28 · 病人与医生
Patients and Doctors
区分观点、依据、例子与限制，用自己的话准确重建论述。
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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.
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.
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整篇课文
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.
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.
这是一个凡事都抱怀疑态度的时代。祖辈深信不疑的许多事情，我们已经不那么相信了；但对于一瓶药的疗效，我们却仍和他们一样深信不疑。医疗服务体系每年的药费已涨到天文数字，目前也没有停止上涨的迹象，这便证明了现代人对药物的信仰。医院门诊的大多数患者觉得，若不能拿着某种看得见摸得着的药回家，比如一瓶药水、一盒药片或一小罐药膏，就没有得到充分治疗。门诊医生也很乐意满足这种要求。要迅速把患者打发走，没有比给他们想要的东西更快的办法了。医疗服务体系中的多数医生工作过重，很少有时间谈饮食、合理生活、戒除不良习惯等既费时、又不大受欢迎的建议，于是那一瓶、一盒、一罐，几乎总会开给患者。
如此相信一瓶药的，也不只是无知或受教育不多的人。据说，托马斯·卡莱尔听说朋友亨利·泰勒病了，立刻赶去探望，衣兜里还装着妻子先前不舒服时吃剩的一瓶药。他根本不知道瓶里是什么药，不清楚朋友患的是什么病，甚至也不知道妻子之前哪里不适。在他看来，一种药既然对一种病那么有效，对另一种病肯定也一样有益。想到自己能帮上朋友，他深感安慰，便匆匆赶到泰勒家。朋友究竟有没有接受他的“医药援助”，史书没有记载，不过十有八九接受了。吃药的最大好处是，除了短暂忍受一下难闻的味道，几乎不要求服药者做什么。而这恰恰是患者向医生提出的要求：治好我的病，却别让我自己费事。
学完这一课
说明其他观念改变时，有一种习惯却保持不变。
译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；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。