用英語說中國文化藝術 第20期:飲食文化之國人對健康的認識

Chinese Thought of Health

中國人對健康的認識

The Chinese regard health，in a universe of constant changes，as a state of balance established between the body and the natural world as well as between the different components of the body itself.

中國人認爲健康是在萬物的不斷運動中，人與自然、人身體各要素之間建立的一種平衡狀態。

The Chinese believe that illness occurs when this balance is disturbed.

中國人認爲這種平衡狀態被破壞時，疾病也就發生了。

Those illnesses caused by heat or“overfullness” are“yang diseases”; those caused by cold or“deficiency” are “yin diseases”.

由“熱證”和“過度”導致的疾病被稱爲“陽疾”，由“寒證”和“缺乏”導致的疾病被稱爲“陰疾”。

The task of the physician，as one early medical text puts it, it simply to“eliminate overfullness and make up deficiency”，thus restoring the body to balance; or, better still，to keep his

正如一個早期醫書上說的那樣，醫生的任務僅僅是“消除過度，彌補不足”，從而使身體恢復平衡，或者，更好的辦法是讓病人保持足夠的健康來抵禦體外破壞平衡的因素。

The human body is thought of as a system for dealing with vital energy，and to a traditional Chinese doctor all that needs to be done to patient healthy enough to resist the effect of any destabilizing factor outside the rvene in the body's workings can be done either through the administration of drugs or herbs or through manipulation at the surface of the body.

人體被看作是由生命力維持的系統。傳統中醫認爲，通過口服藥物或草藥或在體表上鍼灸可以干預人體的運轉，這是我們需要做的。