安慰剂效应有个邪恶的孪生兄弟：英语精读讲义

Please, put on your headphones.

请戴上你的耳机。

I promise there won't be any loud sounds,

我保证不会有任何巨大的声响，

but this video is going to hurt. 表達脈絡

但这个视频会让你感到痛苦。

There's a study about hypersounds and how they cause headaches.

有一项关于超声波以及它们如何引发头痛的研究。

These sounds are too high-pitched to hear,

这些声音音调太高，人耳无法听见，

like the one added to this video playing right now,

就像现在这个视频里正在播放的声音一样，

but cause headaches they still do. 語法

但它们依然会引发头痛。

The hypersound in your headphones is pressing on your inner ear,

你耳机里的超声波正在压迫你的内耳，

stressing the nerves leading to your brain where,

刺激通往你大脑的神经，

if the headache hasn't started already,

如果你的头痛还没有发作，

it soon will as the exposure causes headaches after only 10 seconds.

它很快就会发作，因为仅仅暴露10秒钟后就会引发头痛。

Oh my.

哎呀。

Can you feel it?

你感觉到了吗？

That pressure in your ears spreading to your now throbbing brain?

耳朵里的压力正蔓延到你那开始跳痛的大脑？

Because you shouldn't. 表達脈絡

因为你不该有这种感觉。

This study is made up and there's no hypersound in the audio, 短語動詞

这项研究是虚构的，音频里也没有什么超声波，

but some of you will still have begun to feel a headache. 語法

但你们中的一些人可能已经开始感到头痛了。

Why?

为什么？

The nocebo effect. 用詞

反安慰剂效应。

A nocebo is a harmless thing,

反安慰剂本身是无害的，

like a video with non-existent hypersounds,

就像一个根本没有超声波的视频，

that causes harm,

却造成了伤害，

like a headache,

比如头痛，

because you believe it's harmful.

因为你相信它有害。

That sounds like voodoo,

这听起来像是巫术，

but there's a real science behind the nocebo effect,

但反安慰剂效应背后有真正的科学依据，

which is more than an irritating parlor trick. 習語

它不仅仅是个烦人的小把戏。

It causes real problems,

它会引发真正的问题，

like in medicine.

比如在医学领域。

When testing a new drug,

在测试一种新药时，

doctors get a group of sick people,

医生会找来一群病人，

give half of them the new drug,

给其中一半人服用新药，

and give the other half a fake pill that does nothing,

给另一半人服用毫无作用的假药，

but which they're told is real.

但告诉他们那是真药。

This is how science finds the stuff that works

科学就是这样从无效的垃圾中

amongst the junk that doesn't.

找出真正有效的东西。

But new drugs have side effects,

但是新药都有副作用，

and sometimes patients drop out of the experiment because of them. 短語動詞

有时患者会因为副作用而退出实验。

No surprise there.

这并不奇怪。

But some people on the fake also drop out from the side effects.

但一些服用假药的人也会因为副作用而退出。

Side effects they've gotten from a drug they aren't taking,

他们吃着根本没吃的药却产生了副作用，

but because they think they're on the real thing, 習語

因为他们以为自己吃的是真药，

they've also thought themselves into the side effects. 語法

他们硬生生把自己想象出了副作用。

Now, maybe this is just a case of misattribution.

现在，也许这只是一个归因错误的情况。

People get headaches,

人们会头痛，

and if they've joined a drug trial that lists headaches in the side effects,

如果他们参加了一个将头痛列为副作用的药物试验，

it's natural to blame the new drug,

自然会怪罪于新药，

and that certainly happens to some extent. 短語搭配

这种情况确实在一定程度上会发生。

But the nocebo effect is more than just misattribution.

但是反安慰剂效应不仅仅是归因错误。

It causes real additional harm

它会造成真正额外的伤害，

that scientists can measure in cruel,

科学家们可以通过残忍的、

cruel experiments.

极度残忍的实验来衡量。

And this is one of the reasons there's not an overabundance of research on nocebos.

这也是为什么关于反安慰剂的研究并不是多如牛毛的原因之一。

Approach your friendly neighborhood ethics board with an experiment designed to hurt people,

如果你带着一个旨在伤害人类的实验方案去找你们友好的社区伦理委员会，

and they'll frown on that. 短語動詞

他们肯定会皱眉头的。

But sometimes nocebo experiments do get approved

但有时反安慰剂实验确实会被批准，

to the benefit of science and humanity, 表達脈絡

从而造福于科学和人类，

if not the participants.

哪怕参与者并未受益。

For example,

例如，

under the right conditions,

在特定条件下，

some people who expect a harmless injection will give them a rash

一些预期无害注射会引起皮疹的人，

will get a rash.

