It's 1816.

正值 1816 年，

A 35-year-old doctor by the name of René Laennec is walking through Paris.

35 歲的何內．雷奈克醫生正漫步巴黎街道。

He pauses to watch as two children signal to each other across a long piece of wooden board.

他突然停下腳步，觀察兩個小孩隔著長木板互相打信號。

One child holds the board to her ear, the other scratches the opposite end sending the amplified sound down the length of wood.

其中一個拿板子貼在耳朵上，另一個則在木板的另一頭刮出聲響，讓聲音沿著木板傳過去。

Later, Laennec is called to assess a young woman with a heart condition.

不久，雷奈克奉命評估一位年輕小姐的心臟狀況。

The patient is purportedly quite well developed and Laennec expresses some hesitation in pressing his ear directly against her chest.

據稱這位病患發育良好，讓雷奈克有些遲疑，不敢直接把耳朵貼在病患的胸部上。

Remembering the children with the board, Laennec, in a moment of vision and dignity,

此時，雷奈克想起了玩木板遊戲的那兩個小孩，為捍衛尊嚴他靈機一動，

tightly rolls a sheet of paper and places one end to his ear and one end over the young woman's heaving bosom.

將紙張捲緊成紙筒，然後一側貼著自己的耳朵，另一側則貼在病患的胸部上。

He is delighted by the clarity of the sound.

清晰的聲音令他十分高興。

Laennec spends the next three years developing and testing various materials and mechanisms before settling on a hollow wooden tube with detachable plug.

接下來三年，雷奈克都在開發、測試不同的材質與聽診器結構，最後才決定結合中空木管與分離式栓塞。

His device becomes the forerunner to the metal, plastic, and rubber stethoscope we still use today.

雷奈克所研發的聽診器成了今日聽診器的先驅，即如今市面上所見，由金屬、塑膠和橡膠製成的聽診器。