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In 1996,56 volunteers took part in a study to test a new pain killer called Trivaricaine.
1996年，56個志愿者參加了一項研究，測試一種名叫Trivaricaine的止痛藥。
On each subject, one index finger was covered in the new painkiller while the other remained untouched.
每個實驗對象的一個食指涂上這個新型止痛藥，另一個食指保持原樣。
Then, both were squeezed in painful clamps.
然后，兩個食指都用鉗子使勁夾住。
The subjects reported that the treated finger hurt less than the untreated one.
實驗對象都表示那個涂了藥的食指沒有另一只疼。
This shouldn't be surprising, except Trivaricaine wasn't actually a painkiller, just a fake concoction with no pain-easing properties at all.
這本應該沒什么好驚訝的，除了Trivaricaine本身并不是一種止痛藥以外，它只是一個不含任何緩解疼痛成分的假混合物。
What made the students so sure this dummy drug had worked?
是什么讓這些學生堅信這個假冒的藥有效的呢？
The answer lies in the placebo effect, an unexplained phenomenon where in drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't supposed to have an effect, and are often fake, miraculously make people feel better.
答案就是安慰劑效應，它是一種至今原因不明的現象，發生在使用那些本應該沒有效果的藥物、手術和治療上，一般都是假的，卻奇跡般地使人們感到好轉。
Doctors have used the term placebo since the 1700s when they realized the power of fake drugs to improve people's symptoms.
醫生們從18世紀開始使用安慰劑這個術語，那時他們開始意識到假藥的作用能夠改善病人的癥狀。
These were administered when proper drugs weren't available, or if someone imagined they were ill.
當合適的藥品短缺時，他們會使用這種治療方法，或者有些人幻想自己生病的時候。
In fact, the word placebo means "I shall please" in Latin, hinting at a history of placating troubled patients.
實際上，安慰劑這個詞在拉丁語里是“我會好起來”的意思，暗示著安撫受病痛折磨的病人已有一段歷史。
Placebos had to mimic the real treatments in order to be convincing, so they took the form of sugar pills, water-filled injections, and even sham surgeries.
安慰劑模仿真正的治療以達到使人信服的目的，所以他們選擇糖丸，注射水，甚至假手術的形式。
Soon, doctors realized that duping people in this way had another use: in clinical trials.
很快，醫生意識到這樣蒙騙人還有另一種用途：臨床試驗。
By the 1950s, researchers were using placebos as a standard tool to test new treatments.
直到二十世紀五十年代，研究人員將安慰劑作為一種標準工具來測試新的治療方法。
To evaluate a new drug, for instance, half the patients in a trial might receive the real pill. The other half would get a placebo that looked the same.
例如測試一種新藥，一半的臨床病人可能會服用真的藥丸，另一半則會服用看起來一模一樣的安慰劑。
Since patients wouldn't know whether they'd received the real thing or a dud, the results wouldn't be biased, researchers believed.
藥丸病人并不知道他們服用的是真藥還是假藥，因此，研究人員相信結果是準確的。
Then, if the new drug showed a significant benefit compared to the placebo, it was proved effective.
于是，如果這種新藥比起安慰劑對病人有很明顯的改善，那么這種新藥就是有效的。