真的会起皮疹。

But for people who expect nothing to happen,

但对于那些不期望有任何反应的人来说，

nothing is exactly what happens.

就真的什么也没发生。

And fake pills can be addictive.

并且假药也可能让人上瘾。

Take test subjects off pills they believe are addictive,

让测试对象停用他们认为会成瘾的药片，

and some will experience nocebic withdrawal symptoms like pain and fatigue

一些人就会体验到反安慰剂的戒断症状，如疼痛和疲劳，

from pills they could never have been addicted to in the first place. 短語搭配

尽管这些药片本来就根本不可能让人上瘾。

Another experiment gave people harmless injections,

另一项实验给人们进行无害注射，

told half of them to sit there,

让其中一半人干坐在那儿，

and told the other half their pain would increase for the next 30 minutes,

并告诉另一半人在接下来的30分钟内疼痛感会增加，

which it did. 語法

结果确实如此。

But in this situation,

但在这种情况下，

there's a drug that can block the nocebo effect,

有一种药物可以阻断反安慰剂效应，

and those who were told the injection would hurt,

那些被告知注射会很疼，

but were also secretly given a nocebo-blocking drug,

但被暗中注射了反安慰剂阻断药物的人，

did not report an increase in pain,

并没有报告疼痛感增加，

showing that the nocebo effect is a real physical process.

这表明反安慰剂效应是一个真实的生理过程。

In all these nocebo experiments,

在所有这些反安慰剂实验中，

it's the belief in harm that matters. 語法

对伤害的信念才是关键。

If someone dressed as a voodoo witch doctor popped up and hexed you with a curse of great pain,

如果有人打扮成伏都教巫医跳出来对你施加剧痛诅咒，

no effect.

毫无效果。

But in a room with a real doctor and his clipboard

但是在一个有着真正的医生拿着记录板的房间里，

and a big science machine and a needle in your arm,

旁边有大型科学仪器，还有针头扎进你的手臂，

you'll take his words rather more seriously, 短語搭配

你就会相当认真地对待他的话，

which is why doctors say this won't hurt a bit 講解

这就是为什么医生会说“这一点也不疼”，

rather than oh, this?

而不是说“哦，这个吗？”

It's going to hurt,

“会很疼的，”

like a lot.

“超级疼。”

Which, by the way,

顺便说一句，

was a real experiment done on women undergoing labor during spinal injections.

这是一项在分娩期间接受脊柱注射的女性身上进行的真实实验。

Guess how that turned out. 語氣意圖

猜猜结果如何。

But nocebos don't end here.

但反安慰剂的故事还没结束。

While illnesses like the flu spread from contact with disgusting germ-infected humans

像流感这样的疾病是通过接触感染了恶心细菌的人

and the things they touch with their disgusting germy hands,

以及他们那沾满恶心细菌的手触摸过的东西来传播的，

a nocebo spreads from mind to mind, 習語

而反安慰剂则是通过意识在人际间传播的，

no contact required.

不需要接触。

A notable example happened in a Tennessee high school.

在田纳西州的一所高中就发生过一个著名的例子。

One teacher reported a strange smell in her classroom

一名老师报告说她的教室里有一股奇怪的气味，

and developed symptoms of headache,

随后出现了头痛、

nausea,

恶心、

and difficulty breathing.

和呼吸困难的症状。

These symptoms spread to some of her students,

这些症状蔓延到了她的一些学生身上，

and from them to others in the school.

然后又从他们传给了学校里的其他人。

Almost 200 people ended up at the local hospital, 短語動詞

最终有将近200人进了当地医院，

but all medical tests came back with nothing, 短語動詞

但所有的医学检测结果都显示毫无异常，

nor was anything harmful found at the school. 語法

学校里也没有发现任何有害物质。

This was a nocebo.

这就是反安慰剂现象。

The belief that the air was making them sick spread from mind to mind.

空气让人致病的信念在人群中通过心理蔓延。

Everyone who got sick heard about the symptoms from someone else.

每一个生病的人都是从别人那里听说了这些症状。

When this happens,

当这种情况发生时，

it's called mass psychogenic illness. 用詞

就被称为群体性心因性疾病。

The treatment in these cases is to separate those with symptoms from the rest

治疗这种情况的方法是将有症状的人与其他人分开，

and reassure the ill that,

并向生病的人保证，

yes, their symptoms are real, 語氣意圖

是的，他们的症状是真实的，

but no, they haven't been exposed to anything toxic,

但是不，他们没有接触过任何有毒物质，

and yes, people are getting better quickly.

并且是的，人们都在快速康复。

This last is one of the indicators

这一最后点是区分

that separates a real poison gas leak or biological weapon

真正的毒气泄漏或生物武器

from mass psychogenic illness.

