When her son Alex was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of 10

a large collection of funny movies on tape. Dr. Stehlin brought the sets and obtained the tapes after reading an article I wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine on the value of laughter. He had always believed that hopefulness and laughter go together. People who are capable of experiencing joy, he discovered, are much more likely to have successful surgeries and therapies than those who are nervous.

After spending only l5 minutes with Dr. Stehlin, Annie felt uplifted and thrilled by the place. Dr. Stehlin examined Annie and studied her medical record. Then he told her he would be willing to operate and give her the best possible care—but only if she had complete confidence in herself, in him, and in the operation. He suggested that she return home to think about it.

Annie did, but there wasn't much to think about. She was eager to proceed. When she returned to Houston, it was obvious to Dr. Stehlin that she was strongly motivated. He operated and removed 70 percent of her liver. Today, three years later, she is active and free of symptoms. Annie and Dr. Stehlin know the chances are that there are probably other pockets of cancer throughout her body. But her condition has stabilized (稳定). She is a happy, functioning human being.

Powers of the Mind

At the School of Medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles, I have been trying to find out if emotions affect the chemistry of the human body. For several decades the term psychosomatic\心理引发病症) has been in general use. It means mind-body relationship. But the precise way the mind affects the body has not been clearly defined. As a result of the recent research, however, it is possible to say that specific changes take place throughout the body as the result of human attitudes.

Indeed Dr. Richard Bergland, a brain researcher at the Harvard Medical School has written a paper suggesting that the human brain is basically a gland (腺). Building on this view, Dr. Carmine Clemente, director of the Brain Research Institute (学院) at UCLA has been looking into the secretions (分泌) of the brain. He has estimated that there may be thousands of such secretions—all of which play a part in the functioning of the body.

Numerous medical reports now tell of instances in which individuals have been able to direct their bodies in the ways generally believed to be beyond the reach of the conscious intelligence. At the UCLA School of Medicine, I witnessed a demonstration in which a man controlled his own heart. He could speed it up or slow it down almost to a stop merely by concentrating. Such a performance is not unknown in Eastern cultures, but it was startling, to say the least, to see such a demonstration in an American medical school. The evidence is proof that chemical changes take place in the body as a result of mental functions or moods.

The Placebo (安慰剂) Effect

This mind-body effect should not be surprising in view of the experience over the years with placebos. The term placebo\that often produces the same effect as genuine medication. Placebos provide enough proof that expectations can have an effect on body chemistry. According to a recent article on placebos in Medical World News, studies conducted over the past 25 years have shown that placebos

satisfactorily relieved symptoms in an average of 35 percent of patients tested. These symptoms include: fever, headache and anxiety. The explanation for this strange phenomenon is that the human mind can create actual changes in body chemistry as a result of what it believes. If, for example, a person believes that a certain medication contains a substance that can accomplish a specific need, the body tends to move in that direction.

An increasing number of scientists now say that the body's healing system and its belief system are closely related. That is why hope, faith, and the will to live can be vital factors in the war against diseases. The belief system converts positive expectations into plus factors in any contest against illness.

译文：

在过去的两年里，我一直在UGLA研究癌症幸存者，试图发现为什么对有些人治疗产生的效果会比其他人好。以开始我认为一些人治疗效果好是因为他们的疾病没有别人眼中。但是经过进一步的仔细观察，我发现导致有些人康复而有些人则没有的因素有很多，而疾病的严重程度只是其中一个。我所说的这些病人一诊断出来就接受了几乎任何个人病历中需要的治疗，包括药物治疗，放射疗法，外科治疗。但是他们对这些治疗产生的反映几乎都是不一致的。一些病人比另一些病人在治疗过程中进展要快得多

那么到底是什么不同呢？有没哪一点是所有幸存者共有的呢？是的，我发现所有这些幸存者的主要特征非常相似：

他们都有着非常强的求生欲望； 他们都不对自己的疾病感到恐慌； 他们有信心自己有能力坚持；不论所有的预测多么不利，他们都相信他们能成功； 他们能够很欢乐地应对治疗； 他们相信他们的治疗会起作用。

一个和我密切合作的女士可能是这一整群人的一个典型。让我们称她为安妮，。她的病被诊断为肝癌。经过一个探究手术，医生们确信她的病不可能被任何已知的手段治愈。但是安妮一点也没有因为这个裁决而沮丧和气馁，非常坚定地要战胜她的疾病。她决定用她全部的身心力量去与之战斗。她的家庭医生被她的精神深深打动了，他认为专家们的悲观的预测不应该阻碍她的进一步努力。他非常支持安妮，鼓励安妮去休斯顿看一个医生，那位医生在治愈有着很强求生欲望和有信心的态度的病人方面很成功。那个医生的名字叫js

