医患
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Patients and Doctors
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第1段
This is a skeptical age, but although our faith in many of the things in which our forefathers fervently believed has weakened, our confidence in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine remains the same as theirs. This modern faith in medicines is proved by the fact that the annual drug bill of the Health Services is mounting to astronomical figures and shows no signs at present of ceasing to rise. The majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients departments of our hospitals feel that they have not received adequate treatment unless they are able to carry home with them some tangible remedy in the shape of a bottle of medicine, a box of pills, or a small jar of ointment, and the doctor in charge of the department is only too ready to provide them with these requirements. There is no quicker method of disposing of patients than by giving them what they are asking for, and since most medical men in the Health Services are overworked and have little time for offering time-consuming and little-appreciated advice on such subjects as diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits etc., the bottle, the box, and the jar are almost always granted them.
这个时代怀疑一切，可是尽管我们对我们祖辈所深信的许多事物已有所动摇，我们对瓶装药的疗效却仍如祖辈那般信心满满。对药物（疗效）的这一现代信仰，从医疗系统那攀至天文数字的年度药费，且现阶段毫无停止上涨迹象的事实中可以得到证明。前往医院门诊部就医的大多数患者觉得，要是不能开些看得见、摸得着的药物，比如一瓶药水，一盒药片，或者一小瓶药膏带回家的话，就不算看好病了。 负责门诊部的医生也非常乐意满足患者的要求。患者想要开什么药，就给什么，没有比这样更快的坐诊方法了。因为医疗系统旗下的大多数医生均超负荷工作，没有多少时间就诸如注意饮食、生活规律，以及需要克服坏习惯等等提出一些既费时又不讨好的医嘱，使得患者几乎总能开到瓶装、盒装，或者罐装药。
第2段
Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who has such faith in the bottle of medicine. It is recounted of Thomas Carlyle that when he heard of the illness of his friend, Henry Taylor, he went off immediately to visit him, carrying with him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly prescribed for an indisposition of Mrs. Carlyle's. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his pocket contained, of the nature of the illness from which his friend was suffering, and of what had previously been wrong with his wife, but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would surely be of equal benefit in another, and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his friend, he hastened to Henry Taylor's house. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his medical help, but in all probability he did. The great advantage of taking medicine is that it makes no demands on the taker beyond that of putting up for a moment with a disgusting taste, and that is what all patients demand of their doctors—to be cured at no inconvenience to themselves.
并不只是那些无知和没受过良好教育的人才会迷信药瓶子。据说托马斯·卡莱尔有过这么一件事：他听说朋友亨利·泰勒病了，就立刻跑去看他，顺手往衣服兜里装上了一瓶他妻子不舒服时吃剩的药。卡莱尔对于衣兜里的药瓶所装的药，对于他朋友所得的病，以及对于妻子以前得了什么病，完全是一问三不知。只知道一种药对一种病有好处，肯定对另一种病也会有好处。想到能对朋友有所帮助，他感到很欣慰，于是急急忙忙来到了亨利·泰勒的家里。他的朋友是否接受了他的医疗帮助，历史没有记载，但很可能接受了。服药治病的最大优点是：除了暂时忍受一下令人作呕的味道外，对患者别无其他要求。这也正是患者对医生的要求— —病要治好，但别麻烦。
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译文与解析据吴应时整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第113—116页，2022年2月第2版。