共用题干 The Fat Problem That Men FaceIt is a pleasure to see men of a certain age worrying about their ...

共用题干
The Fat Problem That Men Face

It is a pleasure to see men of a certain age worrying about their weight.Listening to them is not such a
pleasure.Because the men are new at the game,they don't hesitate to discuss the fat problem incessantly.
However women of the same age do not discuss the fat problem,especially not in mixed company.They
prefer to face the problem with quiet dignity.Discussing the problem might only draw attention to some stray
body part that may be successfully tucked away under an article of clothing.
The age at which a man begins to explore the fat problem can vary.The actual problem can manifest
itself in the early 30's,but broad-range discussion usually starts later. There are early nonverbal symptoms.
I'ye watched the rugged journalist who shares my apartment sneak by with a Diet Coke.His shirts are no
longer neatly tucked in to display a trim waist.Recently he has begun to verbalize his anxiety.He tells me,
with a sheepish grin,that he is taking his suits to Chinatown to have them"tailored".
Still older men have lost their dignity and rattle on unabashedly.Often wives and children play impor-
tant roles in their fat-inspection rituals.Take my oldest brother,a former college football player. His daugh-
ter says that several times a day he will stand at attention and call out,"Fat,medium or thin?"She knows
the correct answer:medium.Thin would be an obvious stretch,and fat may not get her that new video.
According to his wife,he stands in front of the mirror in the morning(before the day's meals take their
toll),puts his hands behind his head and lurches into a side bend,then clutches the roll that has developed
and says,"am I getting fatter?"His wife is expected to answer．"you look like you may have lost a few
pounds".
And then there are the ex-husbands a pitiful group.They are extremely vocal.When I go to the movies
with one,he confides that he is suffering from great hunger because he is dieting. He hasn't eaten since the
pancakes and sausages he wolfed down that morning.He pauses in、his monologue while he buys his
popcorn.After the movie,we sprint to a restaurant,where he again pauses to devour a basket of bread.
Before he orders his chaste salad and soup,he grows plaintive.Do I think he's fat? My oldest brother's daughter would not tell her father he is fat because she loves him so much that she cannot bear to upset him.