2月27日，《人民日报》微信公众号刊发了一篇文章：《450元一瓶！中国这种“神药”在美国卖到脱销，一场流感火了一批代购…》。文中，《人民日报》这样感叹道：“最近几年，我们国人很多家庭必备的东西，都逐渐在国外火了起来，比如老干妈……比如枸杞……而拔火罐也因为神奇的效果而走向了世界。”今天，我们就来看看这款网红药在《华尔街日报》的报道中到底是怎样的？
美国流感肆虐，川贝枇杷膏意
外走红？
作者：
Michael Rovner
译者：
倪凌晖
校对：
刘 蕊
策划：刘 璠
Herbal Supplement Has Some New Yorkers Talking, Instead of Coughing
念慈菴川贝枇杷膏成纽约人新宠？
本文选自 The Washington Post | 取经号原创翻译
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Some claim success with Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, but experts warn of the risks of taking such products
一些人声称念慈菴川贝枇杷膏对治疗咳嗽非常有效，但是专家警告服用类似产品可能存在健康风险。
If there’s one thing New Yorkers love more than discovering a new secret remedy, it’s telling other New Yorkers about it.
纽约人们喜欢去探寻那些新秘方。如果说有什么他们更爱的事情，那要就是把这些秘方告诉其他纽约人。
“I’d been super sick for a week and half and couldn’t stop coughing,” said Alex Schweder, an architect and professor of design at Pratt Institute.
建筑设计师，普瑞特艺术学院设计教授Alex Schweder说：“我病的很重，整整一周半，一直在咳嗽。”
That’s when his girlfriend gave him a bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, an “herbal dietary supplement with honey and loquat,” according to the label.
就在那时，他的女朋友给了他一瓶念慈菴川贝枇杷膏。瓶子的标签上写着：由蜂蜜和枇杷炼成的草药保健品。
“This started working in 15 minutes,” said Mr. Schweder. “I’ve probably gotten about five people to try it, but I’ve told many more.”
Alex Schweder说：“服药后，15分钟内就开始有效果了。我可能已经成功说服五个人尝试这款药了，我还把这款药’安利’给了更多人。”
Mr. Schweder’s girlfriend, Oberon Sinclair, owner of a creative agency, first learned about the herbal supplement nearly 30 years ago when she was living in Hong Kong.
Alex Schweder的女朋友Oberon Sinclair是一家创意公司的老板。她第一次知道这款药是在大约30年前，那时她还住在香港。
The remedy, often referred to simply as Pei Pa Koa, is sold both in cough-drop form and more commonly in 10-ounce bottles in Chinese markets and Chinese pharmacies for approximately $7 as well as online through third parties for up to $70.
这款简称为枇杷膏的药剂，以止咳糖药水的形式，在中国超市和药店里，通常以每瓶10盎司售卖，价格大概在7美元。如果在网上通过第三方购买，价格会高达70美金。
Taking herbal supplements can involve health risks, including when they are used with medicines, consumed in excess or taken instead of prescription medication, said Dr. Keith Brenner, specialist in pulmonary medicine at Columbia University Medical Center at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.
纽约长老会医院哥伦比亚大学医学中心的肺科专家Keith Brenner博士表示，服用草药补给可能会存在一些健康风险，特别是在一下情况下：和药剂一起服用，或服用过量，或取代处方药来服用。
“I think people that use these things may not even disclose them to the physician, and it’s a problem,” he said. “There’s been well-established interactions between herbal and prescription, and the doctor can pick up on it if the patient discloses it.”
他说：“我想那些服用草药补给的人甚至都不会向自己的医生透露自己在服用这种类型的药物。这是错误的。我们可以确定，草药和处方药之间会发生反应。如果病人向医生阐明相关信息，那医生能够提前注意到这点。”
The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers to speak to a health-care provider before taking a supplement and to be wary of any product claims that sound too good to be true. The agency doesn’t have the authority to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness.
美国食品药物管理局建议，人们在服用补给之前应该提前与自己的健康顾问沟通，还要提防任何让人难以置信的“神药”。但是，美国食品药物管理局本身并没有权利审查保健品的安全性和效果。
Herbal remedies with loquat have been produced in China for hundreds of years. The Nin Jiom Medicine Manufactory began producing Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa in Hong Kong in 1946. The Chinese characters on the bottle translate to “Beijing, in memory of my mother loquat thick paste.” The company began marketing it to mainland China, North America, and Europe in the 1980s. Competing loquat syrup remedies are still produced in Hong Kong, but they remain less popular.
