关于疼痛那些事 Pain

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English, I’m Callum and with me today is Jennifer. Hello Jennifer.
大家好，欢迎收听BBC六分钟英语。我是Callum，这是我的搭档Jennifer。你好，Jennifer。
Hello Callum.
你好，Callum。
Now Jennifer, would you like to help me with a little experiment?
对了Jennifer，你能帮我做个小实验吗？
Sure, what do you need me to do?
当然可以啊，要我怎么做？
Just stay there, don’t move.
站在那，别动。
OW! Why did you do that?
啊，你干嘛打我？
Did it hurt?
疼吗？
Of course it did!
当然疼啊。
All in the name of science and learning English Jennifer because today we’re talking about pain! And I wanted to find out if you have a high pain threshold.
呵呵，刚刚打你完全是以科学的名义，而且也是为了学习英语。因为我们今天讨论的话题和疼痛有关，我想看看你能否忍受高度疼痛。
Well you could have just asked – you didn’t have to hit me!
好吧，那你直接问我就好了，根本没必要打我嘛。
Ah, yes, I suppose I could have. Sorry about that. Anyhow, moving on, here’s today’s question.
呃，对，我想是该问问你。对不起。但不管怎样，我们还得继续做节目。今天的问题是这样的。
An anaesthetic is a drug or gas used to stop pain, particularly during medical procedures, but which language does the word come from?
麻醉剂是一种用于止痛的药物或气体，尤其在医疗过程中使用特别普遍。那么你知道这个单词的词源是哪里吗？
Greek, Latin or Old Norse? What do you think Jennifer?
是来自希腊语、拉丁语还是古斯堪的那维亚语？Jennifer，你觉得呢？
Well I think there are a lot of words from the Greek language when it comes to medicine and things like that so I’ll say Greek.
啊，我觉得吧，有很多医学类单词都是来自希腊语，所以我选第一个，希腊语。
OK, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. Now Jennifer, do you think pain is a good thing.
好，节目最后我们将揭晓答案，看看你答对了没有。Jennifer，你觉得疼痛是件好事吗？
Well, I’d rather not have it, but I suppose it does tell us that something is wrong.
呃，我宁愿不疼痛，不过话说回来，我觉得疼痛确实表明身体出了问题。
Do you think it would be better not to be able to feel pain.
那要是感觉不到疼痛，是不是更好？
Well I think that would be great, particularly after the introduction to this programme!
嗯，我觉得不错，特别是今天刚刚介绍完节目的时候。
Steve Pete from Washington State in the United States was born with a rare condition which means he has never been able to feel physical pain.He was interviewed on BBC radio about his condition. When was it first diagnosed?
Steve Pete来自美国华盛顿，他天生患有一种罕见的疾病，就是感觉不到身上的疼痛。Steve Pete接受了BBC电台的采访，让我们来了解一下他的病情。你是什么时候被诊断出患有这种疾病的呢？
Well I was diagnosed with it at a young age. I was a toddler when I began chewing pretty much the whole front portion of my tongue off.
我很小的时候。那时我还是个蹒跚学步的小孩，我把自己的舌头前面整个部分全咬掉了。
So Jennifer, when was it diagnosed?
Jennifer，他是什么时候被诊断出患有疾病的呢？
Steve says that it was diagnosed when he was a toddler – which means when he was very young and just starting to walk, so he’s maybe 12 months, 18 months old, something like that.
Steve说他还是一个蹒跚学步的孩子。也就是说他当时很小，刚刚开始走路，所以他可能也就12个月大，或者18个月大，差不多那个时候吧。
Children that age love to chew on things, don’t they?
那么大的小孩都爱嚼东西，是吧？
Yes, they do, and in Steve’s case it was his own tongue that he chewed on!
嗯，是的，但是Steve嚼的东西竟然是他自己的舌头！
Ouch! His parents then took him to a paediatrician, which is a children’s doctor. Listen now to what this doctor did to test Steve.
哎哟！后来，Steve的父母带他去看了paediatrician，也就是儿科医生。我们一起来听听医生是怎样给Steve做检查的。
My parents took me to my paediatrician where he took a lighter, placed it underneath my foot, held it there for a moment until my skin began to blister and then he had a pretty good idea of what it was that my condition was.
我的父母带我去看了儿科医生。他拿着一个打火机，把它放在我的脚下，就那样举着等了一会。直到我的皮肤开始起泡，医生马上就对我的病情了解了。
So what did the doctor do?
所以Jennifer，医生是怎么做的呢？
He used a lighter to put fire under the toddler’s foot until it started to burn.
他把打火机放在了这个孩子的脚下，去烧他的皮肤。
And because the child didn’t react in any way he was able to figure out that he had this rare medical condition which is called Congenital Analgesia.
但是这个孩子一点反映都没有，由此医生判断他患了这种罕见的疾病——先天性无痛症。
Steve’s brother shares this condition, so what kinds of problems did it cause them when they were growing up?
