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@ 50632 上火
A 你怎麼不吃了？這可是你最愛吃的水煮魚。
nǐ zěnme bù chī le? zhè kěshì nǐ zuì ài chī de shuǐzhǔyú.
Why aren't you eating? This is your beloved ``Water-Boiled Fish."
B 我這幾天上火了，不能吃辣的。
wǒ zhèjǐtiān shànghuǒ le, bùnéng chī là de.
The last few days I've had excessive internal heat. I can't eat spicy things.
A 上火？這裡沒有火啊。還吹著空調呢。
shànghuǒ? zhèlǐ méiyǒu huǒ a. hái chuī zhe kōngtiáo ne.
Excessive internal heat? There's no fire in this. And the air-conditioner is on!
B 不是啦。我說的上火是中醫上的一種說法。套用中醫的話說，上火就是人體陰陽失衡後出現的內熱症。感覺渾身像燒了一把火一樣。
bù shì la. wǒ shuō de shànghuǒ shì zhōngyī shàng de yīzhǒng shuōfa. tàoyòng zhōngyī de huà shuō, shànghuǒ jiùshì réntǐ yīnyáng shīhéng hòu chūxiàn de nèirèzhèng. gǎnjué húnshēn xiàng shāo le yī bǎ huǒ yīyàng.
It's not that. The internal heat I'm talking about is a concept from traditional Chinese medicine. To borrow a phrase from Chinese medicine, excessive internal heat is a heat disease that shows up when the Yin and Yang in a person's body get out of balance. You feel like you're burning from head to foot.
A 看你說了半天，那不就是發燒嗎？
kàn nǐ shuō le bàntiān, nà bù jiùshì fāshāo ma?
You've talked about it for ages, but isn't that just a fever?
B 發燒只是症狀之一，並不是上火本身。上火分成好幾種，有心火、肝火、胃火、還有肺火，而且有不一樣的症狀。你可別小看了它，很多疾病都是上火引起的。什麼頭疼腦熱啊，牙齦腫痛啊，都是。
fāshāo zhǐshì zhèngzhuàng zhīyī, bìng bù shì shànghuǒ běnshēn. shànghuǒ fēnchéng hǎojǐ zhǒng, yǒu xīnhuǒ, gānhuǒ, wèihuǒ, hái yǒu fèihuǒ, érqiě yǒu bùyīyàng de zhèngzhuàng. nǐ kě bié xiǎokàn le tā, hěn duō jíbìng dōu shì shànghuǒ yǐnqǐ de. shénme tóuténgnǎorè a, yáyín zhǒngtòng a, dōu shì.
Fever is just one of the symptoms. But that isn't the essence of excessive internal heat. There are several different kinds: heart fire, liver fire, stomach fire, and lung fire. Each one has different symptoms. Don't underestimate it. A lot of diseases are brought about by excessive internal heat. Things like headache and fever, swelling of the gums.
A 哪來這麼多火？我看沒什麼大不了的。我覺得中醫老是故弄玄虛，扯一大堆奇奇怪怪的道理。頭疼和牙疼都是神經性的，怎麼可能是火？
nǎ lái zhème duō huǒ? wǒ kàn méishénme dàbuliǎo de. wǒ juéde zhōngyī lǎoshi gùnòngxuánxū, chě yīdàduī qíqíguàiguài de dàolǐ. tóuténg hé yáténg dōu shì shénjīngxìng de, zěnme kěnéng shì huǒ?
Where does all that fire come from? I can't see anything too special here. I think traditional Chinese medicine is always intentionally making things mysterious. It pulls together a big bunch of strange arguments. Headaches and toothaches are mental problems. How can they be caused by fire?
B 這你就不懂了。你們西醫看問題是看表面。而我們中醫是標本兼治。我給你舉個例子，現在很多人臉上長青春痘，但是擦護膚品一點用都沒有。為什麼呢？因為根源是上火，一定要去火調理。
zhè nǐ jiù bù dǒng le. nǐmen xīyī kàn wèntí shì kàn biǎomiàn. ér wǒmen zhōngyī shì biāoběnjiānzhì. wǒ gěi nǐ jǔ ge lìzi, xiànzài hěn duō rén liǎn shàng zhǎng qīngchūndòu, dànshì cā hùfūpǐn yīdiǎn yòng dōu méiyǒu. wèishénme ne? yīnwèi gēnyuán shì shànghuǒ, yīdìng yào qùhuǒ tiáolǐ.
