TED演讲:美国人在健康问题上的共识是什么(1)

 　　Today, we are a country divided, or at least that's what we're told. 今天，我们是个分裂的国家，或者至少这是我们被告知的。

　　We are torn apart by immigration, education, guns and health care. 我们被移民、教育、枪支和医疗保健弄得四分五裂。

　　Health care is ugly and it is loud, so loud that it threatens to drown out everything else. 医疗保健是丑陋和喧嚣的，喧嚣到淹没其他一切。

　　Health care is a human right! Fight, fight, fight! 医保是人权！战斗，战斗，战斗！

　　Hey hey! Ho ho! Obamacare has got to go! 嘿，吼！奥巴马医保必须得走。

　　But what if underneath¹ all the noise, we're not divided? 但如果在噪声之下，我们没有分裂呢？

　　What if the things that we don't ask about are the things that we most agree upon? 如果我们没有问的问题是我们最广泛同意一致的事情呢？

　　It turns out that when we ask the right questions, the answers are startling, 其实当我们问正确的问题时，答案是惊人的，

　　because we agree, not on health care, but on something more important: we agree on health. 因为我们意见一致的，并非在医保上，而是在更为重要的事情上：我们在健康问题上一致。

　　For 20 years, I've been obsessed² with one question: What do we, what do all of us need in order to be healthy? 20多年来，我一直着迷于一个问题：我们需要怎样，我们所有人需要什么才能保持健康？

　　As a college student in 1995, I spent months talking to physicians at a chaotic³ hospital in Boston, 1995年我还是个大学生时，我花了几个月的时间和波士顿一家混乱医院的医生交谈，

　　asking them, "What's the one thing your patients most need to be healthy?" 问他们：“你的病人保持健康最需要的一件事是什么？”

　　They shared the same story again and again, one that I've heard hundreds of variations of since. 他们分享了同样的故事一次又一次，自那之后，我听到了上百个不同版本的变化。

　　They say, "Every day I see a patient with an asthma⁴ exacerbation⁵, and I prescribe a controller medication. 他们说：“每天我看到哮喘的病人，就给他们开控制药物。

　　But I know she is living in a mold-infested apartment. 但我知道她住在一间人满为患的公寓里。

　　Or I see a kid with an ear infection, and I prescribe antibiotics⁶, but I know there is no food at home. 或者我看到一个耳朵感染的孩子，我给他开了抗生素，我知道他家里缺乏食物。

　　And I don't ask about those issues, because there's nothing I can do." 我并不会问这些问题，因为我无能为力。”

1 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

2 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

3 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

4 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

5 exacerbation   

n.恶化，激怒，增剧；转剧

参考例句：

• Bleeding may be herralded by several day of exacerbation of pain. 数天的疼痛加剧可能为出血的先兆。 来自辞典例句
• For several days, he has had an exacerbation of ulcer symptoms. 近日他溃疡病症状加剧。 来自辞典例句

6 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。