Steve的弟弟也患有这种疾病，那么在他们成长的过程中出现了哪些问题呢？
We were always getting into trouble, we kind of pushed things to the extreme.We’d always end up with broken bones, we’d be visiting the hospitals frequently, wearing casts throughout most of our childhood. So it was quite difficult.
我们总是遇到麻烦，时不时就走了极端。比如我们总是骨折，经常去看医生，所以童年大部分时间里，我们身上都绑着石膏。那真的很不方便，很痛苦。
Jennifer, what was his childhood like?
Jennifer，Steve的童年过的怎样？
He says it was difficult. They made regular visits to hospitals and spent a lot of time wearing casts – a cast is the thick plaster protection that is put on to broken arms and legs.They got lots of broken bones because they didn’t feel pain.
他说童年过的很艰辛。他们得定期去看医生，而且大部分时间都绑着石膏。啊，石膏就是涂在胳膊和腿外面的那个厚厚的东西，是用来保护胳膊和腿的。正因为感觉不到疼痛，所以他们经常骨折。
So they didn’t know when to stop doing something which could be damaging their body. Have you ever had to wear a cast?
而且他们也不知道该何时停止做那些伤害身体的事情。Jennifer，你绑过石膏吗？
Luckily I’ve had no broken bones so no, I’ve never worn a cast.
没有，我很幸运没有骨折过，所以我从来没绑过石膏。
I’ve never had a cast either, but I did have a major operation this summer and there was a lot of pain after it.But because of the pain I wasn’t able to move around very much, but that was good, because it meant it gave my body time to heal.If I hadn’t had that pain, I would probably have caused even more damage.
我也从来没绑过，但是今年夏天我做了一个手术，术后真的很疼。因为疼痛，我不能走动太多。但其实这很好，因为我的身体可以有时间痊愈。要是我当时不疼的话，说不定还会造成更大的伤害呢。
I find it hard to imagine what it must be like to never feel physical pain.
我真的很难想象从来感觉不到疼痛是什么样子。
I know, and in the same way Steve Pete finds it hard to imagine what it must be like to feel pain.
我理解，其实Steve Pete和你一样，他很难想象出疼痛是什么情况。让我们一起听听他怎么说。
I’ve never really tried to imagine what it would be like to feel physical pain.I do understand the emotional pain part though. But when it comes to empathy which is kind of interesting it is hard for me to feel sorry for an individual who’s going through a painful situation when it’s regarding physical pain. I do have difficulty with that.
我从未真正想象过感觉到疼痛是什么样子。尽管有时我能理解情绪上的痛苦，但是谈到同情心这种有趣的东西时，我总是很难对那些身体上正在经历痛苦的人感到难过。我觉得对我来说有困难。
He talks about the difficulty he has with empathy. What’s empathy Jennifer?
Steve说他很难产生empathy（同情心）。Jennifer，什么是同情心呢？
Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s feelings and appreciate what that they are experiencing.Because he can’t feel physical pain, he doesn’t really feel sorry for people in painful situations.
恩，同情心就是理解别人情感并领会他人经历的一种能力。因为他不能感觉到身体上的痛苦，所以他才不会真正对那些遭受身体之痛的人感到难过。
After hearing about the problems of this condition, do you think you’d still like not to feel pain?
听完了Steve的故事，了解了这种疾病的问题，Jennifer，你还觉得感觉不到痛苦好吗？
Well I still don’t like feeling pain but I think after hearing this I realise that it’s very useful. What about you?
呃，我还是不喜欢疼痛，但是听了这个故事后，我意识到感觉疼痛很重要。你怎么认为的？
I agree with that. Sometimes I would like the pain to be less but I think on balance it’s good to have it.
我同意你的说法。有时我希望痛苦能少一点，但总而言之，能感觉到疼痛其实是件好事。
Well just about time to go but before we do the answer to today’s question, which was about the language origin of the word anaesthetic.
啊，到了和大家说再见的时间了。我们来揭晓本期问题的答案吧。
Which language does the word come from? Greek, Latin or Old Norse? Jennifer, you said?
问题是这样的，麻醉剂这个单词来自哪种语言？希腊语、拉丁语还是古斯堪的纳维亚语呢？Jennifer，你刚刚选什么来着？
I thought it was Greek.
我觉得应该是希腊语。
And you were absolutely right, well done, congratulations with that.
回答正确，不错嘛，恭喜你。
That’s all from us today. Thanks very much Jennifer.
以上就是本期BBC六分钟英语的全部内容。非常感谢你Jennifer。
Thanks.
不客气，同样谢谢你。
And I should say in case anyone was worried, no presenters were harmed during the making of this programme. Goodbye.
啊，对了，我还要说一件事情，免得大家担心。其实本期节目中演示者并没有受伤哦~~拜拜。
Goodbye.
拜拜~