My New Love Affair with... Traditional Chinese Medicine 我和中醫的「新戀情」
圖片來源：一百隻熊
My New Love Affair with... Traditional Chinese Medicine
A few months ago, I was down with a terrible cold which ended with a persistent bad cough. No matter how many different remedies I tried, I still couldn't get rid of the debilitating cough. Not only did it inconvenience my teaching but also my life as a whole.
Then one day after class, a student came up to me and recommended traditional Chinese medicine. From her description, Chinese medicine sounded as if it had magic power that worked wonders; I was hesitant about it because I knew so little about it and have never tried it before. Eventually, my cough got so much worse that I couldn't sleep at night, so I decided to give it a go.
The Chinese doctor took my pulse and asked to see my tongue, both of which were new experiences to me because they are both non-existent in Western medicine. Then the doctor gave me a scrapping treatment known as ‘Gua Sha'. I was a little scared at first because he used a smooth edged tool to scrape the skin on my neck and shoulders. A few minutes later, the pressured strokes started to feel really relaxing and my body and mind began to sink deeper into relaxation.
Just as I was about to doze off, the doctor took out some funny-looking cups and a gun-like tool. He told me that this special ‘cupping treatment' will help bring blood flow to the muscles, and drain the toxins from my system. I was completely baffled when he put the cups on my back with a strong vacuum suction. My skin was sucked into the cups and my whole body was racked with pain. It felt terrific when the cups came off in the end, but my whole body looked as if I'd been beaten up by some violent criminal.
The end result was a testament to what my student said to me - it did work wonders. After the ‘cupping' and ‘scraping' treatments, I found myself coughing less that week, and soon after, I was cured. Now, I've got this new love affair with traditional Chinese medicine, it's fascinating and filled with endless philosophies and possibilities.
----------------------------
數月前，我被一場重感冒擊倒，結果久咳不止。無論嘗試多少種不同的治療方法，始終不能擺脫這陣令人虛弱的咳嗽。它不僅對我的教學工作造成不便，也全面影響我的生活。
一天課後，有位同學走上前來向我推薦中醫療法。在她的描述裡，中醫彷彿有股魔力，能創造奇蹟。由於我對中醫了解得很少，且從未嘗試過，因此有點猶豫。最後，因為咳嗽愈來愈厲害，甚至讓我晚上睡不著，於是，我決心放手一搏。
中醫師為我把脈，還查看了我的舌頭，這樣的經歷對我而言十分新奇，因為西醫裡不存在這樣的診療法。接著，中醫師為我進行「刮痧」治療。起初我有點害怕，因為中醫師用了一個光滑、有邊的工具，來刮我頸部和背部的皮膚。幾分鐘後，被施壓刮過的部位感覺很放鬆，我的身心開始慢慢進入一種舒緩的狀態。
就在我快要打瞌睡時，中醫師拿出一些看來很滑稽的杯子，和一個槍狀的工具。他告訴我，這種特殊的「拔罐療法」，有助於肌肉的血液循環，並將毒素從體內排除。當他把杯子扣在我背部，並用強有力的真空吸引器吸走杯內空氣時，我非常困惑。接著，我的皮膚被吸進杯中，整個身體疼痛難忍。當杯子最後從背部拿下時，我感覺棒透了，但是身體看起來似乎被罪犯痛打了一頓。
不過，最後的結果證明了我的學生所言——中醫的確能夠創造奇蹟。經過拔罐和刮痧療法，那一週，我發現咳嗽開始緩解，後來很快就痊癒了。如今，我愛上了中醫，它不僅深深吸引我，而且還帶給我無窮的哲理和無限可能。
----------------------------
LanguageCorner
1. debilitating（變弱）: something is debilitating if it makes you physically weak.
2. work wonders（創造奇蹟）: if something works wonders, it has a very good effect.
3. give it a go（決心一搏）: if you give something a go, it means you want to test the effectiveness or acceptability of something.
4. scrape（刮）: to scrape means to rub the surface of something against something rough.
5. doze off（打瞌睡）: to doze off means to sleep lightly and intermittently.
6. toxin（毒素）: a poisonous substance.
7. baffle（使困惑）: if something baffles you, you cannot understand it at all.
8. racked with pain（遭受巨大痛苦）: if someone is racked with pain, they suffer a lot because of it.