TED演讲:安慰剂效应的力量(1)

 　　In 1996,56 volunteers took part in a study to test a new pain killer¹ called Trivaricaine. 1996年，56个志愿者参加了一项研究，测试一种名叫Trivaricaine的止痛药。

　　On each subject, one index finger was covered in the new painkiller² while the other remained untouched. 每个实验对象的一个食指涂上这个新型止痛药，另一个食指保持原样。

　　Then, both were squeezed in painful clamps. 然后，两个食指都用钳子使劲夹住。

　　The subjects reported that the treated finger hurt less than the untreated one. 实验对象都表示那个涂了药的食指没有另一只疼。

　　This shouldn't be surprising, except Trivaricaine wasn't actually a painkiller, just a fake concoction³ with no pain-easing properties at all. 这本应该没什么好惊讶的，除了Trivaricaine本身并不是一种止痛药以外，它只是一个不含任何缓解疼痛成分的假混合物。

　　What made the students so sure this dummy⁴ drug had worked? 是什么让这些学生坚信这个假冒的药有效的呢？

　　The answer lies in the placebo⁵ effect, an unexplained phenomenon where in drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't supposed to have an effect, 答案就是安慰剂效应，它是一种至今原因不明的现象，发生在使用那些本应该没有效果的药物、手术和治疗上，

　　and are often fake, miraculously⁶ make people feel better. 一般都是假的，却奇迹般地使人们感到好转。

　　Doctors have used the term placebo since the 1700s when they realized the power of fake drugs to improve people's symptoms. 医生们从18世纪开始使用安慰剂这个术语，那时他们开始意识到假药的作用能够改善病人的症状。

　　These were administered when proper drugs weren't available, or if someone imagined they were ill. 当合适的药品短缺时，他们会使用这种治疗方法，或者有些人幻想自己生病的时候。

　　In fact, the word placebo means "I shall please" in Latin, hinting at a history of placating⁷ troubled patients. 实际上，安慰剂这个词在拉丁语里是“我会好起来”的意思，暗示着安抚受病痛折磨的病人已有一段历史。

　　Placebos⁸ had to mimic⁹ the real treatments in order to be convincing, 安慰剂模仿真正的治疗以达到使人信服的目的，

　　so they took the form of sugar pills, water-filled injections, and even sham¹⁰ surgeries. 所以他们选择糖丸，注射水，甚至假手术的形式。

　　Soon, doctors realized that duping people in this way had another use: in clinical trials. 很快，医生意识到这样蒙骗人还有另一种用途：临床试验。

　　By the 1950s, researchers were using placebos as a standard tool to test new treatments. 直到二十世纪五十年代，研究人员将安慰剂作为一种标准工具来测试新的治疗方法。

　　To evaluate a new drug, for instance, half the patients in a trial might receive the real pill. 例如测试一种新药，一半的临床病人可能会服用真的药丸，

　　The other half would get a placebo that looked the same. 另一半则会服用看起来一模一样的安慰剂。

　　Since patients wouldn't know whether they'd received the real thing or a dud, the results wouldn't be biased¹¹, researchers believed. 药丸病人并不知道他们服用的是真药还是假药，因此，研究人员相信结果是准确的。

　　Then, if the new drug showed a significant benefit compared to the placebo, it was proved effective. 于是，如果这种新药比起安慰剂对病人有很明显的改善，那么这种新药就是有效的。

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 painkiller   

n.止痛药

参考例句：

• I shall persuade him to take the painkiller.我将说服他把药吃下去。
• The painkiller only provides him a short respite from his pain.止痛药仅仅让他在疼痛中有短暂的疏解。

3 concoction   

n.调配(物)；谎言

参考例句：

• She enjoyed the concoction of foreign dishes.她喜欢调制外国菜。
• His story was a sheer concoction.他的故事实在是一纯属捏造之事。

4 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

5 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

6 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

7 placating   

v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She pulled her face into a placating and childlike expression. 于是她装出一副稚气的想要和解的样子来。 来自飘（部分）
• Uncle Peter's voice came as from a far distance, plaintive, placating. 彼得大叔这时说话了，他的声音犹如自一个遥远的地方起来，既带有哀愁又给人以安慰。 来自飘（部分）

8 placebos   

n.（给无实际治疗需要者的）安慰剂( placebo的名词复数 )；安慰物；宽心话；（试验药物用的）无效对照剂

参考例句：

• But, eventually, I think they were just kind of like placebos. 但是后来，我想它们只是安慰剂（安慰剂：没有任何药效的药） 来自电影对白
• But comparable numbers of those who received placebos also improved. 但是吃安慰剂的人的病情也改善了。 来自互联网

9 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

10 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

11 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。