時差N小時:呼叫達爾文 Darwinian medicine

Yael:Sounds like you have a bad cold, Don.

雅艾爾:聽這咳嗽你像是得了重感冒,唐。

Do you need some cough medicine?

需要些咳嗽藥嗎?

DON:Nope.

唐:不用。

YAEL:Tylenol?

雅艾爾:泰諾?

DON:No thanks.

唐:不,謝謝。

YAEL:Don't you want anything to help you feelbetter?

你不需要吃藥來幫助你感覺更好嗎?

DON:I don't need help, Yael. All this sniffling, sneezing, and coughing are doing the work forme.

唐:我不需要幫助,雅艾爾。流鼻涕,打噴嚏和咳嗽都在幫我治療。

YAEL:But doesn't that make you feel worse?

雅艾爾:但是難道這不會讓你覺得更難受嗎?

DON:There's more than one way tolook at sneezing and coughing.

唐:看待打噴嚏和咳嗽可不能只用一種方式。

They can be symptoms, in which case your first reaction is to try to "cure" them with all sortsof pills and syrups.

它們可以是癥狀,在這種情況下,你的第一反應(yīng)是用各種藥片和藥水進行治療。

Or, you can see them as the body's natural defense system.

而另外一方面,你可以將它們視作身體的自然防御系統(tǒng)。

It's called Darwinian medicine.

它被稱為達爾文醫(yī)學(xué)。

YAEL:You mean like survival of the fittest?

雅艾爾:你是說像適者生存之類的?

DON:Not exactly.

唐:也不完全是。

Darwinian medicine tries to find evolutionary explanations for why we get sick.

達爾文醫(yī)學(xué)試圖從進化論角度解釋我們?yōu)槭裁磿　?/p>

It also tries to figure out how and why we respond to sickness.

它也試圖找出我們?nèi)绾我约盀槭裁磻?yīng)對疾病。

For example, when you get a low grade fever it might be because your body is trying to makethings uncomfortable for invading microbes.

例如,當(dāng)你低燒的時候,可能是你的身體試圖做出不舒服的表現(xiàn)以應(yīng)對入侵的微生物。

When you take medicine to lower a fever you might actually be helping whatever's making yousick in the first place.

當(dāng)你選擇吃藥來降低發(fā)燒你可能實際上是幫助任何使你首要發(fā)病的地方。

YAEL:So you're saying that I should never take medicine?

雅艾爾:所以你是說,我應(yīng)該永遠不要吃藥?

DON:Not at all. Sometimes medicine is absolutely necessary, like when you have a really highfever.

唐:也不盡然。藥物有時候是絕對必要的,比如在你真正發(fā)高燒的時候。

But the point is that it's not always best to automatically try to stop all symptoms when youdon't feel well.

但關(guān)鍵是,對于自動阻止所有你感覺不舒服的癥狀并不總是最好的。

Until studies are done on the effectiveness of taking aspirin and other fever-lowering drugs, itmay be hard to know when to treat cold symptoms and when to leave them alone.

除非研究證明服用阿司匹林和其他退燒藥物有效,可能很難知道什么時候治療感冒的癥狀,什么時候讓其自然痊愈。

But in the case of a cold or mild fever, it may very well be worth letting nature take care ofbusiness.

但對于輕微感冒或者發(fā)燒,自然而然讓身體應(yīng)對也非常好。

Bear in mind, too, that aspirin should never be given to children.

但記住,切勿不要給孩子阿司匹林。