Aspiration, in which the food or drink goes down the trachea instead of the oesophagus.

吸入，食物或饮料送入气管而不是食道。

Cancers of the oesophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year.

全界每年有多于50万名患者因食道癌去。它在英国是第六大致命癌症。

Why this should have happened is not entirely clear, but one possible explanation is that sleeping on the left keeps the junction between the stomach and oesophagus above the level of the gastric acid.

为什么会发这种情况并不完全清楚，但一个能的解释是，左侧以使胃和食道之间的交界处保持在胃酸水平之上。