TED演讲:电击疗法如何改变了我

 　　I'd like to do pretty much what I did the first time, which is to choose a light-hearted theme. 我想能和第一次演讲一样，选择一个轻松的主题。

　　Last time, I talked about death and dying.  上一次我谈论了关于生与死。

　　This time, I'm going to talk about mental illness.  这次我要谈谈精神疾病。

　　But it has to be technological¹, so I'll talk about electroshock therapy. 但它应该是技术性的，所以我要谈谈电击疗法。

　　You know, ever since man had any notion that some of his other people, his colleagues,  大家知道，自从人们发现周边其他人，同僚等

　　could be different, could be strange, could be severely² depressed³  可能是和自己不同的，可能是行径奇怪，或者可能是严重抑郁的

　　or what we now recognize as schizophrenia,  或者是我们现在所指的精神分裂症

　　he was certain that this kind of illness had to come from evil spirits getting into the body. 就断定患了这种病一定是种魔鬼附体的病症。

　　So, the way of treating these diseases in early times was to, in some way or other, 为了治疗这种病症，在早期，应用了不同方法，

　　exorcise those evil spirits, and this is still going on, as you know.  众所周知，驱魔法一直沿用至今。

　　But it wasn't enough to use the priests.  但是仅仅靠祭司是不够的。

　　When medicine became somewhat scientific, in about 450 BC, with Hippocrates and those boys, 在约公元前450年，医药成为一门学科，希波克拉底和学生们

　　they tried to look for herbs, plants that would literally⁴ shake the bad spirits out. 尝试研究、寻找草药、植物，从中找出将恶魔驱除出人体的药方。

　　So, they found certain plants that could cause convulsions.  他们发现某些植物可以引发人体抽搐。

　　And the herbals, the botanical books of up to the late Middle Ages,  到中世纪后期和文艺复兴时期的植物学书，即各种本草集，

　　the Renaissance⁵ are filled with prescriptions⁶ for causing convulsions to shake the evil spirits out. 里面记录有很多药方，都能靠诱发抽筋来驱除恶魔。

　　Finally, in about the sixteenth century,  最后，大约在16世纪，

　　a physician whose name was Theophrastus Bombastus Aureolus von Hohenheim,  一个物理学家，名字叫做Theophrastus Bombastus Auricularis von Hohenheim

　　called Paracelsus, a name probably familiar to some people here, good, old Paracelsus 被称作帕拉塞尔苏斯，在座可能有人知道这个名字，老顽固帕拉塞尔苏斯，

　　found that he could predict the degree of convulsion by using a measured amount of camphor to produce the convulsion. 发现他可以预测抽搐的程度，通过使用定量的樟脑诱发人体抽搐。

　　Can you imagine going to your closet, pulling out a mothball, and chewing on it if you're feeling depressed? 你可以想象吗，走到你的衣橱，拿出一颗樟脑球然后嚼食它，想象这样缓解抑郁？

　　It's better than Prozac, but I wouldn't recommend it.  这个比百忧解（抗抑郁药)有效，但是我可不推荐这么做。

　　So what we see in the seventeenth, eighteenth century is the continued search for medications other than camphor that'll do the trick. 发展到17，18世纪人类继续寻找除了樟脑外的其他办法。

　　Well, along comes Benjamin Franklin,  这时出现了本杰明·富兰克林，

　　and he comes close to convulsing himself with a bolt of electricity off the end of his kite. 通过风筝电流，他几乎诱发自己抽搐，这是通过风筝传导的雷电电流。

　　And so people begin thinking in terms of electricity to produce convulsions.  然后人们开始思考通过电流诱发抽搐。

　　And then, we fast-forward to about 1932,  到了大约1932年，

　　when three Italian psychiatrists⁷, who were largely treating depression, 3位主要治疗抑郁症的意大利精神病专家

　　began to notice among their patients, who were also epileptics,  注意到他们的忧郁症病人中，那些同时患有癫痫症的患者，

　　that if they had an epileptic -- a series of epileptic fits,  如果他们癫痫症发作后，连续发作多次

　　a lot of them in a row -- the depression would very frequently lift.  许多人抑郁症便减轻

　　Not only would it lift, but it might never return.  不仅仅是减轻，还可能完全根治。

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

6 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

7 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分