Homer's 'Odyssey', one of the oldest works of Western literature,
荷马的《奥德赛》是西方最古老的文学作品之一
recounts the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus during his ten-year journey home from the Trojan War.
它详细描述了希腊英雄奥德赛的一段延续十年、从特洛伊战争开始一直到他回家的冒险经历。
Though some parts may be based on real events,
也许这本书中有一些故事的原型可能是真实的
the encounters with strange monsters, terrifying giants and powerful magicians are considered to be complete fiction.
但是那些关于他遇到怪兽、巨人和魔法师的情节基本就是幻想出来的故事了。
But might there be more to these myths than meets the eye?
但是我们是否还可以从这些神话故事中看出一些别的东西呢？
Let's look at one famous episode from the poem.
让我们一起来看一看这本诗集中十分有名的一章。
In the midst of their long voyage, Odysseus and his crew find themselves on the mysterious island of Aeaea.
故事发生在一次长时间的航海旅行中，当时奥德赛和他的伙伴们到达了埃阿亚魔幻岛。
Starving and exhausted, some of the men stumble upon a palatial home
所有人都感到十分疲惫和饥饿，偶然的，其中一些人发现了在岛上有一个宏伟的宫殿，
where a stunning woman welcomes them inside for a sumptuous feast.
一个美妙绝伦的艳妇站在宫殿的门口邀请他们进屋子去享受盛宴
Of course, this all turns out to be too good to be true.
当然，这发生的一切都看起来和真的一样。
The woman, in fact, is the nefarious sorceress Circe, and as soon as the soldiers have eaten their fill at her table,
但是事实上，这个艳妇，也就是邪恶的女巫瑟希，当这些士兵们在享受美食的时候，
she turns them all into animals with a wave of her wand.
突然挥了挥魔杖将这些士兵就全部都变成了动物。
Fortunately, one of the men escapes, finds Odysseus and tells him of the crew's plight.
幸运的是，其中有一个士兵逃过了一劫，随后他找到了奥德赛，将伙伴们的遭遇告诉了他。
But as Odysseus rushes to save his men, he meets the messenger god, Hermes, who advises him to first consume a magical herb.
正当奥德赛准备冲过去救他的伙伴们的时候，他遇到了众神使者赫尔墨斯，建议奥德赛先吃掉一种神奇草药。
Odysseus follows this advice, and when he finally encounters Circe,
奥德赛接受了他的意见，当最后奥德赛与女巫瑟希决战的时候，
her spells have no effect on him, allowing him to defeat her and rescue his crew.
女巫的咒语对奥德赛无效，从而使得奥德赛击败了女巫并且救出伙伴们。
Naturally, this story of witchcraft and animal transformations was dismissed as nothing more than imagination for centuries.
简单的来说，很长时间以来这种关于巫术和魔法变形的故事往往都只是被认为是幻想罢了。
But in recent years, the many mentions of herbs and drugs throughout the passage have piqued the interest of scientists,
但是最近，这些贯穿了这本书的神奇草药挑起了科学家们的兴趣，
leading some to suggest the myths might have been fictional expressions of real experiences.
有一些科学家猜测道这些有着魔幻情节的神话也许是基于现实经验的。
The earliest versions of Homer's text say that Circe mixed baneful drugs into the food
就在那篇荷马文章的最开始部分提到了女巫瑟希将一些有毒的草药混到了食物中，
such that the crew might utterly forget their native land.
从而使得奥德赛的伙伴们完全忘记了他们的本性。
As it happens, one of the plants growing in the Mediterranean region
而在这个故事发生的时候，在地中海区域生长着
is an innocent sounding herb known as Jimson weed, whose effects include pronounced amnesia.
一种听起来很无害的草药--曼陀罗，但它却会让人产生严重的失忆症。
The plant is also loaded with compounds that disrupt the vital neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
曼陀罗其本身含有的化合物也会损坏大脑中一种十分重要的神经传递素，乙酰胆碱。

Such disruption can cause vivid hallucinations, bizarre behaviors,
对乙酰胆碱的损坏会让人产生十分严重的幻觉，而且做出一些古怪的行为，
and general difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality,
而且这种损坏往往会让人难以区分现实和幻想，
just the sorts of things which might make people believe they've been turned into animals,
正是上述的一些症状可能会让人产生一种他们已经被变成动物的感觉，
which also suggests that Circe was no sorceress, but in fact a chemist who knew how to use local plants to great effect.
这证明了瑟希其实并不是女巫，而是一个知道当地植物特性并且可以使用其特性的药剂师。
But Jimson weed is only half the story.
但是曼陀罗也仅仅是这个故事的一半而已。
Unlike a lot of material in the Odyssey, the text about the herb that Hermes gives to Odysseus is unusually specific.
不像奥德赛中所提到的许多草药一样，赫尔墨斯给奥德赛吃的那一种药草描述的并不是很详细。
Called moly by the gods, it's described as being found in a forest glen, black at the root and with a flower as white as milk.
这种药草被众神们称之为moly，书中描述它是在一个森林幽谷中被发现的，根部是黑色的，花朵则像奶油一样白。
Like the rest of the Circe episode, moly was dismissed as fictional invention for centuries.
就像其它有关女巫瑟希的片段当中，moly一直都被人们认为是一种幻想出来的草药。
But in 1951, Russian pharmacologist Mikhail Mashkovsky discovered that villagers in the Ural Mountains
但是在1951年，俄罗斯的药理学家麦克马·马思科夫斯基发现了那些生活在乌拉尔山脉的村民们，
used a plant with a milk-white flower and a black root to stave off paralysis in children suffering from polio.
用一种花朵是奶油白，根是黑色的植物来麻痹治疗那些患有小儿麻痹症的孩子。
The plant, called snowdrop, turned out to contain a compound called galantamine
这种植物就是雪莲，在其中可以发现一种叫做雪花胺的化合物，
that prevented the disruption of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine,
这种化合物有效避免乙酰胆碱这种神经传递素被破坏，
making it effective in treating not only polio but other disease, such as Alzheimer's.
从而可以有效的治疗包括小儿麻痹症在内的许多疾病，比如阿尔茨海莫式症等。
At the 12th World Congress of Neurology, Doctors Andreas Plaitakis and Roger Duvoisin first proposed that
在第十二届世界神经学研究会议中，安德烈亚斯·普雷塔克斯博士和罗杰·都沃森博士第一次提出了，
snowdrop was, in fact, the plant Hermes gave to Odysseus.
雪莲就是赫尔墨斯给予奥德赛的那种神奇植物。
Although there is not much direct evidence that people in Homer's day would have known about its anti-hallucinatory effects,
尽管并没有直接的证据表明在荷马年代已经有人知道了雪莲有可以抑制幻觉的作用，
we do have a passage from 4th century Greek writer Theophrastus stating that moly is used as an antidote against poisons.
但是我们从公元四世纪希腊作家泰奥弗拉斯托斯的文章中可以知道，moly这种植物是一种解毒草药。
So, does this all mean that Odysseus, Circe, and other characters in the Odyssey were real? Not necessarily.
那么，上述这些证据可以表明奥德赛，女巫瑟希和其他一些《奥德赛》的故事情节就都是真的么？这也并不一定。
But it does suggest that ancient stories may have more elements of truth to them than we previously thought.
但是至少表明了基于现实经验而产生的古代神话故事的数量远比我们之前所认为的要多的多。
And as we learn more about the world around us,
随着我们对世界了解的越来越多，
we may uncover some of the same knowledge hidden within the myths and legends of ages passed.
我们也许还会发现许多像隐藏在奥德赛这类神话故事中的真相。