Your Weekly English Digest 英文每周一文，經濟學人雜誌的文章並不難，讀了就知道。

class act 就是那種人前有品味跟教養的意思。
ass hat是指一個人屁股長到頭上來了，跟中文的「腦殘」與「白目」的意思差不多。
那你問我說這些詞彙跟上圖這兩隻喵咪有啥關係？坦白講這個嘛偶也不豬道。

下載文章請點我

托福的獨立題目中經常會考一些關於廣告、電視與兒童相關的題目，前幾周我在經濟學人The Economist文章中閱讀到這篇報導，內容也有提到台灣政府對此所提出的相關因應政策，所以決定拿這篇來與大家分享。

大家閱讀時可以多背這裡面的好句子，絕對比背僵硬的模版句子好。為了替大家每周找一篇文章，這幾個月來我也閱讀了很多英文報導，有些文章最後雖然沒能獲選為每周一文，但我還是獲得了很多寶貴訊息。下周我會與大家分享一篇探討捷運殺人案的文章，這類型的文章可以透過他人的觀點來省思，是最好的寫作精進方式。在學習寫作的過程中，大量閱讀是必經過程。八周前的今天，同學讀的是時代雜誌部落客寫的一篇為名電影「飢餓遊戲能教導年輕人什麼」？的文章，有興趣的同學可以透過部落格下載。

教練指導大家寫作，不是要傳受學生偷懶或是作弊的步數(如猜題然後請學生將範文背下來)。很多補習班名師都是用這套方式吸引學生，以提升分數做為誘因，然後讓大家去做有業報的事情。為什麼我們不能憑藉實力跟耐性，好好學習英語？因為不管需要多久時間，一但學成了就都是你的了，誰也搶不走。

部落格曾經分享水電工阿伯苦學英文的感人報導，連六十幾歲的老伯伯都能發心好好唸英文，我相信各位只要有心也能成就。讓我們大家都老老實實地閱讀、寫筆記、寫文章跟聽英文廣播，給自己幾年時間，你的英文一定能脫胎換骨。

Are children fair game可以攻擊的對象 for sophisticated and relentless marketing techniques? Many countries think not

To market行銷 anything that might appeal to對…有吸引力的 young consumers is to risk a scolding容易引來斥責. Advertising entices吸引 children to drink and smoke, makes them fat and sexualises them early讓(小孩)性早熟, its critics allege宣稱. To tout 吹捧/讚揚even wholesome products 健康的商品to children, some claim, is to exploit their naivety and thus to deceive them佔小孩子天真的便宜，也是一種欺騙. Crusaders改革運動鬥士 like Mrs Obama have helped embarrass companies. Coca-Cola said in May that it would not advertise to children younger than 12 anywhere in the world. Last year Disney promised not to promote junk food on television programmes for children.

Such gestures make the best of an increasingly constraining climate. 類似的動作讓越來越嚴謹規範的氛圍更加苛刻Some of the many restrictions on the marketing of tobacco and alcohol 菸酒were imposed把…強加於with youngsters in mind. In America and the European Union歐盟 big food manufacturers follow self-imposed codes of conduct(製造商)的自我行為規範 on marketing to children. These are to be tightened這些規範還要再更嚴苛一些. Some European countries impose stricter regimes制度. Britain bans advertising on television and radio of food high in fat, salt and sugar to children under 16. Sweden and Norway outlaw 查禁all television advertising to youngsters. Quebec加拿大的魁北克區(法語區) prohibits advertising of any sort directed at children禁止對兒童進行任何形式的廣告.

Mexican children see 12,000 junk-food adverts垃圾食物廣告 on television a year, more than in any other country. Having slapped taxes徵稅 on junk food and sugary drinks, Mexico now plans to ban adverts for them in the afternoons and evenings and at weekends. In June Taiwan gave regulators authority to restrict the marketing and even the sale of food they deem被視為是 unhealthy for children.

As standards tighten, arguments rage規範嚴謹之餘，爭論也開始沸騰. Is too much marketing still getting through to children? Are companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, which in September promised to stop putting fizzy drinks氣泡甜飲料 on its “Happy Meals” menus, cynically 諷刺地determined to hook children in other ways以其他的方式去吸引小孩子上勾(引起兒童的注意力)? Should more jurisdictions管轄 impose Quebec-like bans? Or extend protection to children older than 12 or 13?

Pinning down欲了解/解釋 how advertising might harm children is tricky棘手. One line of inquiry studies its effects in the lab. Such experiments suggest that children eat more in response to 因為…所做出的回應food promotion. Other types of study try to capture marketing’s effects on whole societies. An American one found that young people who saw one additional alcohol advert per month (beyond the average of 23) drank 1% more alcohol. Some research connects media consumption and weight. A 2005 study of teenagers in 34 countries found in 22 of them a correlation between 兩者的相關性their body mass index and the amount of television they watched.

Thin evidence證據薄弱

Such correlations do not prove that advertising causes obesity. Food and beverage producers have a point when they claim it is one factor among many眾多因素的其中一個. But still one to be dealt with: “We should be tackling因應問題所形成的策略與處理方式 all the causes of obesity, however small,” maintains Emma Boyland, a psychologist at the University of Liverpool.

Some radical critics argue that any sort of marketing aimed at children damages them. 一些極端的評論家駁斥，任何形式的兒童行銷策略都會傷害小孩子It is wrong to treat children as “economic objects”將兒童視為是一種經濟目標(賺錢的對象)是錯誤的, says Bill Jeffery of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a group that campaigns for極力推動 good nutrition in America and Canada. Young children do not grasp that they are being advertised to; marketing to them is thus inherently deceptive小孩子在看廣告時，根本不曉得自己看的是廣告，所以對兒童行銷其實根本就是在欺騙他們。.

To such critics, any system of control that depends on companies policing themselves is doomed to fail製造商自制規範一定會失敗. Industries set the bar too low因為製造業的自我規範，所設定的標準太低了, exploit loopholes and find ways to broadcast their toxic messages. 廠商總是會找出漏洞來鑽，努力將有毒的訊息給散布出去。

Digital marketing offers new ways of reaching children for less money. Brand-boosting “advergames廣告商設計出來的線上遊戲，免費提供兒童玩樂”, can be more compelling引人注目的 than conventional commercials傳統的廣告. Such techniques are “outside the scope of在…範圍之外 most regulatory and self-regulatory” regimes.

Munch away

Most governments would rather co-operate with businesses than confront 對槓them. Taiwan’s new law and Mexico’s proposed one give governments the whip hand讓政府有主控權. Closer to the norm比較接近常規is Singapore: its health ministry is to lay down guidelines for a code of conduct 指導規範法則to be followed by firms. Norway, often a champion of tough controls挪威是個法條規範很嚴謹的國家, backed away last spring from a proposal to ban advertising of unhealthy food to people younger than 18. Activists積極份子 believe rule-makers立法者 should adopt the “precautionary principle預警原則”: protecting children trumps勝過(本來的意思是王牌) other concerns. Marketers urge “proportionality”, giving weight to other interests like competition and profit. In most countries proportionality seems to be winning. That is probably a good thing.