【英译汉】

　　The main impression growing out of twelve years on the faculty of a medical school is that the No.1 health problem in the U.S. today, even more than AIDS or cancer, is that Americans don’t know how to think about health and illness. Our reactions are formed on the terror level. We fear the worst, expect the worst, thus invite the worst. The result is that we are becoming a nation of weaklings and hypochondriacs, a self-medicating society incapable of distinguishing between casual, everyday symptoms and those that require professional attention.

　　Early in life, too, we become seized with the bizarre idea that we are constantly assaulted by invisible monsters called germs, and that we have to be on constant alert to protect ourselves against their fury. Equal emphasis, however, is not given to the presiding fact that our bodies are superbly equipped to deal with the little demons and the best way of forestalling an attack is to maintain a sensible life-style.

　　【参考译文】

　　在医学院任教十二年来，我获得的最主要的印象就是，当今美国头号健康问题——一个比艾滋病或者是癌症更为严重的问题——是美国人不知该如何去认识健康与疾病。我们的反应是惊恐万分。我们怕最坏的事，想着最坏的打算，却迎来了最坏的事。结果就是我们变成了一个孱弱不堪的，总是疑心自己有病的民族、一个分不清哪些是日常偶发症状、那些是需要专业治疗，而自己擅自用药的社会。

　　年轻的时候，还种下了一种奇怪的念头，一种肉眼看不见的名为细菌的小妖怪在不断地向我们进攻，而我们必须长期不懈的保护自己不受伤害。然而，我们应该却没有给予同等重视的一点，那就是我们的身体装备精良，足够对付这些小妖怪。而防止它们进攻的最好方式是，保持一种合理的生活方式。