At the turn of spring and summer, it is often heard that paper wasps appear and attack people in mountain areas. More than 10 years ago, 61-year-old farmer Chung Hsu-chun from the Taihe mountain area in Meishan Township, Chiayi County was attacked by a swarm of paper wasps after accidentally disturbing their nest while he was repairing water pipes. Despite being stung more than 300 times all over his body, he miraculously survived and was hospitalized for only five days, which surprised and baffled his doctor. Chung said that it might have been because he had drunk more than 10,000 ml of urine after being stung, which neutralized the venom and thus saved his life.
Chung made a living by growing tea and fruit in the mountains. Recalling that he was stung by an entire nest of paper wasps more than a decade ago, he said with his heart still fluttering with fear that he was patching a leak in the water pipes across a river valley that day and disturbed a paper wasp nest by accident. He said that his head and legs were stung by more than 300 furious wasps and that he passed out after exerting all his strength to climb down to the ground. Because his brother Chung Hsu-liang had read Japanese books about urine therapy that said urine could save people’s lives, he instantly forced himself to urinate in a plastic bottle in preparation for saving his brother’s life.
Chung Hsu-liang said his brother’s pupils were dilated as he tried to open his mouth and drench him with urine. He also called an elementary school nearby to ask for students’ urine, and on the way to the hospital he kept pouring urine down his brother’s throat. Even during the first three days in the National Cheng Kung University Hospital, he still contacted an elementary school in the neighborhood to ask for more urine, on which he secretly fed his brother without telling medical personnel. Because paper wasps have very poisonous venom, only ten stings could be deadly, let alone more than 300 bites. The fact that Chung Hsu-chun miraculously recovered, prompted medical personnel to keep track of his health for years and wonder what secret remedy he might have tried. Chung Hsu-chun was too embarrassed to mention his drinking urine at first, and did not tell the truth until later.
Chung Hsu-chun said that it might have been the ammonia in the urine that neutralized the toxins and thus saved his life. Despite the numerous scars on his legs and head, he has not suffered from any other negative aftereffects.
However, both Chinese and Western medicine doctors consider that human urine contains urea that could turn into ammonia, which is able to relieve itches and stings caused by insect bites. But they say urine is only suitable for external application, and have reservations about the rumor that drinking urine can cure wasp stings.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY THEODORE YANG)
春夏交替,山區常傳虎頭蜂出沒傷人。嘉縣梅山鄉太和山區六十一歲農民鐘旭駿十多年前搶修水管時誤觸虎頭蜂巢,遭蜂群攻擊,在身上留下三百多針傷口,但奇蹟似存活,而且五天就出院,令醫生驚訝不解。鐘旭駿說,可能是事發後他總計喝了上萬CC尿液中和蜂毒,才得以保住命。
在山區種茶和水果為生的鐘旭駿,回想十多年前遭到整巢虎頭蜂痛叮的慘痛經歷,仍心有餘悸。他說,那天修補跨越溪谷水管漏水時誤觸虎頭蜂窩,頭部及雙腳被憤怒的蜂群螫了三百餘針,撐著最後力氣回到地面,人就昏厥不醒。
鐘旭駿弟弟鐘旭亮當時看到,因曾研讀日本人所著尿療法書籍,腦海中浮現尿液可救人,於是就硬擠一泡尿在保特瓶內準備救人。
鐘旭亮說,兄長落地時瞳孔渙散,他試著撬開嘴巴灌入尿液,並打電話向鄰近國小請求由學童支援「童子尿」,並在兄長就醫途中一路為他灌尿,甚至連住在成大醫院的前三天都還聯絡附近的某國小支援學童尿液,瞞著醫護人員偷偷灌食。
因虎頭蜂毒性強,只要螫十下就可能致命,何況被叮三百多下,鐘旭駿奇蹟復原,引起醫護人員好奇,追蹤觀察好幾年,並詢問鐘旭駿到底吃什麼秘方?鍾旭駿起初因喝尿不好意思啟齒,後來才全盤托出。
鐘旭駿認為,可能是尿液中阿摩尼亞中和毒性,才讓他得以存活,如今除雙腳和頭部留下密密麻麻蜂螫後疤痕外,並無其它後遺症。
不過中、西醫師均認為人體尿液含有尿素,可轉變成氨,氨確可減輕被昆蟲叮咬癢痛感,但適用外敷,對喝尿可治蜂毒的說法,都持保留看法。
(自由時報記者謝銀仲)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
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