眾所周知，蝎子具有極高的藥用價值，是我國中醫臨床常用的動物藥材。對于廣西貧困村弄京村來說，蝎子是村民的致富法寶，但是，對于蘭迪?賴特來說，與蝎子打交道的經歷卻不怎么愉快。本期老外在中國，蘭迪?賴特將講述他與蝎子的一段趣事。

Certain bugs get my attention - especially poisonous ones, like scorpions.
某些蟲子對我很有吸引力——尤其是有毒的那種，比如蝎子。

I know something about scorpions, having made personal acquaintance with them when I lived in southern Arizona in the United States. So I perked up recently when I saw an article about scorpions in China Daily.
我在美國亞利桑那州南部生活時與蝎子打過交道，對其有所了解。所以最近在《中國日報》上看到一篇關于蝎子的文章時，我很興奮。

In poverty-stricken Nongjing village, located in a remote part of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, residents have found a novel way to raise their standard of living - by raising scorpions.
貧困村弄京村坐落于廣西壯族自治區的偏遠地區，這里的村民通過養殖蝎子找到了改善生活水平的新途徑。

It's a success story for China, where the poverty line is 2,300 yuan ($334) a year - and scorpion venom can bring a family 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a month.
這是一個成功脫貧的中國故事，中國的貧困標準是年收入2300元（334美元），而蝎子的毒液能給每戶家庭帶來2000-3000元的月收入。

The venom has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to treat chronic pain, paralysis, internal bleeding and epilepsy. Scientists have identified dozens of promising proteins in the Nongjing variety. Some have analgesic properties. Others are anti-microbial. Still others seem to act as muscle relaxants and anti-convulsants. Some appear to have anti-tumor properties that might be useful against cancer.
早在數百年前，蝎子的毒液就已被中醫用來治療慢性疼痛、癱瘓、內出血和癲癇?？茖W家們已經在弄京村培育的蝎子品種中鑒定出幾十種有藥用價值的蛋白質。有些具有鎮痛功效，有的有抗菌性，還有些蛋白可以作為肌肉松弛劑和抗痙攣藥物。有些蛋白質似乎具有抗腫瘤的特性，或許對抵抗癌癥有益。

The life-span of these mini predators is about 4 to 6 years — same as the yellow bark scorpions of southern Arizona.
這種小型肉食動物的壽命約為4-6年——和亞利桑那州南部的黃樹皮蝎子一樣。

Which brings me to Harold, the scorpion I named years ago.
這讓我想起了哈羅德，這是多年前我給一只蝎子取的名字。

I often worked late, returning home after the family was in bed. It was normal for my toddler son to curl up next to his mother and go to sleep. Nobody wore pajamas. Desert temperatures would plummet to 4℃.
那時候我經常加班，回家后家人都已經睡著了。我蹣跚學步的兒子通常蜷縮著睡在他母親旁邊。沒有人穿睡衣。沙漠里的氣溫會驟降至4℃。

And so one night I began my normal ritual, wrapping my hands around my son's little body to carry him to his own bed, when suddenly … Wham!! Wham!! … a scorpion lurking beneath him struck my finger twice.
所以，當一天晚上我開始例行公事用手抱住兒子幼小的身體，將他帶到他自己的床上時，突然，砰！砰！……一只潛伏在他身下的蝎子對著我的手指咬了兩下。

There's no word to express the exquisite pain — the worst I've ever experienced. It spread up my arm, causing swelling and numbness that would last for years. I yelled at my wife to take me to the hospital. She replied calmly: "What for? They can't do anything; stop being a baby." But I insisted. When I saw the doctor, he told me: "Sorry, there's nothing I can do."
這種劇烈的疼痛無法用語言來形容，對我來說是前所未有的。疼痛順著我的手臂蔓延，造成的腫脹和麻木會持續多年。我對妻子大喊，讓她帶我去醫院。她平靜地回答：“為什么？他們什么也做不了；別跟個嬰兒一樣。”但是我堅持要去醫院。當我見到醫生時，他對我說：“對不起，我無能為力?！?/p>

Anyway, before leaving the house, I had heroically retrieved a glass jar and searched the bedding for the sneaky villain. Obviously, it couldn't be left to sting someone else. I saw him skittering toward a pillow and slammed the jar down. Gotcha!
盡管如此，在離家之前，我曾英勇地找了一個玻璃罐，在被褥中搜索那個“卑鄙小人”。顯然，不能留著他再去蜇別的人。我看見他正躥向一個枕頭，于是把罐子一扣。抓到啦！

I kept him in the jar for a long time and named him Harold. I planned to tell my son one day: "This is the scorpion I took for you, buddy; remember this when I'm old."
我將他關在罐子里很久，給他起名叫哈羅德。我打算某天告訴兒子：“這是我為你抓的蝎子，伙計；等到我老了你要記得?！?/p>

Weeks later, I thought even scorpions might get thirsty. So I kindly added a few drops of water to the jar. And Harold promptly died. Oops.
幾個星期后，我想蝎子可能也會口渴。于是便往罐子里加了幾滴水。而哈羅德馬上就死了。哎。

I'm not sure I should have chosen the name Harold. For all I knew, he might have been female. Lan Tianting in Guangxi's Nongjing village knows the difference. The 25-year-old has a single job at the scorpion farm — segregating female and male scorpions. I'm curious: Does he peek underneath or what?
我不確定應不應該選擇哈羅德這個名字。據我所知，它可能是雌性的。廣西弄京村的藍天庭（音譯）知道他們的區別。25歲的藍天庭在蝎子養殖場的一項工作就是將雌性和雄性蝎子分開。我很好奇：他是偷瞄了他們下面還是怎樣？

編譯：董靜
審校：丹妮

About the Author:
關于作者：

Randy Wright joined China Daily as an editor in 2013. His career spans 36 years and 10 newspapers in the United States in senior management, editorial writing and reporting roles. He served as adjunct faculty at the University of Arizona and has consulted for many publications, including the California Bar Journal for lawyers and judges. He is a licensed pilot in the US.
蘭迪?賴特：2013年成為《中國日報》編輯。36年的職業生涯中，他曾供職于10家美國報紙，擔任過管理層、專欄作家和記者等職務。他是亞利桑那大學的兼職教師，擔任過許多出版物的顧問，包括專為法官和律師出版的《加利福尼亞律師》。他擁有美國的飛行員執照。