【雅思课外精读】 药品如何改变我们的感受？

　　【雅思课外精读】 药品如何改变我们的感受？ 备考雅思的烤鸭们可以在平时多读写英文读物，本文为大家整理了一篇，并为大家做了翻译，一起阅读吧！Real-life love potions 现实中的爱情药水 Drugs that revolutionise many aspects of our romantic relationships could bring a whole new meaning to Valentine’s Day, finds Lilian Anekwe 莉莲·安妮克威(Lilian Anekwe)发现，能彻底改变我们恋爱关系许多方面的药物可能会为情人节带来全新的含义

　　1. IF A pill could make you fall deeper in love and transform your romantic relationships, would you take it? Or if a doctor was able to prescribe an anti-love drug to help a break-up go smoothly and avoid a potential lifetime of heartache, would you urge your partner to make an appointment?

　　如果一颗药丸会让您深深陷入爱情，改变您的爱情，您愿意吃下它吗?或者，如果医生能够开出抗爱情药物来让分手顺利进行，并避免可能的心痛，您是否让您的伴侣预约这样的药丸呢?

　　2. For Brian D. Earp and Julian Savulescu, who pose these questions in Love is the Drug, these aren’t merely theoretical or philosophical matters. There already are drugs, both legal and illegal, that can alter our minds and the way we think about love, sex and relationships.

　　布赖恩·厄普(Brian D. Earp)和朱利安·萨弗勒斯库(Julian Savulescu)在“《爱之药》中提出这些问题，对于他们来说，这些不仅仅是理论或哲学的问题。现在已经有一些药物，非法或者合法的都有，可以改变我们的想法以及我们对爱情、性和人际关系的看法。

　　3. “All of these love drugs exist right now. Others have yet to be created,” they write. As such, it is no longer a question of can we use the chemicals to control our feelings, but should we. This gives Earp, a cognitive scientist, and Savulescu, a doctor turned philosopher, the scope to ask deliberately provocative questions to stoke the debate. It is time to imagine a world in which we can chemically alter feelings, they say. In an interview with New Scientist, Savulescu says he has pushed for such a debate since he became interested when a relationship ended after 15 years; Earp says his motivation is to get beyond the sentimental “sense that love is thisdisembodied thing that happens in a soul”.

　　“所有这些催爱药目前都存在。其他的一些还未研制出来。”他们写道。因此，我们是否能够使用化学药物来控制我们的感情已经不是问题了，应该关注的是我们应不应该使用这些药物。这使认知科学家Earp和医生-哲学家Savulescu可以提出这样具有挑衅意味的问题来引发辩论。他们称，现在是时候想象一个世界，在这个世界上我们可以用化学来改变感觉。Savulescu在接受《新科学家》采访时表示，自从他自己15年的恋爱关系结束后，他对此就很有兴趣，也一直在推动此类辩论。Earp说，他的动机是超越感性的感觉的，即爱是发生在灵魂中的无形事物。

　　4. “It’s going to be the case that we’re able to do something about love, and that changes the choice set before us,” says Earp. “We can no longer just shrug our shoulders and say – love is just something that happens to you. Given that there’s going to be and, in some ways, already are active steps that we can take to shape the course of our romantic lives, once a choice is available to you, failing to engage is not a choice.”

　　Earp说：“事实是，我们能够对爱情有所作为，这会改变摆在我们面前的选择。” “我们不能再耸耸肩说：爱只是碰巧发生在你身上的事情。鉴于将要在某种程度上并且已经在某些方面我们已经采取积极措施来塑造我们的爱情生活，一旦有所选择，我们就不能放弃。”

　　5. In the book, the authors detail how conventional medicines, such as antidepressants, can have libido-altering side effects that may affect relationships. “We have good theoretical reasons, and now increasing empirical reasons, to think that these drugs are having effects on our romantic neurochemistry,” says Earp. “They’re having those effects whether we measure them or not. What would be foolish would be to fail to understand the effects of the drugs we’re already using – [drugs that are approved and seen as medicinal].”

　　在这本书中，作者详细介绍了传统药物(例如抗抑郁药)如何具有改变性欲的副作用，这可能会影响恋爱关系。Earp说：“我们有充分的理论依据，现在有越来越多的经验，认为这些药物对我们的爱情神经化学有影响。” “无论我们是否对这些方面进行测量，这些药物都会产生这些影响。愚蠢的是无法理解我们已经在使用的药物[那些已被批准并被视为药用药物]的影响。

　　6. The book doesn’t ignore the possible hype around the subject. For example, it sounds a note of caution over the many research claims made for the so-called “love hormone” oxytocin – amolecule made by the hypothalamus that acts on the brain, and plays a role in bonding, sex and pregnancy. There should still be a healthy scepticism about the effects of oxytocin nasal sprays, say Earp and Savulescu: the results of studies of its ability to enhance relationships should be taken with “a grain of salt”, they write.

