[6 Minute English] Could turning the heat down reduce your weight? 溫度下降可以幫助減肥嗎?－看BBC學英文

這個禮拜要帶大家一起討論的重點，是我們永遠都談不膩的話題，就是『減肥』啦!

對於很多人來說，肥胖真的是跟我們纏鬥一生的敵人，而且，肥胖不只讓我們體型變大，還會對我們的身體健康造成負荷。 今天，Rob and Finn要提出一個減肥的方式，就是讓體內溫度下降，藉此，讓我們身體自然的燃燒更多熱量，最終達到減肥的效果。這真的有用嗎? 我並不覺得，如果是這樣，那住在寒帶國家的人都就都是瘦子了。小編覺得，如果真要瘦，除了飲食要控制之外，還必須要配合適當的運動，而且要持續不斷，不能怠惰，持之以恆，才可以永遠維持完美的好身材喔~

Read and listen to the story online

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/07/140731_6min_slimming.shtml

Could your central heating be making you fat? Researchers in the Netherlands had some brave volunteers spend six hours every day for ten days indoors in temperatures of just 15 to 16 degrees Celsius whilst wearing t-shirts and shorts. They not only got used to the cold, but their metabolism sped up, leading them to use up more energy.

Central heating 這裡的central是指你身體 “中心” ，central heating就是指你的體溫

Brave adj. 勇敢的

Celsius n. 攝氏; 另外一個常聽到的溫度單位就是Fahrenheit，華氏。這個字英文念起來很像 “飛輪海”。在亞洲很多地方的溫度單位都是Celsius，不過在北美地區，大家都是習慣用Fahrenheit喔~

Got used to 這個片語之前的文章中友分享過，就是 “習慣於..某人事物”，或是我們中文常常說，我對甚麼東西已經麻木了或是免疫了，都可以說 “I got used to it.”

Metabolism n. 身體的新陳代謝，當我們在運動的時候，我們的metabolism通常都會加快，讓我們的熱量燃燒更快。

Lead someone/something to 導致某人事物變成…

Rob and Finn discuss if turning the thermostat down could be the secret to losing weight and they'll explain some diet-related vocabulary.

Thermostat 溫度調節器，當我們去住飯店的時候，都會有一個控制面板讓我們調室內冷熱，這個就是thermostat

This week's question:

What is the recommended number of calories an average man needs each day to maintain a healthy weight? Is it:

a) 2,000 calories

b) 2,500 calories

c) 3,000 calories

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

這個禮拜的主要問題就是，一個人一天之內需要攝取多少卡路里才有辦法維持健康的體重? 大家一起猜猜看吧~小編我猜應該是2000 calories

Rob: … and this is 6 Minute English. In today's programme we're talking about slimming – in other words, doing something to lose weight and get thinner. Not a problem for you Finn?

Slim v. 減肥或是變瘦，這個字也可以當作adj.使用

Lose weight 字面上的意思就是 “失去體重”，也就是 “體重下降”

Thin adj. 這也是瘦的意思，跟slim可以算是同義字

Finn: Well, I do have a small tyre of fat that is growing around my middle – so even I don't have a perfect body!

Tyre n. 輪胎; 不過這裡是指我們在講一個人胖的時候，肚子有一圈肥肉或是游泳圈，就像是一個人把輪胎穿在肚子上一樣。

Middle n. 這裡的middle就是指一個人的中央位置，也就是肚子

Rob: It doesn't show and maybe you are what we call TOFI – that's thin on the outside and fat on the inside. But for people who perceive – or think they may be fat on the outside, there could be some good news.

TOFI 就是thin-outside-fat-inside的縮寫，表面上看起來很瘦，不過其實身體內囤積了很多的脂肪

Perceive v. 察覺或是認為

Finn: And turning the central heating down could make you lose the pounds! This is the claim from Dr Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, who is a biologist at Maastricht University Medical Centre.

Pounds n. 這是體重的單位，磅。這裡是指減掉體重

Claim n. 宣稱，在日常生活中，可以用在 “申請保險理賠” = insurance claim

Finn: But these guinea pigs – a name for people who are used in experiments - became accustomed to – or used - the cold, and their metabolism worked faster.

Guinea pigs n. 天竺鼠; 這裡並不是在指真正的天竺鼠，而是在說那些被用請來做實驗的人，就像是我們實驗中常用的 “白老鼠” 一樣。在國外guinea pigs很常被拿來當實驗的對象，所以漸漸地，人們就統稱 “被實驗品” 為guinea pigs

Finn: So they burnt off the calories and that means they lost weight. It sounds like a simple and easy diet. I like the sound of a diet that doesn't involve too much effort!

Burn off 燃燒掉; 我們在燃燒脂肪就是burn off fat。

Diet n. 減肥或是控制體重飲食的狀態。有時候你會聽到人說 “I am on diet.” 就表示他正在減肥中。另外我們台灣所謂的 “健怡可樂” 英文就叫做 Diet Coke，意思就是 “熱量較低的可樂”

Rob: It doesn't mean you can just be a couch potato – you still need to do some exercise. But living in a cooler temperature could help to some extent and this is because of 'brown fat'.

Couch potato 這是一個俚語，意思就是指一個人很懶惰，整天只會癱在沙發上動也不動

Finn: It's interesting stuff – and brown fat actually increases after living in cold conditions. It's particularly found in animals that hibernate – the ones that sleep during the winter.

Brown fat 是一種棕色脂肪，當他被啟動時，會幫助身體燃燒熱量。

Hibernate v. 冬眠

Rob: A similar experiment took place in Japan which led to people losing weight. But I find if the temperature is colder, I want to eat more to warm me up – particulary unhealthy food or what we call, comfort food.