Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English, I’m Callum and with me today is Jennifer. Hello Jennifer.大家好，歡迎收聽BBC六分鐘英語。我是Callum，這是我的搭檔Jennifer。你好，Jennifer。
Hello Callum.
你好，Callum。
Now Jennifer, would you like to help me with a little experiment?
對了Jennifer，你能幫我做個小實驗嗎？
Sure, what do you need me to do?
當然可以啊，要我怎麼做？
Just stay there, don’t move.
站在那，別動。
OW! Why did you do that?
啊，你幹嘛打我？
Did it hurt?
疼嗎？
Of course it did!
當然疼啊。
All in the name of science and learning English Jennifer because today we’re talking about pain! And I wanted to find out if you have a high pain threshold.
呵呵，剛剛打你完全是以科學的名義，而且也是為了學習英語。因為我們今天討論的話題和疼痛有關，我想看看你能否忍受高度疼痛。
Well you could have just asked – you didn’t have to hit me!
好吧，那你直接問我就好了，根本沒必要打我嘛。
Ah, yes, I suppose I could have. Sorry about that. Anyhow, moving on, here’s today’s question.
呃，對，我想是該問問你。對不起。但不管怎樣，我們還得繼續做節目。今天的問題是這樣的。
An anaesthetic is a drug or gas used to stop pain, particularly during medical procedures, but which language does the word come from?
麻醉劑是一種用於止痛的藥物或氣體，尤其在醫療過程中使用特別普遍。那麼你知道這個單詞的詞源是哪裡嗎？
Greek, Latin or Old Norse? What do you think Jennifer?
是來自希臘語、拉丁語還是古斯堪的那維亞語？Jennifer，你覺得呢？
Well I think there are a lot of words from the Greek language when it comes to medicine and things like that so I』ll say Greek.
啊，我覺得吧，有很多醫學類單詞都是來自希臘語，所以我選第一個，希臘語。
OK, we』ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. Now Jennifer, do you think pain is a good thing.
好，節目最後我們將揭曉答案，看看你答對了沒有。Jennifer，你覺得疼痛是件好事嗎？
Well, I』d rather not have it, but I suppose it does tell us that something is wrong.
呃，我寧願不疼痛，不過話說回來，我覺得疼痛確實表明身體出了問題。
Do you think it would be better not to be able to feel pain.
那要是感覺不到疼痛，是不是更好？
Well I think that would be great, particularly after the introduction to this programme!
嗯，我覺得不錯，特別是今天剛剛介紹完節目的時候。
Steve Pete from Washington State in the United States was born with a rare condition which means he has never been able to feel physical pain.He was interviewed on BBC radio about his condition. When was it first diagnosed?
Steve Pete來自美國華盛頓，他天生患有一種罕見的疾病，就是感覺不到身上的疼痛。Steve Pete接受了BBC電臺的採訪，讓我們來了解一下他的病情。你是什麼時候被診斷出患有這種疾病的呢？
Well I was diagnosed with it at a young age. I was a toddler when I began chewing pretty much the whole front portion of my tongue off.
我很小的時候。那時我還是個蹣跚學步的小孩，我把自己的舌頭前面整個部分全咬掉了。
So Jennifer, when was it diagnosed?
Jennifer，他是什麼時候被診斷出患有疾病的呢？
Steve says that it was diagnosed when he was a toddler – which means when he was very young and just starting to walk, so he’s maybe 12 months, 18 months old, something like that.
Steve說他還是一個蹣跚學步的孩子。也就是說他當時很小，剛剛開始走路，所以他可能也就12個月大，或者18個月大，差不多那個時候吧。
Children that age love to chew on things, don’t they?
那麼大的小孩都愛嚼東西，是吧？
Yes, they do, and in Steve’s case it was his own tongue that he chewed on!
嗯，是的，但是Steve嚼的東西竟然是他自己的舌頭！
Ouch! His parents then took him to a paediatrician, which is a children’s doctor. Listen now to what this doctor did to test Steve.
哎喲！後來，Steve的父母帶他去看了paediatrician，也就是兒科醫生。我們一起來聽聽醫生是怎樣給Steve做檢查的。
My parents took me to my paediatrician where he took a lighter, placed it underneath my foot, held it there for a moment until my skin began to blister and then he had a pretty good idea of what it was that my condition was.
我的父母帶我去看了兒科醫生。他拿著一個打火機，把它放在我的腳下，就那樣舉著等了一會。直到我的皮膚開始起泡，醫生馬上就對我的病情了解了。
So what did the doctor do?
所以Jennifer，醫生是怎麼做的呢？
He used a lighter to put fire under the toddler’s foot until it started to burn.
他把打火機放在了這個孩子的腳下，去燒他的皮膚。
And because the child didn’t react in any way he was able to figure out that he had this rare medical condition which is called Congenital Analgesia.
但是這個孩子一點反映都沒有，由此醫生判斷他患了這種罕見的疾病——先天性無痛症。
Steve’s brother shares this condition, so what kinds of problems did it cause them when they were growing up?
