医学翻译对中英语言基本功要求很高，基本功不好，翻译时就会出现各种细节问题。举一个例子。
中文：患者咳嗽，咳出透明的痰，但无发热和寒战。
英文：She had a cough that was productive of clear sputum but had no fevers or chills.
1. “透明的”痰，用 clear。
2. 一个常错的语言点：but 的用法。
这句话中的but前面不能加逗号，“She had a cough that was productive of clear sputum, but had no fevers or chills.” 表达是错误的。如果要加逗号，but后面应该是完整的句子。
3. 一个需要注意的语言点：and 和 or。
医学文本里经常出现并列成分，肯定句和否定句都很多。在审校时经常看到and和or用错的情况。
比如例句中的 … but had no fevers or chills。这里的fever和chill共用否定词no，所以两者之间用or并列。如果修改成no fevers，no chills，那就没有否定的并列成分，应该用and， “… but had no fevers and no chills”。
4. “咳痰”涉及到的动词/词组主要有3个，produce、cough up和expectorate。其中produce还可以变换词性，表达多样。
以下例句均来自于 NEJM。
1) A 26-year-old man presented with a 1-month history of persistent cough productive of white sputum.
2) A 40-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of a persistent productive cough, dyspnea, and bilateral apical infiltrates.
3) Two days before admission, the cough worsened, with the production of scanty sputum …
4) One day earlier, a cough producing blood-tinged, frothy sputum had developed and worsened.
5) [COPD] refers to a spectrum of chronic respiratory diseases characterized by cough, sputum production, dyspnea, airflow limitation, and impaired gas exchange.
6) On the evening before admission chest pain developed, and she began to cough up blood-tinged sputum;
7) Despite vigorous coughing and expectoration, he was initially unable to dislodge the inhaler cap.
8) Chronic bronchitis is currently diagnosed by asking patients if they expectorate sputum on a regular basis.
5. sputum和phlegm的区别。
两者经常互换使用。相比之外，sputum是“痰”+唾液，phlegm只是“痰”。如果是痰检，那咳出的分泌物用sputum相对更精确一些。医学专业人士更偏好用sputum，在NEJM中，sputum的使用频率远高于phlegm。
via 羊君医学翻译笔记
