Children who lead inactive lives are likely to grow up to become middle-aged¹ couch potatoes, a study suggests。

一项研究表明，儿时不喜欢运动的人长大之后会变成懒人。

Researchers compared the TV viewing habits of more than 6,000 British people born in a single week in 1970

研究人员对6000名英国人看电视的习惯进行了对比分析。这6000人全部出生于1970年的同一周内。

Parents should increase children’s physical activity to ensure they become fit and healthy adults, 。

父母应增强孩子的体育运动，确保孩子发育成健康的成年人。

"Do something active to displace TV," advised Lee Smith. "In the evening time when families tend to sit down and watch TV they should try to go for walks instead. If you can’t go outside, try active computer games,"

“用活动取代电视，”李·史密斯建议道，“晚上，我们不该坐下看电视而应出去散步。如果无法外出，那就做些需要运动的电脑游戏。”

The authors acknowledge that for today’s children TV viewing is often replaced by time on computers, smartphones or tablets. But Dr Smith stressed the issues are the same, that computers and phones are "just a different way of sitting down and relaxing", and parents need to encourage children to be more active。

作者们都认为，目前电脑、智能手机或平板电脑已经取代了电视。但是史密斯强调问题其实一样，电脑和手机“不过是坐着放松的不同形式，”父母们应当鼓励孩子多做运动。

A British study, which gathers information on the economic circumstances, health, physical, educational and social development of people born in England, Scotland and Wales in 1970.

英国一项研究搜集了1970年出生在英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士的人们有关经济情况、健康、身体状况、教育以及社会发展状况的信息。

When they were 10, their parents were asked how often the children watched TV and played sport. Their height and weight were recorded, as were their parents’ occupations. At age 42 they were asked how much time they spent watching TV and on a range of physical activities and sports. They were also asked to assess their health and weight。

研究对象10岁时，研究人员询问父母孩子看电视和做运动的频率，记录孩子的身高、体重以及父母的职业。42岁时，再次询问这些人看电视以及做体育运动的时间，并对其身高体重进行评估。

The study shows that the children who watched a lot of TV aged 10 were 42% more likely to spend more than three hours a day in front of the screen as adults than those who watched relatively² little television in childhood. The 42-year-olds who watched TV for at least three hours a day were more likely to be in only "fair" or "poor" health and to rate themselves as either overweight or obese³.They were also more likely to have had fathers who were overweight and in routine or manual jobs。

研究表明，10岁时看很多电视的人成年之后每日看电视的时间超过3个小时的几率要比儿时看电视较少的人高出42%。而这些42岁、每日至少看3小时电视的人的健康状况更可能是“一般”或者“健康欠佳”，他们也认为自己“超重”或者“肥胖”。此外，这些人的父亲通常也是超重，每日都从事常规活动或者做些体力活。

Parents who are manual workers "are more likely to be physically⁴ active at work and may compensate⁵ for this by spending more time sitting down during their leisure hours", suggests another of the researchers, Dr Mark Hamer。

从事体力活动的父母们“通常是在工作时做很多体力活动，闲余时间则会坐下来歇息。”

"Their children may then model their mothers’ and fathers’ leisure activity patterns. It is important that children keep active. And if they can be encouraged to participate in sports, so much the better."

“孩子们可能会模仿父母们的休闲活动模式。让孩子们多做运动非常重要，如果能鼓励他们参加体育活动，就更好了。”

"Our work indicates that parents’ health-related behaviours may at least partly influence children’s TV viewing habits more than three decades later," said Dr Hamer。

哈默尔表示：“我们的研究表明父母与健康相关的行为会对孩子30年之后看电视的习惯造成一定的影响。”