What is medicine? And what is health? In different cultures and at different times you would have received varying answers to these questions. 医学是什么？健康是什么？不同的文化背景、不同的时期会有不同的答案。
In the modern Western medical tradition, the main objectives are first to get rid of disease, and then to keep people healthy. 传统西医的目标是先治病，后保健。
In earlier times, Western medicine depended on a muddled mixture of prayer, folk remedies, and theories going back to the Arab civilizations and beyond that to the ancient Greeks. 早先，西医是个大杂烩，有祈祷，民间秘方，及可追溯到阿拉伯文明时期、甚至古希腊时期的学说。
True advances in medical care did not take place until the 1800's, and it was not until the 1900's that medicine was able to reduce the high death rates caused by infections. 医学直到十九世纪才有了真正的发展，到二十世纪才开始减少了由感染导致的高死亡率。
Eastern medicine took a different line. It is believed that the whole body had to be treated in order to keep it healthy and to prevent disease from appearing. 东方医学走的是一条完全不同的道路。东方医学的理念是要治疗全身使其健康，从而预防疾病的发生。
Chinese medicine developed from a totally different background from science-based Western medicine. It treats the whole body by restoring the balance of forces flowing within it. 中医不同于建立在科学基础上的西医，它是在完全不同的背景下发展起来的。它通过调节全身精气的平衡来治疗疾病。
Now, in the 21st century, Western medicine has begun to accept the idea of traditional Eastern medicine. 在21世纪的今天，西医已经开始接受传统东方医学的理念。
There is growing interest in this and other forms of traditional medicine. 人们对于各种形式的传统医学的兴趣也越来越大。
