A study by sixth graders found that children and adults can easily mistake some medications for sweets. Rose Eveleth reports.

一项由六年级学生进行的研究表明，儿童和成年人很容易将一些药物当做糖果
罗丝·埃弗利思报道

Can you tell the difference between a pill and an M&M? Can your toddler?

你能分清楚药片和M&M巧克力豆之间的区别吗？那你的孩子可以吗？

Candies and medicine often look similar – but confusion between these little shiny morsels could be very dangerous. And it's not just children who mistake treatments for treats. A small study by two smart sixth graders found that more than one in four kindergarteners, and one in five teachers, has difficulty telling the difference between medicine and candy.

糖果和药片通常看起来一样，但是把这小小一片东西搞混是很危险的。现在不仅仅是儿童搞错它们。有两位聪明的六年级学生，通过一个简单的研究发现，超过四分之一的幼儿园小朋友以及五分之一的老师不能很容易地分清楚出药片和糖果的区别。

Casey Gittelman and Eleanor Bishop asked 30 kindergarteners and 30 teachers to guess which items in a cabinet were candies, and which were medicine. The medicines most frequently confused were Mylanta and Tums for SweetTarts, Sine-off for Reese's Pieces, and Coricidin for M&Ms. Kindergarteners who could not read were even more likely to mistake medicine for candy. The girls presented their results at the national conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics on October 14th.

卡塞伊·基特曼和埃莉诺·毕晓普，让30名幼儿园小朋友和30名教师猜测一个罐子里的东西哪些是糖果，哪些又是药片。最常被认错的药物是：将Mylanta（胃能达，强生公司的一种胃药）和Tums（一种抗酸补钙药）当作SweetTarts（雀巢公司的一种糖果）、将Sine-off（一种止痛药）当做Reese’s Pieces（里斯巧克力豆，好时公司产品）、以及把Coricidin（柯利西锭，一种感冒药）当做M&M巧克力豆。不会读写的幼儿园小朋友更容易将药片认作糖果。两位女孩于10月14日，将她们的研究结果发表在美国儿科学会的全国会议上。

Do you think you or your children could definitely tell the difference between a Reese's Pieces and a Clonidine? If not, you should probably secure your medicine cabinet to keep a mistake about sweets from turning sour.

你认为你或者你的孩子可以明确地分辨出里斯巧克力豆和柯利西锭吗？如果不能的话，那你最好保管好药箱，防止将药片当做糖果的事情发生。