以此爲生! 浙江一'蛇村'年售300萬條蛇!

Lots of people are afraid of snakes and would rather not go near the things. But for those willing to put the fear aside, there's money to be made in the snake business.

有很多人都很害怕蛇，並且不願意去靠近這種生物。但是對於那些願意把這種恐懼放在一邊的人來說，在有關蛇的生意中，他們可是有錢可賺的。

$12m is a year of revenue generated by a few entrepreneurial snake farmers in the tiny village of Zisiqiao in East China's Zhejiang province.

在中國東部浙江省一個名叫子思橋的小村莊裏，一些蛇農企業家的年收入可達到1200萬美元。

Snake farmers sell more than 3 million snakes a year to pharmaceutical companies who use the gall bladders, livers and skins from the reptiles to create nutritional supplements that are ultimately sold to customers in Japan, South Korea, the US and Europe.

蛇農每年向製藥公司銷售300多萬條蛇，製藥公司用蛇的膽、肝和皮製成營養補充劑，最終賣給日本、韓國、美國和歐洲的客戶。

People in China and in other places around the world swallow snake pills and drink snake wine made from snake-based ingredients because they believe that it helps to cure spinal disease or reduces the damage to one's liver when taken before drinking alcohol.

中國人以及其他國家的人都在服用含有蛇的成分的藥片和藥酒，因爲他們認爲，這有助於治癒脊柱疾病，在飲酒之前服用還可以減少酒精對肝臟的傷害。

A single gram of snake venom can bring in 3,000-5,000 yuan and many restaurants use snake meat as ingredients for cooking.

一克蛇毒可以帶來3000-5000元的收入，並且許多餐館都用蛇肉作爲烹飪的原料。

90% of the area's 170 families depend on snake-raising for income, according to a report from the Global Times.

根據《環球時報》的一篇報道，在子思橋的170戶人家當中，有90%是以養蛇爲生的。