减掉公斤比增重难，这也是为什么减重产业如此庞大。它最新的表现形式是在线体重管理网站，社交网络给丰腴者，在其中，参与者可以设定一个目标体重并监督他们朝向目标（它）的过程。一如其他社交网络，他们也可以从朋友那里得到帮助，要么是注册同网站的现实生活的（朋友），要么是他们在网络上结识的数码（朋友）。这些友情有可能是重要的。一只研究者团队，由伊利诺州西北大学的Julia Poncela-Casanovas领导，决定查看同样的事情对于网络空间的群体是否也是真的。
Shedding kilos is harder than putting them on, that[/which] is why the weight[-loss] industry is so big. Its latest manifestation is online weight-management /web/sites, social networks for the plump in which participants can set a target goal[/weight] and monitor the[ir] process towards it. As with other social networks, they can also get help from friends, either real-life ones [who] sign up to the same /web/site, or digital ones [whom] they have befriended on the internet. Th[o]se friendship[s] can[/are likely to] be important. A team of researchers led by Julia Poncela-Casanovas of Northwestern University, [in] Illinois, decided to check if the same was the same [of] groups [in] cyberspace.
Poncela-Casanovas博士和她同事研究了来自一个不点名体重管理网站的47026访客的记录。在这些人中，仅有5409停留在过程中6个月或更久，而且他们是Poncela-Casanovas博士注意的焦点。三种东西最终显现预测一个停留在过程中的人会减少多少体重。这些是她的原先体重总量指数（BMI），对于她由多超重的大概衡量，她称重自己多少次，以及她在网络内有多少朋友。列表上最有力的因素，但是，是第三个，友情。医生们认为任何超过一个5%的体重减少为了临床上显著的。那些持续六个月但是网络内没有朋友的人平均体重减少是4.1%。但是，对于那些有两个或更多的，它则是8.3%。一个人每多一个朋友都给她的体重减少增加了0.7%。
Dr Poncela-Casanovas and her colleagues studied /the/ records [from] 47,026 visitors to an unnamed weight management website. Of these, only[/a mere] 5408 stayed in the course for six months or longer, and they were the focus of Dr Poncela-Casanovas's attention. Th[ree] things turned out to predict how much weight someone [who] stayed /in/ the course would lose. These [were] her original [/initial] body-mass index, BMI, a rough measure of how overweight she was, how many times she weighed herself, and how many friends she had [with]in the network. The most powerful factor [o]n the list, though, [was] the third /one/, friendship. Doctors think[/consider] any[thing] /weight reduction of/ over[/above] a 5% [loss of body weight] [to be] clinically significant. The average weight loss[/reduction] [for] those who stayed[/lasted] six months but without[/had no] friends in the net work was 4.1%. For those /who have/[with] two or more, however, it was 8.3%. Every extra friend someone ha[d] increase[d] her weight loss by 0.7%.
Poncela-Casanovas和她的同事们很快指出像这样的研究能够建立两件事，在这个情况，朋友和体重是相关的。它不能显示是哪一个引发了哪一个，或甚至其一真的导致了另一，因为它们两者可能有一个共同的，第三个起因。弄清楚这一点要求控制实验。
Poncela-Casanovas and her colleague [are] quick/ly/ [to] point/ed/ out that [a] stud[y] like this could[/can] establish two things, in this case, friends and weight [loss] are correlated. It cannot show which causes which or even [that] one [does] actually cause/s/ the other, because[/for] they may[might] both have [a] common third cause. Working it out requires controlled experiment.
9.5
shedding kilos/losing weight/weight loss/weight reduction/ weight-loss industry
latest manifestation
sites/websites/ social networks/network
participants/visitors
friends/real-life ones/digital ones
befriend/groups in cyberspace.
monitor their progress towards [target]
a mere /only
the focus of one's attention
stayed the course/lasted six months
body-mass index, BMI
overweight/putting on them
most powerful factor on the list
loss of body weight
clinically significant
are quick to point out
correlated/not cause each other
