对公交车司机的研究（下）

In the late 1940s, medics were worried.

在20世纪40年代末，医护人员普遍很担心。

Britain, like many rich countries, was suffering from an “epidemic” of heart disease and no one knew why.

像许多富裕国家一样，英国正遭受心脏“流行病”的折磨，没人知道原因。

Various hypotheses, such as stress, were suggested; but one thing that was not exercising researchers was exercise.

人们提出了各种各样的假设，比如压力; 但有一件事并没有使研究人员担忧，那就是锻炼。

The idea that health and exercise were linked “wasn’t the accepted fact that we know today”, says Nick Wareham, a professor of epidemiology at Cambridge University.

剑桥大学流行病学教授尼克·韦勒姆表示，健康和运动有关的观点“在当时并不是我们今天所知道的公认事实”。

Some even felt that “too much physical activity was a bad thing for your health”.

一些人甚至认为“过多的体育活动对你的健康有害”。

Navvies, miners and farm labourers did physical exercise by the spade-load.

海员、矿工和农场工人大量地进行体育活动。

They also suffered disproportionately from various diseases, died young and featured in novels by D.H. Lawrence.

仍旧遭受了各种各样的疾病，英年早逝，并成为了劳伦斯小说的主角。

It was a miserable existence.

这是一种悲惨的生活。

At this time a young doctor called Jerry Morris started to suspect that the excess deaths from heart disease might be linked to occupation.

这时，一位名叫杰瑞·莫里斯的年轻医生开始怀疑，死于心脏病人数过多的情况可能与职业有关。

He began studying the medical records of 31,000 London transport workers.

他开始研究31000名伦敦交通工人的医疗记录。

His findings were breathtaking: conductors, who spent their time running up and down stairs, had an approximately 30% lower incidence of disease than drivers, who sat down all day.

他的发现令人震惊:花时间上下楼梯的售票员比整天坐着的司机发病率低了大约30%。

Exercise was keeping people alive.

锻炼可以使人保持活力。

Morris looked at postal workers, and found a similar pattern: postmen (who walked all day) had far lower rates of disease than telephonists (who typically sat).

莫里斯观察了邮政工人，发现了一个相似的模式:邮递员(整天走路)的发病率远低于电话接线员(通常坐着)。

Morris’s research was eventually published in 1953, just three years after a study by Richard Doll proving the link between smoking and lung cancer.

莫里斯的研究最终于1953年发表，而就在三年前，理查德·多尔的一项研究证明了吸烟与肺癌之间的联系。

As any Londoner could tell you, you wait centuries for a paradigm-changing epidemiological study to turn up; then two come along at once.

任何一个伦敦人都会告诉你，你要等上几个世纪才能发现一项范式变革类型的流行病学研究; 然而同时出现了两个研究。

Morris’s work had consequences both big and small.

莫里斯的工作产生了或大或小的影响。

Morris (who had given up smoking when he read Doll’s study) now also took up exercise, handing his jacket to his daughter on Hampstead Heath and just running.

在汉普斯特德希思的莫里斯(当他读到多尔的研究报告时，他已经戒烟了)现在也开始锻炼，他把夹克交给女儿，就开始跑步。

“People thought I was bananas.”

“人们以为我疯了。”

Slowly, the rest of the world took off its jacket and followed.

慢慢地，世界上的其他地方也学他脱下外套，跟着跑起了步。