17个你日常知道的真相实际上完全是错的
If something gets repeated often enough it eventually becomes "truth."
如果某件事重复的多了,它最终就会变成“真相。”
You may be shocked to read the following list and find some facts you never thought to question aren't actually true.
读到以下列出的事实时,你可能会感到很震惊,你会发现你从没想过质疑的事实根本不是真实的。
From the Great Wall of China to the Empire State Building -- the time has come to shed some light on some of the things we thought we knew.
从中国的万里长城到帝国大厦——这个时代已经告诉一些原本我们认为知道的事情。
The Great Wall of China is not visible from space
中国的万里长城在太空是看不见的
Though the Great Wall is, admittedly, pretty big (it runs for over 1,500 miles), there's no way you can see this structure from space.
虽然无可否认,长城确实很大(它的跨度长达1500英里多),但从太空并没有办法看到这座建筑。
You can't even see the Great Wall from low orbit. No astronauts have reported seeing human-made objects from space. Although this statement was probably hyperbole made to explain how enormous the Wall is, the fact remains: you can't see the wall after clearing 180 miles of atmosphere.
甚至在近地轨道上也看不到它。没有宇航员报道说能在太空上看到人造物体。虽然这个说法可能有点夸张地来说明长城的巨大,但事实仍然是:超过180英里的大气中看不到长城。
On the contrary, it's the little things that you can spot, like city lights at night.
相反,倒可以看见一些小东西,比如城市晚上的灯光。
Dropping a penny from the Empire State Building is not deadly
从帝国大厦抛下一枚硬币并不致命
Field trips to the Empire State Building are almost always accompanied by this warning: don't drop a penny off the top. Even a penny can kill a person from here.
去帝国大厦实地考察总会每告知:不要从顶端抛下一格硬币。即使是一枚硬币也可能会使人丧命。
A falling penny's terminal velocity maxes out at 50 miles per hour. As seen on the show Mythbusters, a penny won't pick up enough speed to crack a human skull. Wind resistance makes this impossible event even more unlikely. The worst case scenario from a penny dropped from a great height is a slight sting.
一枚硬币的终极速度最大达50英里每小时。从节目《流言终结者》来看,一枚硬币不至于有击碎人脑的速度。风的阻力让这件不可能的事情变得更不可能。最坏的情况就是,硬币从高处落下会有点轻微的刺痛。
We do not use just 10% of our brains
我们不只运用大脑的10%
This myth, particularly popular among psychics, is widespread and has been used in advertising campaigns and popular culture for years. And while only a small number of our brain's neurons are actively firing at any one moment, that doesn't mean the rest of our brain is just sitting around.
这个传言被广泛传播并且已在广告活动和流行文化中用了很多年,尤其在心里学方面更受欢迎。虽然每时每刻只有一小部分脑神经积极活跃着,但这并不意味着剩下的脑神经坐以不动。
Brain imaging research shows that just about all of our brain is used over the course of a day. Brain function isn't extremely localized: different parts of the brain handle different functions, and this is spread throughout the brain -- there is no 90% of unused gray matter lying around up there.
脑部成像图研究显示在一天的活动中,几乎整个大脑都会被用到。大脑功能不是局部的:不同部分会处理不同的功能,这遍布整个大脑——而不是有90%不用的灰质。
Dogs don't sweat by salivating
狗不会通过分泌唾液排汗
Some people think that dogs sweat through their tongue -- that when you see them panting, drooling, that's like a human dripping with sweat.
有些人认为狗狗们通过舌头来排汗——当你看见它们喘气、流口水时,就好像人在滴汗一样。
In truth, dogs have sweat glands all over their body. They sweat primarily through their footpads. When they are panting, they are helping to regulate body temperature, much like we do.
事实上,狗狗全身都有汗腺。它们主要通过脚底来排汗。当它们喘气时,只是在帮助调整身体温度,就像人类那样。
Human beings do not have only five senses
人类不只有五官感觉
Sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing: these are not our only senses.
视觉,嗅觉,触觉,味觉和听觉:这些并不是我们仅有的感觉。
Although scientists disagree on the exact definition and number of senses, some of the others listed include: a sense of balance, acceleration, pain, body position, and relative temperature. There's even senses of time, itching, hunger, and blood carbon dioxide levels, just to name a few -- and there are up to 20.
尽管科学家在感觉的准确定义和数量上有分歧,但还是有一些科学家列出以下感觉:平衡感,加速感,疼痛感,体位和相对温度。甚至还有时间感,痒感,饥饿感和血液二氧化碳含量,这里只列出了一小部分,有多达20种感觉。
Alcohol does not make you warmer
酒精不会让你觉得温暖
Drunk co-eds will attest that they are able to walk around in the dead of winter in only a t-shirt or a skirt, provided they keep drinking. Same goes for skiers on the mountain tops.
喝醉的女大学生证明了如果她们一直喝酒的话,她们可以在隆冬时节只穿着T恤或裙子四处走动。同样的在山顶上的滑雪者也是这样。
Sadly, while alcohol may make one feel warmer, drinking actually makes us colder over time.
