TED演讲 :世人不知的亚马逊人智慧(1)

 Now, I'm an ethnobotanist.  我是名民族植物学家。

That's a scientist who works in the rainforest to document how people use local plants.  我在热带雨林工作，记录人们如何使用当地植物。

I've been doing this for a long time,  我做这项工作很久了，

and I want to tell you,  我可以告诉大家，

these people know these forests and these medicinal treasures better than we do and better than we ever will. 这些人对当地森林和里面医药珍宝的了的比我们多得多，永远多得多。

But also, these cultures, these indigenous¹ cultures, 但是，这些文化，这些土著文化，

are disappearing much faster than the forests themselves.  消失得比森林还快。

And the greatest and most endangered species in the Amazon Rainforest is not the jaguar,  在亚马逊热带雨林中，最伟大而最濒危的物种不是美洲豹，

it's not the harpy eagle,it's the isolated² and uncontacted tribes.  也不是美洲角雕，而是与世隔绝的人类部落。

Now four years ago, I injured my foot in a climbing accident and I went to the doctor.  四年前，我在爬山时伤了脚，我去看医生。

She gave me heat,  她给我进行热疗，

she gave me cold, aspirin,  进行冰疗，用阿司匹林，

narcotic³ painkillers⁴, anti-inflammatories,  用麻醉止痛剂，抗炎药，

cortisone shots.  注射可的松。

It didn't work.  没有疗效。

Several months later,  几个月后，

I was in the northeast Amazon,  我在亚马逊东北部，

walked into a village,  我走进一个村落，

and the shaman said, You're limping.  萨满说，你跛了。

And I'll never forget this as long as I live.  这一幕我一生都不会忘记。

He looked me in the face and he said, Take off your shoe and give me your machete. 他看着我的脸，对我说，脱鞋，把你的砍刀给我。

He walked over to a palm tree and carved off a fern,  他走向一棵棕榈树，切下来一片蕨，

threw it in the fire,  扔到火里，

applied⁵ it to my foot,  然后敷在我脚上，

threw it in a pot of water,  然后又扔进了一壶水中，

and had me drink the tea.  让我把那个当茶喝了。

The pain disappeared for seven months.  整整七个月，我再也没疼过。

When it came back, I went to see the shaman again.  复发后，我又去见萨满。

He gave me the same treatment,and I've been cured for three years now. 他对我进行同样的疗法，现在我已经痊愈三年了。

Who would you rather be treated by?  你想让谁给你治病？

Now, make no mistake a Western medicine is the most successful system of healing ever devised,  别误会西医是人类发明的最成功的医疗体系，

but there's plenty of holes in it.  但它也有缺陷。

Where's the cure for breast cancer?  乳腺癌的疗法在哪里？

Where's the cure for schizophrenia?  神经分裂症的疗法在哪里？

Where's the cure for acid reflux?  胃酸倒流的疗法在哪里？

Where's the cure for insomnia⁶?  失眠症的疗法在哪里？

The fact is that these people can sometimes, sometimes, sometimes cure things we cannot.  事实是，这些土著人在有些时候，能治疗我们治不了的病。

Here you see a medicine man in the northeast Amazon treating leishmaniasis,  这是一位亚马逊东北部的药师在治疗利什曼病。

a really nasty protozoal disease that afflicts⁷ 12 million people around the world.  利什曼病是一种非常恶心的原虫疾病，全世界超过一千两百万人受其困扰。

Western treatment are injections of antimony.  西医的疗法是进行锑注射。

They're painful, they're expensive, and they're probably not good for your heart;  这种疗法让人很痛苦，也很昂贵，而且这种疗法对病人的心脏也可能有副作用。

it's a heavy metal.  锑是重金属。

This man cures it with three plants from the Amazon Rainforest.  这名药师能用三种亚马逊雨林的草药来进行治疗。

This is the magic frog.  这个是魔蛙。

My colleague, the late great Loren McIntyre,  我已故的同事洛伦?麦金太尔，

discoverer of the source lake of the Amazon,  他发现了亚马逊的河源湖，

Laguna McIntyre in the Peruvian Andes,  秘鲁安第斯的麦金太尔湖，

was lost on the Peru-Brazil border about 30 years ago.  他30年前在秘鲁巴西边境迷路了。

1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 narcotic   

n.麻醉药，镇静剂；adj.麻醉的，催眠的

参考例句：

• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。
• No medical worker is allowed to prescribe any narcotic drug for herself.医务人员不得为自己开处方使用麻醉药品。

4 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 insomnia   

n.失眠，失眠症

参考例句：

• Worries and tenseness can lead to insomnia.忧虑和紧张会导致失眠。
• He is suffering from insomnia.他患失眠症。

7 afflicts   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Level 3-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 三级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。
• Level 1-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 一级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。