2019年经济学人 忽悠郎中:权健倒台背后(3)

 

Tianjin has been known since imperial days for health-care research and manufacturing. Tong Ren Tang, a 350-year-old herbal-medicine business, is based in the nearby capital. It is the best-known maker¹ of traditional Chinese medicine, a system of often unproven remedies that goes back 2,500 years. Zhu Yonghong, co-founder² of Tasly, a big traditional-medicine firm in Tianjin, says Quanjian and firms like it set up in Tianjin to profit from Tong Ren Tang’s aura. According to Mr Zhu, they “blurred the line” between regulated traditional medicine and outright³ quackery⁴.

天津自封建王朝以来就以医疗研究和生产而闻名。拥有350年历史的中药企业同仁堂就坐落在附近。同仁堂是中国最著名的中药生产商，中药是一种已有2500年历史的治疗方法，但通常未经证实。天津大型传统医药公司塔斯利的联合创始人朱永红说，权健以及类似这样的公司在天津设立是为了从同仁堂的光环中获利。朱表示，他们“模糊了”受监管的传统医药与彻头彻尾的江湖医术之间的界限。

Quanjian’s founder, Mr Shu, first came to the port to work for Tianshi (known abroad as Tiens), a large seller of health products. The company’s name means “heavenly lion”. Two such beasts with gigantic wings flank the entrance to Tianshi’s headquarters. The firm says it has more than 10,000 staff in 110 countries. It also owns hotels, a college and a hot-spring resort. Its chairman, Li Jinyuan, a former oilfield worker, is Tianjin’s richest man. In 2015 he took 6,000 staff to France on a splashy holiday. Sustaining this are Tianshi’s machines offering diagnoses based on palm-readings. They claim to detect ailments⁵ ranging from HIV to hepatitis, for which the firm offers pricey treatments.

权健创始人舒玉辉刚到天津港时在大型保健品销售商天狮(国外称为天狮)工作。公司的名字用英文解释为“heavenly lion（天上的狮子）”。在天师大本营的入口两侧，就有两只长着巨大翅膀的巨兽。该公司表示，在110个国家设有分部，员工大达1万多名。还拥有酒店、一所大学和一个温泉度假村。该公司董事长、前油田工人李金元是天津首富。2015年，他带着6000名员工去法国度假。维持这种营收靠天狮的机器，通过掌纹等信息就可以提供诊断。并声称能检测出从HIV到肝炎等各种疾病，该公司为这些疾病提供昂贵的治疗。

According to his biography, Mr Shu later set up Quanjian with 600 secret traditional recipes (he is said to come from a family of herbal doctors). A board in the entrance to his shuttered hospital reads: “To say something is real that isn’t, is deception⁶; to make something real that isn’t, is skill.” A user on Weibo, a Twitter-like site, sums up the appeal: “Quanjian tells patients they will live when hospitals tell them they will die.”

据其传记记载，舒玉辉后来用600道传统秘方创立了权健(据说他来自一个中药世家)。在其关闭的医院门口的牌子上写着：“把本来不真实的东西说成真实，是欺骗；让本来不真实的东西变成真实，是技巧。”一位微博（类似推特的软件）用户总结了这一吸引力：“在医院告知病人痊愈几率为零时，权健却告诉他们可以痊愈。”

To boost demand for its products, Quanjian devised an alluring⁷ scheme. Buying seven pairs of the magic insoles would earn a member the right to become a distributor. To innocent consumers, that seemed above-board: Quanjian has all the trappings of a legal direct-sales firm, including licences from the Ministry⁸ of Commerce (in February the ministry said it had suspended the issuing of permits for direct selling). But Quanjian’s pyramid-type recruitment method is banned. Companies that use it are commonly described in China as “business cults”. That is because gangs often ensnare jobseekers into joining. Ecstatic rallies keep alive participants’ illusory dreams of enrichment.

为了刺激对其产品的需求，权健设计了一个诱人的方案。购买七双魔术鞋垫就可以从会员成为经销。对无辜的消费者来说，这似乎是光明正大的：权健拥有合法直销公司的所有标志，包括商务部颁发的许可证（商务部今年2月表示，已暂停发放直销许可证）。但权健的金字塔式招聘方法是被禁止的。在中国，使用这种方式的公司通常被称为“商业邪教”。这是因为犯罪团伙经常诱骗求职者加入。疯狂的集会让参与者一直怀揣致富梦想。

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

4 quackery   

n.庸医的医术，骗子的行为

参考例句：

• Some scientists relegate parapsychology to the sphere of quackery. 一些科学家把灵学归类到骗术范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In a famous play by Goethe, the doctor is accused of practicing quackery. 在歌德的一部著名剧目里，一名医生被指控进行庸医行骗。 来自互联网

5 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

6 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

7 alluring   

adj.吸引人的，迷人的

参考例句：

• The life in a big city is alluring for the young people. 大都市的生活对年轻人颇具诱惑力。
• Lisette's large red mouth broke into a most alluring smile. 莉莎特的鲜红的大嘴露出了一副极为诱人的微笑。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。