2019年经济学人 忽悠郎中:权健倒台背后(1)

 

China

《中国》版块

Health products

保健品

Spin doctors

忽悠郎中

A scandal surrounds a big seller of traditional medicine. How much is local government to blame?

一家传统医药的大经销商生出一桩丑闻。地方政府应该承担多少责任?

The fake advertisement was uncommonly¹ cruel. Zhou Erli, a farmer from Inner Mongolia, first noticed it gaining popularity online when his four-year-old daughter, sick with cancer, was in intensive care. His girl was smiling in a photograph being circulated by Quanjian, a big health-products company. The ad claimed she had fully² returned to health after taking the firm’s miraculous³ herbal remedies.

虚假广告异常残忍。来自内蒙古的农民周二力第一次注意到这个词在网上越来越受欢迎是在他四岁的女儿患癌症住院期间。在一家大型保健品公司“权健”流传的照片中，他的女儿面带微笑。广告声称，在服用了该公司神奇的草药后，她已经完全恢复了健康。

In fact, says Mr Zhou, bosses at Quanjian had told him to take his daughter off her chemotherapy treatment at a state-run children’s hospital in Beijing. They had offered what they assured him was a potent⁴ new cure: a drink made of jujube powder and gromwell-root oil. He had spent 5,000 yuan ($800) on it. But his daughter’s cancer had spread. In 2015, after the ad appeared, Mr Zhou filed a lawsuit⁵ alleging⁶ that the company had duped him, but the court dismissed his case for lack of evidence. Little Zhou Yang died a few months later.

周表示，事实上，权健的老板曾告诉他，让他的女儿停止在北京一家公立儿童医院接受化疗。他们向他提供了一种保证有效的新疗法：一种由枣粉和药用紫草油制成的饮料。他花了5000元(800美元)购买。但女儿的癌症已经扩散。2015年，该广告出现后，周提起诉讼，称该公司欺骗了他，但法院以证据不足为由驳回了他的诉讼。几个月后，小周洋病逝。

Her story might have ended there, had it not been taken up by a popular online myth-busting forum⁷, Dingxiang Doctor. In late December, in an article that went viral, the website took aim at Quanjian, which it said had been taking in billions of yuan from annual sales. It had investments in football and equestrian⁸ clubs, cosmetics⁹, banking¹⁰, insurance and hotels. The article said the firm had earned huge profits by swindling patients. It accused Quanjian’s founder¹¹ and boss, Shu Yuhui, of running the company like an illegal pyramid scheme. Quanjian’s salespeople¹², Dingxiang Doctor said, made money mainly by corralling new ones to join, earning commission on their sales too.

如果不是丁香医生的出现，她的故事可能就到这里结束了，丁香医生是一个很受欢迎的在线辟谣论坛。去年12月底，在一篇迅速走红的文章中，丁香医生将矛头对准了权健，称其每年的销售额高达数十亿元，用来投资足球和马术俱乐部、化妆品、银行、保险和酒店。文章称，该公司通过欺骗病人赚取了巨额利润。它指责权健的创始人兼老板舒玉辉像非法传销一样经营公司。丁香医生称，权健的销售人员主要是通过召集新成员加入来赚钱的，同时也能从销售中获得提成。

1 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

4 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

5 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

6 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 equestrian   

adj.骑马的；n.马术

参考例句：

• They all showed extraordinary equestrian skills.他们的骑术都很高超。
• I want to book two equestrian tickets.我想订两张马术比赛的票。

9 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

10 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

11 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。

12 salespeople   

n.售货员，店员；售货员( salesperson的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The shop usually employs additional salespeople for the Christmas toy trade. 这家商店通常雇一些临时售货员来做圣诞节玩具生意。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Under our new system, salespeople sit down with each of our dealers. 根据新的制度，销售人员应逐个地同承销商洽商。 来自辞典例句