Steve的弟弟也患有這種疾病，那麼在他們成長的過程中出現了哪些問題呢？
We were always getting into trouble, we kind of pushed things to the extreme.We』d always end up with broken bones, we』d be visiting the hospitals frequently, wearing casts throughout most of our childhood. So it was quite difficult.
我們總是遇到麻煩，時不時就走了極端。比如我們總是骨折，經常去看醫生，所以童年大部分時間裡，我們身上都綁著石膏。那真的很不方便，很痛苦。
Jennifer, what was his childhood like?
Jennifer，Steve的童年過的怎樣？
He says it was difficult. They made regular visits to hospitals and spent a lot of time wearing casts – a cast is the thick plaster protection that is put on to broken arms and legs.They got lots of broken bones because they didn’t feel pain.
他說童年過的很艱辛。他們得定期去看醫生，而且大部分時間都綁著石膏。啊，石膏就是塗在胳膊和腿外面的那個厚厚的東西，是用來保護胳膊和腿的。正因為感覺不到疼痛，所以他們經常骨折。
So they didn’t know when to stop doing something which could be damaging their body. Have you ever had to wear a cast?
而且他們也不知道該何時停止做那些傷害身體的事情。Jennifer，你綁過石膏嗎？
Luckily I』ve had no broken bones so no, I』ve never worn a cast.
沒有，我很幸運沒有骨折過，所以我從來沒綁過石膏。
I』ve never had a cast either, but I did have a major operation this summer and there was a lot of pain after it.But because of the pain I wasn’t able to move around very much, but that was good, because it meant it gave my body time to heal.If I hadn’t had that pain, I would probably have caused even more damage.
我也從來沒綁過，但是今年夏天我做了一個手術，術後真的很疼。因為疼痛，我不能走動太多。但其實這很好，因為我的身體可以有時間痊癒。要是我當時不疼的話，說不定還會造成更大的傷害呢。
I find it hard to imagine what it must be like to never feel physical pain.
我真的很難想像從來感覺不到疼痛是什麼樣子。
I know, and in the same way Steve Pete finds it hard to imagine what it must be like to feel pain.
我理解，其實Steve Pete和你一樣，他很難想像出疼痛是什麼情況。讓我們一起聽聽他怎麼說。
I』ve never really tried to imagine what it would be like to feel physical pain.I do understand the emotional pain part though. But when it comes to empathy which is kind of interesting it is hard for me to feel sorry for an individual who’s going through a painful situation when it’s regarding physical pain. I do have difficulty with that.
我從未真正想像過感覺到疼痛是什麼樣子。儘管有時我能理解情緒上的痛苦，但是談到同情心這種有趣的東西時，我總是很難對那些身體上正在經歷痛苦的人感到難過。我覺得對我來說有困難。
He talks about the difficulty he has with empathy. What’s empathy Jennifer?
Steve說他很難產生empathy（同情心）。Jennifer，什麼是同情心呢？
Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s feelings and appreciate what that they are experiencing.Because he can’t feel physical pain, he doesn’t really feel sorry for people in painful situations.
恩，同情心就是理解別人情感並領會他人經歷的一種能力。因為他不能感覺到身體上的痛苦，所以他才不會真正對那些遭受身體之痛的人感到難過。
After hearing about the problems of this condition, do you think you』d still like not to feel pain?
聽完了Steve的故事，了解了這種疾病的問題，Jennifer，你還覺得感覺不到痛苦好嗎？
Well I still don’t like feeling pain but I think after hearing this I realise that it’s very useful. What about you?
呃，我還是不喜歡疼痛，但是聽了這個故事後，我意識到感覺疼痛很重要。你怎麼認為的？
I agree with that. Sometimes I would like the pain to be less but I think on balance it’s good to have it.
我同意你的說法。有時我希望痛苦能少一點，但總而言之，能感覺到疼痛其實是件好事。
Well just about time to go but before we do the answer to today’s question, which was about the language origin of the word anaesthetic.
啊，到了和大家說再見的時間了。我們來揭曉本期問題的答案吧。
Which language does the word come from? Greek, Latin or Old Norse? Jennifer, you said?
問題是這樣的，麻醉劑這個單詞來自哪種語言？希臘語、拉丁語還是古斯堪地那維亞語呢？Jennifer，你剛剛選什麼來著？
I thought it was Greek.
我覺得應該是希臘語。
And you were absolutely right, well done, congratulations with that.
回答正確，不錯嘛，恭喜你。
That’s all from us today. Thanks very much Jennifer.
以上就是本期BBC六分鐘英語的全部內容。非常感謝你Jennifer。
Thanks.
不客氣，同樣謝謝你。
And I should say in case anyone was worried, no presenters were harmed during the making of this programme. Goodbye.
啊，對了，我還要說一件事情，免得大家擔心。其實本期節目中演示者並沒有受傷哦~~拜拜。
Goodbye.
拜拜~