败，而是生物学的结果。
The genes that were vital to helping humans survive winters and famine still help the body cling on to its weight today.
帮助人类熬过严冬和饥荒的基因仍在今天让身体牢牢保持体重。
The superabundance of hard-to-resist processed foods in recent decades has brought greater convenience and lower costs,
近几十年来，极其丰富又令人难以抗拒的加工食品，不但带来了更大的便利性和更低的成本，
but also triggered overeating just as lifestyles became more sedentary.
也催生了暴饮暴食，而生活习惯也倾向于久坐不动。
Once the fat is on, the body fights any attempt to diet away more than a little of its total weight.
一旦肥肉开始上涨，身体会抗拒任何减肥的企图。
Despite the $250 billion that consumers around the world spent on dieting and weight loss last year, the battle to get slim was largely being lost.
尽管去年全球消费者在减肥和节食方面的花费高达2500亿美元，但瘦身的战斗大多还是以失败收场。
重点词汇
Elon Musk 伊隆·马斯克
they have 他们有 ; 他们刚点了吃的 ; 他们在家吃早餐
Los Angeles 洛杉矶
ordinary people 平常人
around the world 全世界
weight loss 瘦身
has been 已经