含有枇杷成分的草药在中国已经存在数百年了。念慈菴早在1946年就开始制造川贝枇杷膏了。枇杷膏外盒上的中文翻译过来的意思是：京都，纪念我的母亲枇杷膏（京都念慈枇杷膏）。在上世纪80年代，这款补给进入中国大陆、北美和欧洲市场。其他品牌的枇杷糖浆仍然在香港生产，但并没有这么有名。
“All of a sudden, everybody is talking about it,” said Ching Weh Chen, owner of Pearl River, a Chinese market in New York City where the syrup is sold for $7.80. “Chinese people have known about it for a long, long time. It goes back to Qing dynasty, but now it’s
Caucasia
n
customers coming in and asking for it.”
纽约一家名叫Pearl River超市的店主，Ching Weh Chen说：“突然之间，每个人都在谈论念慈庵枇杷膏。中国人在很久很久以前就知道这款药了。它可以追述到清朝，但是，现在
白人
也开始知道它，并来店里买药。”在Chen的店里面，这款枇杷膏卖7.8美元。
Caucasian
/kɔ:ˈkeɪziən; kɔ:ˈkeɪʒn/ noun a member of any of the races of people who have pale skin 白种人；高加索人
Sue Decottis, a physician in internal medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center who also has a private practice, says herbals can have some value and she will, on occasion, recommend them to her patients. She hasn’t prescribed Pei Pa Koa. “There’s also the
placebo effect
with anything like that, but there’s no real money behind it to do big studies,” Dr. Decottis said.
纽约大学兰贡医学中心的内科医生Sue Decottis表示，草药有一定的药用价值，有时她会像病人推荐草药。她自己经营着一家诊所，但她并没有给病人开过枇杷膏。她说：“像这样的药剂，可能会给病人产生
安慰剂
的效果。但是，并没有人会投资大笔钱来研究这种药剂。”
placeb
o effect
[N-COUNT 可数名词] 指用安慰剂治疗后病人病情好转的安慰剂效果；The placebo effect is the fact that some patients' health improves after taking what they believe is an effective drug but which is in fact only a placebo. [usu the N in sing]
“I got a bottle of it in the height of my flu which seemed to hang about this year for two months deep in my chest and not let go,” said Matthew Modine, the actor currently starring in Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Mr. Modine bought the product on Amazon and paid about $30.
最近，在Netflix出品的美剧《怪奇物语》中出演角色的Matthew Modine说：“今年我得过非常严重的流感，持续了两个月，怎么也好不了，于是我买了一瓶枇杷膏。”他在亚马逊上花了30美金。
“My only
trepidation
was that it was coming from a country with different standards,” said Mr. Modine, who was familiar with loquat from his childhood in Los Angeles. “They’d fall off a tree and we’d pick them up and throw them at cars.”
他说：“我唯一
顾
虑的
就是它的生产国的药剂标准和美国不一样。”Modine小时候住在洛杉矶的时候，就对枇杷有所了解。“那时我们会捡从树上掉下来的枇杷，然后把它们扔到车里。”
trepidation
/ˌtrepɪˈdeɪʃn/ noun [U] (formal) great worry or fear about sth unpleasant that may happen 惊恐；恐惧；惊惶；不安
“With respect to influenza, the most critical time to get attention is when the virus hits because antivirals like Tamiflu need to be administered within the first 48 hours if they’re going to be effective,” said Dr. Brenner. “If herbals are the first line of defense, we’d lose that window, especially if someone has other medical problems, and there’s a higher risk the flu virus will lead to hospitalization or even death.”
Brenner医生说：“对于得了流感的人来说，最关键的时刻是病情刚刚开始发作的时候。因为像特敏福这类的抗病毒药物只有在一开始的48小时之内服用才会有效。如果人们服用草药作为第一道防线来抵抗病毒，那我们可能会错过这段至关重要的时间。特别是当病人还有其他问题的时候，他很可能会需要住院治疗，甚至造成死亡。
New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker urged everyone to get a flu shot and said anyone with flu symptoms should see their health-care provider.
纽约州卫生专员Howard Zucker提醒，每一个人都要注射流感疫苗，而且每个有流感症状的人都要去咨询自己的健康顾问。
Poet Max Blagg, who learned about Pei Pa Koa from an
acupun
cturist
in Chinatown, said: “I was a little
apprehensiv
e
. If you look on the label, there’s a thousand herbs you’ve never heard of.”
诗人Max Blagg从自己在唐人街的
针灸师
那里听说了枇杷膏，他说：“我有一些
担
心
。如果你看到标签，它上面有一千种你从来没有听说过的中药。”
