金融时报:小可乐难倒大市长

小可乐难倒大市长

为控制肥胖现象，纽约市长布隆伯格绕过市议会，雄心勃勃推动了“大可乐禁令”，但无情地被州最高院驳回。FT社论说，为何不试试禁止小可乐呢？如果规定苏打水最小杯至少15升，那么即使最贪吃的家伙也会放弃可乐的。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

pugnacious[pʌg'neɪʃəs] adj.好斗的，好战

libertarian[,lɪbə'teərɪən] v./n.自由意志论的。主张政府对个人生活的干预应尽可能小，个人应当不受限制地决定自己的事务。自由意志主义者构成了美国共和党的一个派别。

bulge[bʌldʒ] n.肿胀、赘肉

girth [gɜːθ] n.腰围

deli ['delɪ] 熟食店，即delicatessen

city council 市议会，纽约市议会共有51名议员，民主党和共和党人的比例为47:4 Leviathan|海怪。英国哲学家霍布斯创作了影响深远的政治哲学著作《利维坦》，认为人类的自然状态是“所有人对所有人的战争”，因此需要创造一个有权威、有暴力手段的国家（利维坦）。

evisceration [i,visə'reiʃən] n.去除内脏

fructose ['frʌktəʊz; -s] n.果糖

ravenous ['ræv(ə)nəs] adj.贪婪的，狼吞虎咽的

thimble ['θɪmb(ə)l] n.顶针

gallon ['gælən] n.加仑，1英制加仑等于4.55升，1美制加仑等于3.79升。一般的桶装纯净水为5(美)加仑。

Microsize me (323 words)

Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s pugnacious mayor, never lets libertarian compunctions get in the way of bettering New Yorkers’ health. But his latest battle against the bulge has been put on the defensive by a state judge who struck down a ban on selling sugary drinks in large containers.

Sadly for the “keep off my girth” squad – a strange alliance of beverage makers, the Teamsters transport union, cinemas, and Hispanic and Korean-American deli owners – the judge’s main objection was procedural. By passing over the city council’s head, Mr Bloomberg had created a “Leviathan” (presumably a reference to Hobbes’ analysis of sovereign power, not to an excessive body mass index). In rhetoric that can only called supersized, the judge reasoned that such “evisceration” of the separation of powers might “be more troubling than sugar-sweetened beverages.”

Opponents’ concerns are more substantive. Their economic interest is the same whether a “portion cap rule” is passed by legislative or executive bodies. Some Americans object to the very idea of bans on things people want to consume, obesity notwithstanding. Fears of government overreach – Leviathan – are not altogether unfounded. In 2008, a Republican (!) state legislator in Mississippi introduced a bill that would have prohibited restaurants from serving obese diners.

Surely the only serious objection to limiting servings to 16oz is that it may not produce the desired effect. The ban is riddled with exceptions. Supersized sugar water is fine if sold in supermarkets; and if mixed with enough milk (or, this being New York, soy milk).

Nor would refills be banned. You want 32oz of flavoured, carbonated high-fructose corn syrup? Have two legal 16oz cups. With council approval, the mayor should set the limit at thimble size: 64 minicups can hardly replicate a Big Gulp. Or why not take the inalienable right to supersize to its logical extreme? Even the most ravenous might go off the soda habit if the smallest legal size was four-gallon buckets.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.Why does the writer say "sadly for the 'keep off my girth' squad···"?

A. The opposition force was a quite strange alliance.

B. They failed to persuade and mobilize enough people.

C. The judge’s main objection was merely procedural.

D. These people did not take their health seriously.

答案(1)

2.What is correct about Mr Bloomberg and his “Leviathan”?

A. He created a supersized city Department of Health.

B. The ban might be an infringement to the separation of powers.

C. To implement the regulation, he would use force if necessary.

D. He made the city council his rubber stamp.

答案(2)

3.The only serious objection to limiting servings to 16oz, is what?

A. It may not produce the desired effect.

B. A Republican state legislator in Mississippi introduced a similar ban.

C. The opponents' economic interest would be preserved if the ban is passed by legislature.

D. Supersized sugar water is fine if sold in supermarkets.

答案(3)

4.What's the editorial's advice?

A. Try not drink flavoured, carbonated high-fructose corn syrup.

B. With council approval, mayor Bloomberg should set the limit at thimble size.

C. Set the smallest legal size of coke to four-gallon.

D. Just abandon the idea of "soda ban", it's silly.

答案(4)

* * *

(1) 答案：C.The judge’s main objection was merely procedural.

解释：法官判决市长的法令无效，但并未支持反对者们“吃的再胖也是个人自由”的观点。 BD是无中生有。A正确但与答案无关。

(2) 答案：B.The ban might be an infringement to the separation of powers.

解释：布隆伯格的禁令绕过了市议会，直接以卫生局条例的形式发布，州法官认为，这是对三权分立原则的侵犯： "more troubling than sugar-sweetened beverages"。

(3) 答案：A.It may not produce the desired effect.

解释：这是倒数第二段的原话。法官在判决中说，这arbitrary and capricious。BD正确但并非回答。

C是错误的，“行政权力越位了”并不是最有力的反对论点，因为民主党人占据压倒性优势的市议会(47:4)完全可以轻松通过这一禁令。 而对那些反对者(货车司机、电影院和熟食店)来说，不管谁发布禁令，经济利益受损都是同样的。

(4) 答案：A.Just abandon the idea of "soda ban", it's silly.

解释：这一禁令为何会无效呢？首先，含糖饮料在超市买仍是可以的（州际贸易由联邦政府管理），加牛奶了也可以买。 其次，续杯无法禁止，想喝32盎司的玉米浆，但市政府限制16盎司？那就买两杯。

最后几句话显然是讽刺：“市长先生可以在得到市议会批准之后把容量限制搞得很小，让64杯也顶不了一大筒的可乐。 或者，为什么不把限制搞得超级大，大到逻辑上的极限呢？这样的话，即使最贪吃的家伙也会放弃可乐的。”