英国政府准备在青少年中推广舞蹈减肥法

　　Britain's overweight schoolchildren will be urged to take up hip hop, ballet and salsa in a bid to halt the growing obesity crisis among the young.

　　After the government chief medical officer's warning that overweight children are a "timebomb" for the NHS, Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is preparing an autumn fitness drive in schools based on dance.

　　A source close to Ms Jowell said that dancing has long been neglected, although the Government recently set up a new quango, Youth Dance England, to help it escape its association with small girls and ballet classes.

　　"We aim to promote all forms of dancing and we're taking it seriously. It is excellent exercise," he said. "It is popular with girls, including those from ethnic minorities, who sometimes shy away from other organised sport."

　　Ms Jowell is already taking advice from dance teachers on how to increase physical activity among the young in order to meet the Government's target of halting the year-on-year increase in obesity among primary school children by 2010.

　　Linda Jasper, the director of Youth Dance England, said research shows that dancing is overwhelmingly the most popular sport for girls, and ranks second, after football, for girls and boys combined. "It's an important element in the fitness drive," she said.

　　英国有关当局日前决定将督促那些体重超标的学生积极参与到街舞（hip hop）、芭蕾舞以及萨尔萨舞（salsa）等多项舞蹈类活动中来，以遏制在年轻人中日渐增加的肥胖趋势。

　　据英国《独立报》7月3日报道，目前英国小学生中的肥胖人数逐年增加，该国政府首席卫生官员发出了“青少年肥胖问题是英国国民医疗服务体系（NHS）内的一颗‘定时炸弹’”的警告。政府计划最迟在2010年遏制住这一态势，为实现这一目标，文化、媒体和体育大臣泰莎·乔威尔最近采纳了舞蹈教师们“关于如何在学生中加强体育锻炼”的建议。

　　乔威尔女士准备于今年秋季在学校范围内推广一项以舞蹈为主要内容的健身计划。她身边的一位消息灵通人士表示，长期以来，舞蹈在人们心目中总是与小女孩和芭蕾舞辅导班联系在一起，尽管英国政府最近设立了一个名为“英格兰青少年舞蹈”的半官方组织，以帮助摆脱这种联想，但它仍不为大众所重视。该人士说道，“我们致力于推广各种形式的舞蹈且我们的态度是严肃认真的。舞蹈是一项效果显著的运动方式，它在女孩子中非常流行，即使是那些羞于参加其他有组织体育运动的少数族裔女孩们也同样热衷于此。”

　　“英格兰青少年舞蹈”的主管琳达·贾斯珀表示，相关研究表明舞蹈毫无疑问是女孩子中最流行的运动方式，即使将女孩与男孩合在一起计算，它也仅次于足球而名列第二。在未来的健身推广活动中，舞蹈将是一个十分重要的组成部分。