You just don't understand. Your Western medicine sees only the surface of problems. But our Chinese medicine cures both the symptoms and the roots of problems. I'll give you an example. These days a lot of people have acne on their faces. But facial cleansing products don't work at all. Why is that? Because the underlying reason is excessive internal heat. You need to get rid of it to recuperate.
A 有上火，還有去火？難不成中醫都是消防員，哪裡著了火，就趕去滅火？
yǒu shànghuǒ, hái yǒu qùhuǒ? nánbùchéng zhōngyī dōu shì xiāofángyuán, nǎli zháo le huǒ, jiù gǎnqù mièhuǒ?
There's excessive heat, and also getting rid of the heat? Does this mean that Chinese doctors are firefighters? They go wherever there's fire and put it out?
B 你要這麼理解也行。其實在中醫裡，根據問題對症下藥是很關鍵的。一般來說，比較苦的或者水分多的食物都是涼性的，可以去火。還有很多中草藥是專門用來去火的。
nǐ yào zhème lǐjiě yě xíng. qíshí zài zhōngyī lǐ, gēnjù wèntí duìzhèngxiàyào shì hěn guānjiàn de. yībānláishuō, bǐjiào kǔ de huòzhě shuǐfèn duō de shíwù dōu shì liángxìng de, kěyǐ qùhuǒ. hái yǒu hěn duō zhōngcǎoyào shì zhuānmén yònglái qùhuǒ de.
It's fine if you want to understand it that way. Actually, in Chinese medicine, the key is fitting the medicine to the disease. Generally speaking, bitter things or things that contain a lot of water are cooling foods and help you get rid of excessive internal heat. And there are a lot of traditional Chinese herbal medicines specially for helping you get rid of excessive internal heat.
A 那苦瓜一定是去火的吧？
nà kǔguā yīdìng shì qùhuǒ de ba?
So bitter melon must be one, right?
B 喲，你學得真快啊。不過要先搞清火的類型，然後才可以有針對性地去火。比如我剛剛說的心火。如果心火太旺，就會心煩、失眠、口舌生瘡什麼的。這個時候，用蓮子清火，效果特別好。
yō, nǐ xué de zhēn kuài a. bùguò yào xiān gǎoqīng huǒ de lèixíng, ránhòu cái kěyǐ yǒu zhēnduìxìng de qùhuǒ. bǐrú wǒ gānggāng shuō de xīnhuǒ. rúguǒ xīnhuǒ tài wàng, jiù huì xīnfán, shīmián, kǒushé shēngchuāng shénme de. zhègeshíhòu, yòng liánzǐ qīnghuǒ, xiàoguǒ tèbié hǎo.
Whoa, you learn fast. But first you have to figure out the type of internal heat before you can use the appropriate medicine. For example, think of the heart fire I just mentioned. If you have too much fire in your heart, you will feel annoyed, you'll be insomniac, and you'll get sores on your tongue. At times like this, you get really good results from using lotus seeds to get rid of internal heat.
A 啊？怎麼可能？那些毛病可難纏了，吃幾顆小小的蓮子就能好？
ǎ? zěnme kěnéng? nàxiē máobìng kě nánchán le, chī jǐ kē xiǎoxiǎo de liánzǐ jiù néng hǎo?
Huh? How can that be? Those problems are really tough to solve. Can you really get better just by eating a few small seeds?
B 當然不是啦。中醫講究長期調養，得慢慢兒來。這點跟西醫有很大不同。
dāngrán bù shì la. zhōngyī jiǎngjiu chángqī tiáoyǎng, děi mànmānr lái. zhèdiǎn gēn xīyī yǒu hěn dà bùtóng.
Of course not! Chinese medicine puts a lot of importance on long term care. You need to go slowly. This is very different from Western medicine.
