Yael:Sounds like you have a bad cold, Don.
雅艾尔:听这咳嗽你像是得了重感冒,唐。
Do you need some cough medicine?
需要些咳嗽药吗?
DON:Nope.
唐:不用。
YAEL:Tylenol?
雅艾尔:泰诺?
DON:No thanks.
唐:不,谢谢。
YAEL:Don't you want anything to help you feel better?
你不需要吃药来帮助你感觉更好吗?
DON:I don't need help, Yael. All this sniffling, sneezing, and coughing are doing the work for me.
唐:我不需要帮助,雅艾尔。流鼻涕,打喷嚏和咳嗽都在帮我治疗。
YAEL:But doesn't that make you feel worse?
雅艾尔:但是难道这不会让你觉得更难受吗?
DON:There's more than one way to look at sneezing and coughing.
唐:看待打喷嚏和咳嗽可不能只用一种方式。
They can be symptoms, in which case your first reaction is to try to "cure" them with all sorts of pills and syrups.
它们可以是症状,在这种情况下,你的第一反应是用各种药片和药水进行治疗。
Or, you can see them as the body's natural defense system.
而另外一方面,你可以将它们视作身体的自然防御系统。
It's called Darwinian medicine.
它被称为达尔文医学。
YAEL:You mean like survival of the fittest?
雅艾尔:你是说像适者生存之类的?
DON:Not exactly.
唐:也不完全是。
Darwinian medicine tries to find evolutionary explanations for why we get sick.
达尔文医学试图从进化论角度解释我们为什么会生病。
It also tries to figure out how and why we respond to sickness.
它也试图找出我们如何以及为什么应对疾病。
For example, when you get a low grade fever it might be because your body is trying to make things uncomfortable for invading microbes.
例如,当你低烧的时候,可能是你的身体试图做出不舒服的表现以应对入侵的微生物。
When you take medicine to lower a fever you might actually be helping whatever's making you sick in the first place.
当你选择吃药来降低发烧你可能实际上是帮助任何使你首要发病的地方。
YAEL:So you're saying that I should never take medicine?
雅艾尔:所以你是说,我应该永远不要吃药?
DON:Not at all. Sometimes medicine is absolutely necessary, like when you have a really high fever.
唐:也不尽然。药物有时候是绝对必要的,比如在你真正发高烧的时候。
But the point is that it's not always best to automatically try to stop all symptoms when you don't feel well.
但关键是,对于自动阻止所有你感觉不舒服的症状并不总是最好的。
Until studies are done on the effectiveness of taking aspirin and other fever-lowering drugs, it may be hard to know when to treat cold symptoms and when to leave them alone.
除非研究证明服用阿司匹林和其他退烧药物有效,可能很难知道什么时候治疗感冒的症状,什么时候让其自然痊愈。
But in the case of a cold or mild fever, it may very well be worth letting nature take care of business.
但对于轻微感冒或者发烧,自然而然让身体应对也非常好。
Bear in mind, too, that aspirin should never be given to children.
但记住,切勿不要给孩子阿司匹林。
