手機(jī)版
Sorry Mom, Carrots Won't Actually Improve Eyesight
媽媽你被坑啦：吃胡蘿卜不能提高視力
Like many kids, I didn’t like vegetables — especially carrots and broccoli. Adults frequently told me that carrots would improve my eyesight, so that seemed like a good reason to try liking them.
和很多的小朋友一樣，我不喜歡吃蔬菜，尤其討厭胡蘿卜和西蘭花。大人們總是告訴我胡蘿卜有助提高視力，聽(tīng)起來(lái)是個(gè)好理由，我們好像應(yīng)該多吃。
There was one person who didn’t tell me this, he actually told me the opposite. My grand father overheard somebody tell me that carrots would improve my eyesight. He didn’t say anything immediately, but he let me in on a little secret after that person left the room — it was all a big lie. Carrots do not improve your eyesight.
可是有人卻不這么說(shuō)，事實(shí)上他的說(shuō)法正好相反，那就是我的爺爺。爺爺偶然聽(tīng)到別人教育我胡蘿卜可以提高視力，他當(dāng)時(shí)沒(méi)有說(shuō)什么，不過(guò)等那人離開(kāi)房間后，爺爺告訴我了一個(gè)小秘密：胡蘿卜提高視力是個(gè)大謊話！
Sure, carrots contain beta-carotene, which metabolizes into Vitamin A and everyone agrees that is essential for maintaining eye health, but it does not improve it (unless the body is deprived of it to begin with). Also, it really has nothing to do with carrots, the necessary vitamins can come from any source.
的確，胡蘿卜含有豐富的β-胡蘿卜素，通過(guò)新陳代謝可以轉(zhuǎn)化成維生素A。大家都知道維生素A是保持眼部健康的基本要素，但它并不能提高視力（身體缺少基本需要的維生素A的情況除外）。另外，這也跟胡蘿卜沒(méi)什么大關(guān)系，我們可以通過(guò)各種途徑攝取身體必需的維生素。
So where did this myth come from?
那這種子虛烏有的說(shuō)法是從哪兒來(lái)的？
During World War II, the British were particularly good at shooting down Nazi bombers at night, when it’s almost impossible to see other planes. It was as if they had super-human sight, and they did. They had radar.
在二戰(zhàn)期間，英國(guó)士兵很擅長(zhǎng)在夜間可視條件極差的情況下?lián)袈浼{粹德國(guó)的轟炸機(jī)，就好像他們有著超人的視力一樣。他們的確有，那就是秘密武器雷達(dá)。
Once news stories started to circulate about these pilots with seemingly super-human eyes, the government needed a good explanation to prevent the Germans from learning about this technology. Carrots.
等到關(guān)于這些飛行員的“超人眼”故事開(kāi)始傳播開(kāi)的時(shí)候，英國(guó)政府就需要個(gè)合理的解釋?zhuān)柚沟聡?guó)人了解這項(xiàng)技術(shù)。于是他們想到了胡蘿卜。
Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham, nicknamed ”Cats Eyes” for his incredible ability to shoot down enemy planes, had a natural love for carrots. The story wrote itself and they explained that they were feeding other pilots a lot of carrots to improve their eyesight too.
綽號(hào)“貓眼”的空軍上尉John Cunningham擊落敵機(jī)能力極強(qiáng)，他特別愛(ài)吃胡蘿卜。于是故事就這樣編出來(lái)了：英國(guó)政府解釋說(shuō)也讓其他的飛行員吃胡蘿卜提高視力。
