老外在中国：我的蝎子叫哈罗德

众所周知，蝎子具有极高的药用价值，是我国中医临床常用的动物药材。对于广西贫困村弄京村来说，蝎子是村民的致富法宝，但是，对于兰迪•赖特来说，与蝎子打交道的经历却不怎么愉快。本期老外在中国，兰迪•赖特将讲述他与蝎子的一段趣事。

Certain bugs get my attention - especially poisonous ones, like scorpions.

某些虫子对我很有吸引力——尤其是有毒的那种，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.

我在美国亚利桑那州南部生活时与蝎子打过交道，对其有所了解。所以最近在《中国日报》上看到一篇关于蝎子的文章时，我很兴奋。

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.

贫困村弄京村坐落于广西壮族自治区的偏远地区，这里的村民通过养殖蝎子找到了改善生活水平的新途径。

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.

这是一个成功脱贫的中国故事，中国的贫困标准是年收入2300元（334美元），而蝎子的毒液能给每户家庭带来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.

早在数百年前，蝎子的毒液就已被中医用来治疗慢性疼痛、瘫痪、内出血和癫痫。科学家们已经在弄京村培育的蝎子品种中鉴定出几十种有药用价值的蛋白质。有些具有镇痛功效，有的有抗菌性，还有些蛋白可以作为肌肉松弛剂和抗痉挛药物。有些蛋白质似乎具有抗肿瘤的特性，或许对抵抗癌症有益。

The life-span of these mini predators is about 4 to 6 years — same as the yellow bark scorpions of southern Arizona.

这种小型肉食动物的寿命约为4-6年——和亚利桑那州南部的黄树皮蝎子一样。

Which brings me to Harold, the scorpion I named years ago.

这让我想起了哈罗德，这是多年前我给一只蝎子取的名字。

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℃.

那时候我经常加班，回家后家人都已经睡着了。我蹒跚学步的儿子通常蜷缩着睡在他母亲旁边。没有人穿睡衣。沙漠里的气温会骤降至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，当一天晚上我开始例行公事用手抱住儿子幼小的身体，将他带到他自己的床上时，突然，砰！砰！……一只潜伏在他身下的蝎子对着我的手指咬了两下。

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."

这种剧烈的疼痛无法用语言来形容，对我来说是前所未有的。疼痛顺着我的手臂蔓延，造成的肿胀和麻木会持续多年。我对妻子大喊，让她带我去医院。她平静地回答：“为什么？他们什么也做不了；别跟个婴儿一样。”但是我坚持要去医院。当我见到医生时，他对我说：“对不起，我无能为力。”

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!

尽管如此，在离家之前，我曾英勇地找了一个玻璃罐，在被褥中搜索那个“卑鄙小人”。显然，不能留着他再去蜇别的人。我看见他正蹿向一个枕头，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."

我将他关在罐子里很久，给他起名叫哈罗德。我打算某天告诉儿子：“这是我为你抓的蝎子，伙计；等到我老了你要记得。”

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.

几个星期后，我想蝎子可能也会口渴。于是便往罐子里加了几滴水。而哈罗德马上就死了。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?

我不确定应不应该选择哈罗德这个名字。据我所知，它可能是雌性的。广西弄京村的蓝天庭（音译）知道他们的区别。25岁的蓝天庭在蝎子养殖场的一项工作就是将雌性和雄性蝎子分开。我很好奇：他是偷瞄了他们下面还是怎样？

编译：董静

About the Author:

关于作者：

Randy Wright joined China Daily as an editor in 2017. 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.

兰迪•赖特：2017年成为《中国日报》编辑。36年的职业生涯中，他曾供职于10家美国报纸，担任过管理层、专栏作家和记者等职务。他是亚利桑那大学的兼职教师，担任过许多出版物的顾问，包括专为法官和律师出版的《加利福尼亚律师》。他拥有美国的飞行员执照。