A 哦！那肝火是什麼？要怎麼去呢？
ò! nà gānhuǒ shì shénme? yào zěnme qù ne?
Oh! So what's fire in the liver? How do you get rid of it?
B 肝火的問題就嚴重了。不光是生理上的，還和情緒有關。容易激動的人往往肝火大。肝火一大，人就容易口乾舌燥、口臭、頭痛、頭暈、眼乾、睡眠不穩定、身體悶熱……
gānhuǒ de wèntí jiù yánzhòng le. bùguāng shì shēnglǐ shàng de, hái hé qíngxù yǒuguān. róngyì jīdòng de rén wǎngwǎng gānhuǒ dà. gānhuǒ yī dà, rén jiù róngyì kǒugānshézào, kǒuchòu, tóutòng, tóuyūn, yǎn gān, shuìmián bù wěndìng, shēntǐ mēnrè......
Fire in the liver is really serious. This is not just a physical problem, it is also related to your state of mind. It's easy for excitable people to get fire in the liver. As soon as the fire in your liver gets too hot, it's easy for you to get dry mouth, bad breath, headache and dizziness, dry eyes, disturbed sleep, and mugginess in the body.
A 慘了，我可能就有點肝火旺。你說的這些，我大部分都有。
cǎn le, wǒ kěnéng jiù yǒudiǎn gānhuǒ wàng. nǐ shuō de zhèxiē, wǒ dàbùfen dōu yǒu.
Oh, what a drag. Maybe I have a bit of fire in the liver. I have the majority of the things you just mentioned.
B 我覺得你是胃火旺。看看你的飲食習慣，每天大魚大肉的、還喜歡吃辛辣刺激的東西。身體裡面不知道堆積了多少火。你最好多吃點清火的東西。你前面提到的苦瓜就很好。夏天還可以多喝點涼茶。
wǒ juéde nǐ shì wèihuǒ wàng. kànkan nǐ de yǐnshí xíguàn, měitiān dàyúdàròu de, hái xǐhuan chī xīnlà cìjī de dōngxi. shēntǐ lǐmiàn bù zhīdào duījī le duōshao huǒ. nǐ zuìhǎo duō chī diǎn qīnghuǒ de dōngxi. nǐ qiánmian tídào de kǔguā jiù hěn hǎo. xiàtiān hái kěyǐ duō hē diǎn liángchá.
I think what you have is fire in the stomach. Look at what you like to eat and drink. Every day you eat a lot of fish and meat. And you like to eat painfully hot and stimulating food. Who knows how much heat has accumulated in your body. You'd better eat some more things that clear out your internal heat. The bitter melon you just mentioned is excellent. During the summer, you can drink a little more iced tea.
A 苦瓜？算了吧，那麼苦的東西我一口都咽不下。到時候，明明沒火也吃出火來。
kǔguā? suànle ba, nàme kǔ de dōngxi wǒ yī kǒu dōu yàn bu xià. dàoshíhou, míngmíng méi huǒ yě chīchū huǒ lái.
Bitter melon? Forget it. I can't eat a single mouthful of such bitter stuff. When the time comes, it will make me hot if I'm not already.
Key Vocabulary
上火 shànghuǒ to rise in internal heat
故弄玄虛 gùnòngxuánxū to deliberately create an air of mystery
標本兼治 biāoběnjiānzhì to treat both the cause and the symptoms
對症下藥 duìzhèngxiàyào to match the medicine to the illness
去火 qùhuǒ to reduce internal heat
難纏 nánchán demanding
陰陽失衡 yīnyáng shīhéng imbalance of yin and yang
內熱症 nèirèzhèng internal heat syndrome
頭疼腦熱 tóuténgnǎorè to have a headache and low fever
口舌生瘡 kǒushé shēngchuāng to get cold sores
口乾舌燥 kǒugānshézào dry tongue and mouth
Supplementary Vocabulary
痔瘡 zhìchuāng hemorrhoids
潰瘍 kuìyáng ulcer
清熱 qīngrè clearing heat
解毒 jiědú to detoxify
鍼灸 zhēnjiǔ acupuncture or moxibustion
拔火罐 bá huǒguàn to apply cupping
推拿 tuīná massage
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