卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪计划宣布一项面向全国学校的新竞赛，旨在扩大总统体能测试的参与度，该测试由唐纳德·特朗普总统于去年恢复。
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce a new nationwide competition for schools aimed at expanding participation in the Presidential Fitness Test, which President Donald Trump revived last year.
美国卫生与公众服务部向全国广播公司新闻频道（NBC News）透露，该挑战赛将向展示出实施该测试有效方法的学校、学区和青年组织提供700万美元的奖金。另外还将提供300万美元的奖金和代金券，用于购买健身或体育器材。
The challenge will offer $7 million in prizes to schools, districts and youth organizations that demonstrate effective ways to implement the test, the Health and Human Services Department told NBC News. Another $3 million in awards and vouchers will be available for fitness or sports equipment.
特朗普总统去年签署了一项行政命令，将该测试重新引入学校。但目前美国军事基地的学校中只有161所被强制要求进行此项测试，因此政府一直在寻找提高参与度的方法。
President Trump signed an executive order last year to bring the test back to schools. But only 161 schools on U.S. military installations are required to do so, so the administration has looked for ways to boost participation.
从周四开始，相关组织可以在一个新的联邦网站 Fitness.gov 上申请现金奖。参赛作品可于2月前提交，预计获胜者将于春季公布。
Starting Thursday, organizations can apply for the cash prizes on a new federal website, Fitness.gov. Entries can be submitted until February, then winners are expected to be announced in the spring.
体能测试是公立小学、初中和高中一项悠久的传统，它通过孩子在各项心血管和力量练习中的表现来评估其身体健康状况。孩子们通过达到与其年龄和性别相符的特定标准（例如在10分钟内跑完一英里）来竞争奖项。
The fitness test is a lengthy tradition in public elementary, middle and high schools that measures kids’ physical health based on their performance in various cardiovascular and strength exercises. Children compete to win awards by hitting certain benchmarks for their age and sex, such as running a mile in under 10 minutes.
特朗普政府恢复后的测试项目包括一英里跑、仰卧起坐、平板支撑、俯卧撑、引体向上和折返跑。
The exercises for the revived test under the Trump administration include a one-mile run, curl-ups, planks, push-ups, pull-ups and shuttle runs.
这项测试符合特朗普政府几位高层官员对健身的广泛兴趣。肯尼迪经常在社交媒体上分享自己的锻炼视频，他承诺要扭转他所描述的儿童慢性病“流行”局面，部分途径是通过锻炼来降低肥胖率。
The test aligns with a broader interest in fitness among several top Trump administration officials. Kennedy, who often shares his own workout videos on social media, has pledged to reverse what he describes as an “epidemic” of chronic disease in kids in part by lowering obesity rates through exercise.
国防部长皮特·海格塞斯也收紧了军队士兵的体能标准。战争部去年发布了一段视频，显示肯尼迪和海格塞斯在俯卧撑和引体向上比赛中互相挑战。
And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tightened fitness standards for military troops. The War Department posted a video last year of Kennedy and Hegseth challenging each other to a push-up and pull-up competition.
随着2028年夏季奥运会临近，特朗普还承诺将带来“美国体育的黄金时代”。从1956年到2012—2013学年，美国公立学校一直实施一种略有改动的总统健身测试；奥巴马政府随后以“总统青少年健身计划”取代该测试。新计划关注个人健康，并尽量减少孩子之间的比较。肯尼迪批评了这一变化，认为竞争对孩子有益。他说：“如果我们要在国际层面具有竞争力，就必须在彼此之间形成竞争。我们必须教会人们如何获胜、如何失败，以及如何面对胜利和失败。”
Trump has also promised “a golden age for American sports” as the 2028 Summer Olympics approach. A variation of the same Presidential Fitness Test was implemented in public schools from 1956 until the 2012-13 school year, when the Obama administration replaced it with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which focused on individual health and aimed to minimize comparisons between kids. Kennedy has criticized that change, arguing that competition is good for children. “If we’re going to be competitive internationally, we need to be competitive with each other. We need to teach people how to win and how to lose and how to process victory and defeat,” he said at theg of Trump’s executive order last year.
他是在去年特朗普签署行政命令时说这番话的。1960年，肯尼迪的叔叔小约翰·F·肯尼迪在当选总统后不久，也提出过类似观点。肯尼迪经常把其叔叔执政时期描绘成美国儿童更健康的时代，但实际情况要复杂得多。尽管20世纪60年代儿童的久坐时间较少，但如今他们的预期寿命更长；虽然儿童中某些慢性病的比例有所上升，但这一趋势有时可归因于筛查和诊断技术的改进。
Kennedy’s uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. made a similar argument shortly after he was elected president in 1960. Kennedy has often pointed to the era of his uncle’s presidency as a time when American children were healthier, but the reality is complicated. While kids were less sedentary in the 1960s, their life expectancy is higher today, and while rates of some chronic diseases are rising among children, the trend is sometimes attributable to improvements in screening and detection.
然而，儿童肥胖和2型糖尿病发病率的增加，与加工食品摄入量较高的饮食及久坐不动的生活方式密切相关。专家普遍认为，年轻人应当多参加体育活动。联邦政府建议，6至17岁的儿童每天至少进行一小时中等强度或高强度身体活动。据一家 promoting physical fitness 的倡导组织“身体活动联盟”的数据，只有20%至28%的儿童达到了这一目标。
Increases in childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, however, are strongly associated with diets heavy in processed food and sedentary lifestyles. Experts widely agree that young people should be more active. The federal government recommends that children ages 6 to 17 get at least an hour of moderate or vigorous physical activity each day. Only 20% to 28% of kids meet that goal, according to the Physical Activity Alliance, an advocacy group that promotes physical fitness.
然而，一些研究儿童身体活动的研究人员担心，像总统健身测试那样将孩子划分为赢家和输家，可能会使他们不愿参与健身活动。
However, some researchers who study physical activity among children worry that dividing kids into winners and losers the way the Presidential Fitness Test does could discourage them from engaging in fitness.
他们表示，在有其他身体活动方式的情况下，这项测试仍会对某些运动能力给予奖励。南卡罗来纳大学运动科学教授拉塞尔·佩特说，这项测试并不能反映一个人的整体健康状况。他表示，许多学校已经使用一套名为FitnessGram的项目，从整体上评估儿童的身体健康，而非其运动技能。佩特补充说，大多数孩子也很难达到“总统健身奖”的标准。他说：“该奖项要求在所有测试项目中达到较高水平，而我们从长期而艰苦的实践中了解到，现实中只有极少数孩子能够做到这一点。”
The test also rewards certain types of athletic ability, they say, when there are other ways to be physically active. Russell Pate, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, said the test is not an indicator of overall health. Many schools already use a program called FitnessGram to holistically assess a child’s physical health rather than their athletic skills, he said. Most kids will also find it difficult to meet the benchmarks for the Presidential Fitness Award, Pate added. “It’s based on high-level performance in all the test items, and we know from long, hard experience that only a very small percentage of kids realistically can achieve that,” he said.