不知道你们那儿的冬天怎么样，皮卡丘知道在北方有暖气的屋子里，没有加湿器真的容易口干舌燥一不小心就又上火起大泡了，只好多灌自己几天水。

“上火”这个概念对老外来讲真的摸不着头脑，千万别直接说成I'm on fire！那么究竟怎么才能准确表达“上火”呢？

英语中有这样一个词：heatiness
英文解释：n. a characteristic of certain foods or stimulants said to cause emotional or physical reactions associated with temper, fever, passion, excess, or true heat.
一种食物或刺激物的特性，据说能引起情绪或身体上的反应，与脾气、发烧、情绪、过量或热有关。

From：Chinese culture and medicine. （源自中医）

它的形容词形式是heaty

You're heaty.就是：你火大（上火）。

去火=remove heatiness=reduce heatiness

这个词其实算是专门针对中医的词，在此基础上我们还可以对老外解释一下这个中医概念。

"Shanghuo（heatiness）" is a unique concept in traditional Chinese medicine.

“上火”是传统中医中一个特有的概念。

Traditional Chinese medicine categorises food as 凉 lèung (“cooling”), 热气 yiht hei (“warming”) and neutral – and practitioners use the nature of the foods to balance the body’s yin and yang.

传统中医把食物分为凉性，热性和中性——医生们则用这些食物的特性以平衡人体的阴阳。

TCM describes heaty foods as having the ability to warm and improve circulation, dispel cold and stimulate the body. When these foods are taken in excess, （yang is greater than yin, your body will generate too much heat）heatiness is caused, resulting in symptoms such as fever, sore throat, mouth ulcers, acne, excessive thirst, redness of the skin and irritability.

中医认为，热性食物具有保暖、促进血液循环、驱寒和激发身体的功能。当这些食物摄入过量（体内的阳压过阴时，你的身体会产生过多的热气），会导致“上火”的现象，引发发烧、喉咙痛、口腔溃疡、痤疮、极度口渴、皮肤发红和易怒等症状。

如何让老外知道中医关于“上火”（heatiness）的概念呢？你把皮卡丘总结的下面的几个表达告诉他，也许老外就豁然开朗了。

①In traditional Chinese medicine, foods are divided into heaty, cooling,and warm foods.

在传统中医中，食物分为热性，凉性和温性

②Over eating 'heaty' food will cause bad breath, sore throat, acne and ulcers.

吃热性食物会引发口臭，喉咙痛，长痘和溃疡.

②'Cooling' foods reduce heat in the body, and help in detoxing the body and removing the toxins.

凉性食物可减少体内热气，并有助于身体排毒。（detox /ˈdiːtɒks/ 和toxin /'tɒksɪn/ 都有身体排毒的意思）

④Too much ‘cooling’ food will actually make you feel intolerant to cold weather, giving rise to sore muscles, fatigue and cold limbs.

过多的凉性食物实际上会让你感觉不耐受寒冷的天气，导致肌肉酸痛，疲劳和四肢冰冷.

⑤Herbal Tea is cooling food, lamb is heaty food, thus Wang Lo Kat or Ja Duo Bao matches Hot pot.

凉茶是凉性实物，羊肉是热性实物，所以我们认为王老吉或者加多宝和火锅最配。

那么有哪些食物是凉性和热性的呢？

Heaty foods include red meat, baked and deep fried foods, durian, chocolate, as well as spicy dishes like curry.

热性食物包括红肉、烘烤和油炸食品、榴莲、巧克力，以及像咖喱这样的辛辣食物。

Cooling foods include green tea, salads, mangosteens and watermelons typically low in calories, subjected to little or no heat in cooking, with a soothing or refreshing taste.

凉性食物包括绿茶、沙拉、山竹果和西瓜，这些食物通常卡路里含量低，烹饪时很少或不加热，但有一种舒缓或提神的味道。

有需要的同学也可以存下这张图对照，开始你的养生生活吧！