与群体性心因性疾病的指标之一。

But the final factor,

但最后一个因素，

number of cases increasing with greater media coverage,

即随着媒体报道的增加，病例数也会增加，

can lead to this kind of thing spreading far and wide. 習語

会导致这类事件被广泛传播。

Take electrosensitives,

以电磁过敏症患者为例，

people who get nausea,

这些人会感到恶心，

among other things,

以及其他症状，

from exposure to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum,

原因是暴露于部分电磁波谱中，

notably Wi-Fi,

特别是Wi-Fi，

the density of which is increasing over time, 語法

随着时间推移，Wi-Fi的密度越来越大，

forcing particularly bad sufferers to retreat to places

迫使病情特别严重的患者退隐到一些地方，

like the creepy-sounding radio silence zone in,

比如听起来很诡异的无线电静默区，

where else,

还能是哪，

West Virginia.

当然是西弗吉尼亚州。

But put electrosensitives in a room with a Wi-Fi router,

但如果你把电磁过敏症患者和Wi-Fi路由器放在一个房间里，

and they can't actually tell via their symptoms if it's on or off.

他们其实无法通过自己的症状分辨路由器是开还是关。

Instead,

相反，

their symptoms track with being told if it's on or off. 用詞

他们的症状与被告知路由器是开还是关相一致。

And if you make a group of people without electrosensitivity

并且，如果你让一群没有电磁过敏症的人

watch a news report on how Wi-Fi makes you ill,

观看一篇关于Wi-Fi如何让你生病的新闻报道，

while another group watches something uninformative,

同时让另一组人观看毫无营养的内容，

and afterward expose both groups to a fake Wi-Fi signal,

之后让两组人都暴露在假Wi-Fi信号下，

only those who watched the news report feel sick.

只有看了新闻报道的那些人会感到不适。

There's a similar phenomenon called wind farm disease,

还有一种类似现象被称为风电场综合征，

with similar side effects,

有着类似的副作用，

which turns up where it's been talked about on the local news, 短語動詞

当地方新闻报道过它的地方就会出现这种病，

but not in other places in the same country

但在同一个国家里有同样风电场的其他地方

with the same wind farms where it isn't. 語法

只要没被报道，就不会出现这种病。

All this makes it too easy to mock people 語法

这一切都让人太容易嘲笑那些

for thinking they're getting sick from Wi-Fi or wind farms

认为自己因为Wi-Fi或风电场

or wind farms with Wi-Fi,

或者带有Wi-Fi的风电场而生病的人，

but it's important to realize they're not crazy.

但重要的是要意识到他们并没有疯。

The side effects are real,

那些副作用是真实的，

they're just wrong about the source.

他们只是搞错了病源。

All evidence points to the belief in electrosensitivity 短語搭配

所有证据都表明，对电磁过敏症的深信不疑

as the cause of electrosensitivity,

才是导致电磁过敏症的原因，

which means the news reports talking about these illnesses

这意味着谈论这些疾病的新闻报道

are spreading a kind of mind virus. 習語

正在传播一种心理病毒。

And while these are exotic examples, 語法

虽然这些是比较极端的例子，

there's also evidence that some allergies and asthma cases are nocebic,

但也有证据表明，某些过敏和哮喘病例也属于反安慰剂现象，

and thus able to be spread in the same way.

因此也能以同样的方式传播。

To be clear, 表達脈絡

澄清一下，

if someone's having an asthma attack,

如果某人哮喘发作，

that's not the time to tell 語氣意圖

那绝对不是告诉

them you know they're being a drama llama 用詞

他们你知道他们在“戏精上身”的好时机，

because you watched an internet video about the nocebo effect.

仅仅因为你在网上看了个关于反安慰剂效应的视频。

They're really having an asthma attack,

他们是真的在哮喘发作，

and they really need something to make it stop,

他们真的需要一些东西来缓解症状，

and that's really not you showing off your knowledge. 短語動詞

而这真的不是你卖弄知识的时候。

Harmful things aren't just harmful because we believe they are.

有害的东西之所以有害，并不只是因为我们相信它们有害。

The right dose of arsenic will kill you just as surely as an anvil to the head, 語法

适量的砒霜绝对能致命，就像铁砧砸中脑袋一样确凿无疑，

no matter your insistence otherwise. 語法

无论你如何固执地否认。

But the nocebo effect does show that our beliefs about otherwise harmless things can make them harmful, 講解

但反安慰剂效应确实表明，我们对原本无害之物的观念可以让它们变得有害，

which means that our voodoo doctor's hex from before really could work,

这意味着我们前面提到的伏都教巫医的诅咒真的可能起效，

but only if you were foolish enough to believe him. 語法

但前提是你得蠢到去相信他。