另人可悲的是,虽然酒精会使你觉得温暖,但久而久之,饮酒实际上会让我们感觉更冷。
Alcohol dilates our blood vessels, forcing our blood closer to the surface of our skin and closer to the nerve receptors -- that's the feeling part. The reality sets in when cold air steals this heat, which originally was stored safely in our cores. Hypothermia may ensue.
酒精扩大了我们的血管,促使血液贴近皮肤表层和神经末梢——即感觉区。当冷空气把这部分原本安全储存在身体中央的热量拿走时,体温就会随之降低。
Bulls are not enraged by the color red
公牛不会被红色而激怒
The matadors of Spain -- and anywhere else, for that matter -- wave red capes in an effort to enrage bulls for entertainment purposes. People have since drawn the conclusion that the color must anger the bull.But bulls are color blind. Being dichromats, it isn't the color of the cape that bothers them, but the movement of the fabric. This incites the bull to charge.
西班牙斗牛士——任何地方的斗牛士,都会挥动红色的披风来来激怒公牛。人们便得出结论说颜色会使公牛生气。但是公牛其实是色盲。它只能识别两种颜色。不是披风的颜色激怒了它们,而是因为披风的来回晃动刺激了公牛向前冲。
Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees
人类不是由黑猩猩进化来的
Skeptics of evolution might say there's no way humans evolved from chimps -- and they would be right.
进化论怀疑者会说人类不可能是从黑猩猩进化来的——这也许是对的。
A misunderstanding of evolutionary theory has given way to the idea that humans came from modern-day primates. Actually, both humans and chimps are said to have evolved from a common ancestor. Millions of years ago, this ancestor split into two separate lineages, eventually becoming apes (like chimps and gorillas) and hominids, the precursor to human beings.
对进化论的误解产生了另外的观点,人类来自当代灵长类。事实上,人类和黑猩猩是进化自同一祖先的。几百万年前,这种祖先分化成两种不同的种类,一种最终变成猿类(像黑猩猩和大猩猩),另一种是原始人类,即人类的先驱。
Hence our close relation to, but not evolution from, modern day chimps.
虽然关系很近,但我们并不是进化自当代黑猩猩。
You can put birds back in their nests if you have to
你可以把鸟放回巢中
Rumor has it that you can't touch baby birds or eggs that have fallen from the nest, or their mother will reject them as "tainted" by the smell of your human-ness.While messing with a nest may cause a mother to temporarily flee, this is due to visual cues, not smell. But even so, birds are limited in their olfactory sense and can't differentiate human from bird. Putting a bird or egg back in the nest -- if the bird is supposed to be there -- will not lead to rejection.
有谣言说,你不能碰鸟巢中掉落的小鸟儿或鸟蛋,要不然鸟妈妈就会不要它们,认为它们被人的气味所“污染”。虽然掏鸟窝会使鸟妈妈暂时逃走,但这是它们看到了,而不是嗅到了。但是即便如此,人们还是认为鸟儿只有嗅觉且不能区分人和鸟。把小鸟或鸟蛋放回原本属于它们的巢中并不会导致它们被冷落。
People are encouraged to put baby birds back in their nest, when possible.
如果可能的话,要鼓励人们把小鸟放回巢中。
Hair and nails do not continue to grow after death
死后头发和指甲不会继续生长
Somewhere along the way, a rumor was started that hair and nails continue to grow after death -- leading to nightmares worldwide of opened caskets featuring foot-long fingernails and mountains of hair.
有传闻说头发和指甲在死后会继续生长,恶梦中棺材里的人总是有脚那么长的指甲和如山般的头发。
Hair and nails only look like they have grown after death. The skin around these areas begins to lose water and shrink, giving the hair and nails the appearance of having grown. The fact is, when you're dead, not much is going to be happening growth-wise.
头发和指甲看起来好像在死后会生长一样。这些区域附近的皮肤开始失去水分,并开始收缩,这给了头发和指甲仍在生长的假象。实际上,当人死了的时候,不会有什么会继续生长的东西。
Vaccines do not cause autism
疫苗不会导致自闭
A 1998 paper by scientist Andrew Wakefield reported a connection between vaccinations and autism in children. The report set off a vaccination scare that lasts to this day.
科学家安德鲁苇克菲尔德在1998年的报纸中报道了儿童身上接种疫苗和自闭的关系。这个报道引起大家直到现在还对接种疫苗有所恐惧。
Since that time, critics have pointed out that the experiment was "a small case series with no controls, linked three common conditions, and relied on parental recall and belief." For whatever reason, Wakefield's work was fraudulent, and the paper was eventually retracted. Subsequent investigations have found no evidence linking autism and the MMR vaccine.
从那之后,批评家指出这个实验是“小病例分析,没有加以控制,与三种常见条件有关,并依靠父母亲的回忆和信念。”不管是什么原因,韦克菲尔德的工作是欺骗性的,报道最终也被撤回。后来的研究没有发现自闭和MMR疫苗有关的证据。
Goldfish actually have long memory spans
金鱼事实上有长记忆广度
The play Dying Goldfish features a line of dialogue that helps propagate this common myth: "A goldfish has a memory of only thirty seconds, so when it’s dying it thinks it’s been dying all its life." Some even thought the goldfish memory span to last only several seconds.