安妮到休斯顿后与s医生进行了面谈。她圣约瑟芬医院餐馆了s医生的病人被照看的那个楼层。取代了阴暗的白色的医院陈设，她发现的是一个振奋人心，很有生气并且很吸引人的一套房间，其中最大的那个是起居室。起居室里装了舒服的椅子，读书角，还有一个放音响设备的壁橱，里面有一大批一些最有趣的动画片的录像带。S医生在读了我写给英国药物期刊的有关笑声对治疗的作用的文章之后，安装了这些设备，购买了这些录像带。他一直相信希望和笑声是互相协调的。他发现能够体验快乐的人比那些恐惧和忧虑的人治愈的机会要大得多。

在和s医生共度了仅仅十五分钟之后，安妮因为这里的气氛而感到精神高涨和兴奋。她见到了一些比她自己经历过更大的病痛折磨的病人。S医生检查了安妮并查看了她的治疗记录。然后他告诉安妮他愿意给她做手术并且给她治愈的最大可能，但是需要安妮对他和她自己，还有手术都有足够的信心。他建议她回家再考虑一下。

安妮考虑了，但其实并没有什么好想的。她愿意继续前进。当她回到休斯顿，s医生很明显的知道安妮非常有动力。他给她做了手术，摘除了她肝脏的70%。尽管如此，安妮在圣约瑟芬的康复非常迅速。她在一个有力和肯定的氛围中赶上来了。如今三年过去了，她非常有活力，并且没有任何病症。安妮和s医生都知道她全身可能还有其他癌细胞，但是她的情况非常稳定，她很开心，身体运作很好

在洛杉矶加利福利亚大学的医学院，我试图找出情绪是否影响人体的化学反应。过了

几十年，心理影响这个词语已经被广为使用。它意味着意识和身体是相联系的。但是意识影响身体的准确方式仍然没有被清楚的定义出来。但是根据现在的研究，可以说人都态度会导致人的全身发生一种特殊的变化。

的确，哈佛医学院的一个大脑研究员RB教授写过一篇论文，认为人的大脑基本上就是一个腺体。基于这一观点，GULA的大脑研究协会主管CC教授一直在观察大脑的分泌物。他估算可能有数以千计的这种分泌物，每一种都人身体的一部分的运作起作用。

对我来说，所有这些分泌物最吸引人的地方在于他们并不是被锁起来或者和主观意识完全分离开来的。主观意识的确没有觉察到由大脑正在产生的不计其数活动-心脏的跳动，神经细胞的活动，以及所有腺体的运作。但是我们并不直接的知道这些运作并不代表我们不能够管理他们。生物反馈这一术语用来被形容意识参与身体运作的能力，它的重要性在于它使人类可能对他们自己有着越来越多的控制并且可能能够在克服疾病的过程中扮演重要的角色。

现在不计其数的医学报告举出了这种例子，个人能够通过通常所认为的主观意识达不到的方式指挥自己的身体。在UGLA医学院，我见证了一个男人证明了自己可以控制自己的心跳。他可以仅仅通过集中注意力加速心跳或者减慢到几乎停止的程度。这种表演在东方文明并不陌生，但是和十二位甚至更多的对生物反馈这种用法非常着迷的医师共同在一个美国的医学院观看这个证明，至少说明它的确非常令人惊愕，其实从已经进行了多年的安慰剂实验的角度，这种身心效应其实并不应该令人吃惊。安慰剂这一术语用来形容一种不含有药物成分的“药片”，但是通常会和真正的治疗起到相同的效果。安慰剂提供了充足的证据证明期望会影响人体的化学变化。根据最近医学世界新闻上的一篇文章，过去25年的研究显示平均35%的被试患者安慰剂能够令人满意地缓解症状。这些症状包括发烧，严重的术后镇痛，心绞痛，头痛以及紧张等其他疾病。对这种奇怪现象的解释是人的意识可以根据自己相信的东西对身体产生实际作用。例如，如果有个人相信某些药包括一种能够满足特殊需要的物质，那么身体往往会朝那个方向变化

越来越多的科学家主张身体的康复系统和它的信念系统紧密相连。这就是为什么希望、信念以及意志可以成为与疾病斗争中至关重要的因素。在任何与疾病的斗争中，信念系统将积极的期望转换成正面的因素

Read the passage quickly and answer the questions. For Questions 1-7, mark Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.

For Questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

1. The author first thought that some patients did better than others because they received different treatments.

Y N NG

2. Cancer survivors at UCLA shared some similarities, including a strong will to live. Y N NG

3. Annie, a cancer patient, decided to fight against her disease. Y N NG

4. Dr. Stehlin treated his patients in a gloomy, white hospital. Y N NG

5. Three years after the surgery, Annie believed she would never get sick again.

Y N NG

6. As a result of the recent research, the exact way the mind influences the body has been discovered.

Y N NG

7. The author saw a demonstration of a man controlling his own heart by concentrating. Y N NG

8. A placebo is a “pill” that often produces the same effect as genuine medication but it contains no medical ingredients 9. Placebos work because the human mind can produce real changes in body chemistry as a result of what it believes 10. More and more scientists believe that belief systems can change positive expectations into plus factors to fight against illness.