A Conversation on Traditional Chinese Medicine

　　（P = 病人       D = 醫(yī)生）

　　（P = patient    D = doctor）

　　醫(yī)生：你好，史密斯先生。今天感覺如何？

　　D：Hello, Mr. Smith. How are you felling today?

　　病人：好多了。謝謝！今天我可以坐直了。針灸的確很棒。

　　P： Much better, thank you! I can sit straight today. The acupuncture is really great.

　　醫(yī)生：不錯。中醫(yī)有五千年的歷史。它對疾病的發(fā)生，發(fā)展和治療都有著完整的理論體系。針灸只不過是治療像你的椎骨側(cè)突疾病的一種最有效的方式。

　　D：Yes, Chinese Traditional Medicine （TCM）has a history of more than 5,000 years. It has a complete theory about the occurrence, development and treatment of diseases.

　　Acupuncture is only one of the most effective ways to treat diseases such as your pleurapophysis.

　　病人：盡管如此，我的許多同事對中醫(yī)還是有些不解。你能否多給我講點？

　　P：All the same, many of my colleagues feel much puzzled about TCM. Would you please tell me more about it？

　　醫(yī)生：沒問題。根據(jù)中醫(yī)理論，疾病的發(fā)生是陰陽失調(diào)所致。而疾病的治療就是陰陽的平衡。

　　D：Sure. According to TCM theory, the occurrence of diseases is the incoordination between Yin and Yang and the treatment of diseases is the reestablishement of the equilibrium between them.

　　病人：嗯，什么是陰陽？

　　P：Oh, what's Yin and Yang？

　　醫(yī)生：它們是中國古代哲學(xué)的兩個概念并代表一切事物的兩個對立面。中醫(yī)學(xué)運(yùn)用陰陽理論來解釋人體的生理和病理現(xiàn)象。同時, 陰陽也是診斷和治療疾病的法則。

　　D：They are the two concepts from ancient Chinese philosophy and they represent the two contradictories in everything. In TCM theory, Yin and Yang are used to explain physiological and pathological phenomena of the body. They are also the principles of diagnosing and treating diseases.

　　病人：那么你們中國醫(yī)生是怎樣用這一理論來給病人治病的呢？

　　P：Then how do you Chinese doctors treat your patients by using this theory?

　　醫(yī)生：大體說來，中醫(yī)有兩種治療方式：藥物治療和非藥物治療。

　　D：Roughly speaking, there are two common ways of TCM curing diseases: drug therapy and non-drug therapy.

　　病人：真有趣。你們通常都用什么藥？

　　P：That's very interesting. What drugs do you often apply?

　　醫(yī)生：至于藥物治療, 中醫(yī)常用草藥，礦物質(zhì)，動物藥等。

　　D：As for drug therapy, traditional medicines are used such as herbs, mineral, animals, etc.

　　病人：那非藥物治療呢？

　　P：And how about non-drug therapy?

　　醫(yī)生：非藥物治療包括針灸，按摩，拔火罐等。

　　D：As for non-drug therapy, there are acupuncture and moxibustion, massage, cupping.

　　病人：關(guān)于針灸和按摩，我略知一二。拔火罐是怎么回事？

　　P：I know a little about acupuncture and massage. What's cupping？

　　醫(yī)生：拔火罐就是把一個真空的杯子放在皮膚上引起局部充血的一種治療方法。通常，醫(yī)生把一個點燃的酒精棉球放在杯子里一會兒以排出里面的空氣使它成為一個真空杯，接著快速地把空杯子放在選定的皮膚上。

　　D：It is a congeted treatment using a vacuum cup sucked firmly on the skin. Usually, the doctor fires an alcohol sponge and puts it inside the cup for a short while to make the cup a vacuum one, then he places the vacuum cup instantly over the selected spot of the skin.

　　病人：有效嗎？

　　P：Is it effective？

　　醫(yī)生：就像我們治療你的病用的針灸一樣有效。但是拔火罐特別適合痛癥。

　　D：Just as effective as acupuncture which we are using to treat you. But cupping therapy is specially good for pains.

　　病