戏剧《垂死的金鱼》里突出的对话帮助传达了一个普遍的传闻:“金鱼只有30秒的记忆,所以当它死的时候会认为它的整个人生一直是处于垂死状态的。”有些人甚至认为金鱼的记忆力只能持续几秒。
In reality, goldfish have a memory span of up to three months. They can be taught to follow a routine and can tell time. Even high school students have gotten in on the action of disproving this myth.
事实上,金鱼的记忆力可以长达3个月。人们可以教它们遵循一个日常行为和辨别时间。甚至高中生也加入到反驳上述传闻的活动中来。
You cannot get warts from toads
不会从蟾蜍身上感染疣(俗称瘊子)
The story goes that touching a toad -- unlike kissing a frog -- can give humans warts.
有故事说触摸蟾蜍(不同于亲吻青蛙)会让人得上疣。
There are a few problems with this myth, the first being that the bumps on a toad are not warts, they're just bumps. Secondly, humans can only contract warts from the human papillomavirus (HPV), not from animal diseases.A possible source of this myth is that some toads have poison glands that make humans break out in a rash that looks like warts. But just remember: they're not.
这个故事有几个问题,第一蟾蜍身上的隆起物并不是疣,只是一些隆起的部位。第二,人类只会从人类乳头瘤病毒(HPV)感染上疣,而不会从动物疾病感染此病。产生这则故事的原因可能是有些蟾蜍有毒腺,会让人长出看起来像疣的疹子。但是要记住:这并不是真的疣。
Waking sleepwalkers does not harm them
叫醒梦游者不会伤害他们
As seen in various films and TV shows, waking a sleepwalker can lead to disastrous (or, depending on the film, hilariously disastrous) results.
在各种电影和电视剧上会看到,把梦游病人叫醒会产生灾难性的后果。
But waking a sleepwalker from their dream will leave them momentarily disoriented or confused, that's all. There is no real danger in waking them up. In fact, sleepwalkers can sustain injuries if they continue to walk around. You'll be doing them a favor by shaking them out of it.
把梦游者从梦中叫醒会暂时让他们分不清方向或感到很混乱,但也仅仅会如此而已。叫醒他们不会有什么真正的危险。实际上,如果梦游者继续四处走的话会受到伤害。你叫醒他们其实是帮了他们。
Sharks can get cancer
鲨鱼会患上癌症
The book Sharks Don't Get Cancer by I. William Lane is, believe it or not, the source for this erroneous rumor.
信不信由你,威廉莱恩的书《鲨鱼不会患上癌症》是错误传言的来源。
Sharks have strong, complex immune systems that include an angiogenin inhibitor in their cartilage. This, however, does not prevent carcinomas from developing in sharks. There are instances of tumors in sharks on record. This myth has led to a decrease in shark population and the use of shark cartilage for cancer prevention treatment, which doesn't work.
鲨鱼有强壮的,复杂的免疫系统,包括软骨中的血管生长素抑制物。然而,这并不能阻止癌细胞在鲨鱼身上的生长。有一些记录在案的鲨鱼长有肿瘤的例子。这个传闻导致了鲨鱼数量的减少,并用鲨鱼软骨来防治癌症。但却并不奏效。
Dairy does not increase mucus production
奶制品不会增加粘液分泌
People with colds are known to avoid dairy products, like milk, in an effort to decrease their mucus production.
感冒的人都知道要避免吃奶制品,比如牛奶,以此来减少粘液的分泌。
However, there is no scientific evidence to support this idea. It's suggested that this is psychosomatic, as people associate drinking milk with a similar-feeling coating of the tongue and throat.
然而,并没有科学证据来支持这一观点。这只是人的心理作用罢了,因为人在喝牛奶时会产生一种相同的感觉,仿佛把舌头和喉咙包裹起来了一样。
Men don't think about sex every seven seconds
男人不是每7秒都会想着性
Men think about sex plenty: according to popular myth, they think about sex every seven seconds. If you tell men that, they might even answer "That sounds about right."
男人总是会想着性:根据流传的传闻,他们每隔7秒就会有性幻象。如果你这样告诉他们,他们也可能会回答“听起来好像是这样。”
Unfortunately, the closest anyone can get to a real statistic is that men fantasize about sex at least once a day. Then again, maybe only 54% of men do that. Face-to-face sex surveys are unreliable in uncovering the true number, and its not clear if this number will ever be truly quantifiable. Either way, the seven seconds myth probably overstates the frequency of this event.
不幸的是,几乎人人都能得出一个实际统计,即男人每天至少有一次性幻象。然后,可能只有54%的人会发生性关系。面对面的性调查在揭露真实数字时是不可靠的,并且也不清楚这个数字会被量化。不管怎么样,7秒的传闻可能夸大了这件事发生的频率。
联系客服