　　这本书并没有忽略有关该主题可能的炒作。例如，所谓的“爱情荷尔蒙”催生素。爱情荷尔蒙是由下丘脑产生的一种分子，在大脑中起作用，并在性交、性和怀孕中起作用。Earp和Savulescu说，对催生素鼻喷雾剂的作用仍然应该有合理的怀疑，他们写道，对于其对爱情关系的促进作用的研究结果应该持半信半疑的态度。

　　7. But the scepticism might be addressed if there were more rigorous studies of the way drugs affect our relationships, the authors argue. “This is a blind spot in Western medicine: the tendency to ignore the interpersonal effects of drug based interventions,” they write. “It should be a scandal that we don’t know more about the effects of these drugs (good or bad) on our romantic partnerships.”

　　作者认为，如果对药物影响两性关系的方式进行更严格的研究，则可以消除这种怀疑。他们写道：“这在西方医学中是一个盲点：人们倾向于忽略药物对于人际关系的干预效应。” “没法更加了解这些药物(好或坏)对我们浪漫爱情的影响，真是个丑闻。”

　　8. This needn’t be restricted to chemicals that alter our relationships “for the better”, say the authors. They explore the potential of “anti-love drugs” to suppress emotions like jealousy, and drugs that could help break the attachment of an abused person to their abuser.

　　作者认为，这不必局限于能使两性关系“变得更好”的化学药物。他们研究了“抗爱药”抑制嫉妒之类的情绪的潜力，以及可以帮助打破受虐待者对他们的依附者依恋的药物。 9. Drugs could also suppress sexual desires. Love is the Drug attempts to address even more controversial questions, such as whether we should permit the use of such medicines to curb what society may see as taboo or deviant sexual desires, or even addictions to onlinepornograph.

　　药物也可能抑制性欲。《爱之药》试图解决甚至更多有争议的问题，例如我们是否允许使用这类药物来遏制社会上可能被视为禁忌的性欲望，甚至是抑制我们对网上色情内容的依赖。

　　10. We learn, too, about the growing use of illegal drugs such as MDMA and psilocybin as a means to help people with relationship problems. Psilocybin the psychoactive substance in magic mushrooms, is being explored under strict controls and supervision by psychiatrist alongside other treatments, for people with post-traumatic stress disorder, which can be a cause of relationship breakdown.

　　我们也了解到，人们越来越多地非法药物(例如MDMA和psilocybin)来帮助有感情问题的人。精神病医生正在严格控制和监督下，对精神蘑菇中的精神活性物质Psilocybin进行治疗，以应对患有创伤后应激障碍的人，创伤后应激障碍可能是导致关系破裂的原因。

　　11. There is also a suggestion from research in mice that MDMA, also known as ecstasy, might help to relieve social anxiety for people with autism.

　　小鼠研究表明，MDMA，也被称为摇头丸，可能有助于减轻自闭症患者的社交焦虑。。

　　12. “We’re not talking about a chemical utopia where everybody tries whatever drugs they want,” says Savulescu. But neither should individuals have to get a diagnosis in order to qualify for love drugs for medicinal purposes, he argues.

　　“我们不是在谈论一个人人都想尝试任何药物的化学乌托邦，”Savulescu说。但他认为，个人也不应该为了有资格获得用于医疗目的的爱情药物而必须进行诊断。 13. “We don’t need to call them medicinal or recreational drugs says Savulescu. “We can introduce a third category. We need to identify the people for whom they would be genuine welfare enhancers, not crutches, not replacements for dealing with the deep questions in their lives, but people for whom they would genuinely improve their lives.”

　　Savulescu说：“我们不需要称它们为药用或休闲药物。我们可以引入第三个类别。我们需要找到的是那些使用药物之后生活能够带来改善的人，而不是只是把这些药物当做促进品或者是替代物的人。是那些真正需要改善的人。”

　　14. But this would mean breaking free of society’s distinction between legal and illegal drugs.“Everything is just chemicals, and whether we decided to call it medicine or not is largely a social and value decision,” says Earp.

　　但这将意味着打破社会对合法毒品和非法毒品的区分。Earp说:“一切都是化学品，我们是否决定将其称为药物，在很大程度上是由社会和其价值决定。

　　15. The authors say they don’t know if society is ready for this new approach, to start a new relationship with drugs as chemical love enhancers. But they are happy to matchmake.

　　他们不知道社会是否准备好采用这种新方法，开始将药物作为化学爱情促进剂。但他们很乐意撮合。