人们戴眼镜有多久了？

张紫轩

Do you ever have to squint1 to see things that are far away？ Many kids squint to see the clock or the blackboard in the classroom. However， squinting can be bad for your eyes. A better way to do with this problem would be to look for a pair of glasses！

你是否曾经需要眯着眼睛才能看到远处的东西？很多孩子在教室里都会眯着眼睛看钟或黑板。然而，眯眼对眼睛是有害的。解决这个问题，比较好的办法就是找一副眼镜！

No one knows who made the first set of eyeglasses. However， its sure that they were made in the 13th Century. Glasses showed up around the same time in northern Italy and in China. They could have first come from either place and then come to the other.

沒有人知道第一副眼镜是谁做的。不过，可以肯定的是，眼镜在13世纪就被制作出来了。眼镜大约在同一时间出现在意大利北部和中国。它们可能首先出现在其中一个地方，然后再被推广到另一个地方。

These early glasses were like magnifying2 glasses. And many of them werent made of glass： There is quartz3 in many early eyeglasses. Thats because much glass at that time was not clear4， so wouldnt have worked well for eyeglasses.

这些早期的眼镜就像放大镜，其中很多眼镜都不是玻璃做的——相当多的早期眼镜都包含石英。那是因为在当时玻璃并不清晰，用来做眼镜的话效果不佳。

Eyeglasses didnt look much like glasses we see now before the 1700s. Thats when people put ear stems5 to keep glasses on their faces. Glasses were also， around this time， much more used than before， likely because more and more people start reading and love reading. In the 1700s， there were more people who knew how to read and write， so more people reading meant more people needed glasses.

在18世纪以前，眼镜的样子和我们现在看到的眼镜不太一样。直到此时，人们为了让眼镜能戴在脸上，都会戴上耳柄。可能是因为越来越多的人开始读书，喜欢读书，此时眼镜也得到了普及。在18世纪，懂得读书写字的人变多了，读书的人一多，就意味着需要眼镜的人多了。

People didnt start seeing ophthalmologist6 for glasses before the 1800s. At that time， they just kept wearing and changing7 different pairs of glasses before they found one that made their eyesight8 better. Then ophthalmologists showed up and changed that.

直到19世纪，人们才开始看眼科医生配眼镜。那时候，他们只是不断地戴和换不同的眼镜，直到找到一幅能让他们视力更好的眼镜。后来，眼科医生出现了，并改变了这种状况。

Have you ever had an eye test？ If so， your ophthalmologist started by asking you to read a set of letters from far away. They may have also taken a light in your eyes and tested your eyesight in other ways. After all that， the ophthalmologist would tell you whether or not you need a pair of glasses.

你做过眼科检查吗？如果有的话，眼科医生首先会让你从远处看一组字母。他们可能还会开灯观察你的眼睛，再用其他方式测试你的视力。在做完所有这些之后，眼科医生会告诉你是否需要一副眼镜。

Glasses have changed a lot over the years. One big change was Benjamin Franklins invention9 of bifocals10 in 1784. This made glasses help people see things that are both far away and very near. Later， trifocals11 were also invented.

多年来，眼镜发生了很大的变化。一个大的变化是本杰明·富兰克林在1784年发明了双焦镜。这样眼镜可以让人们同时看清远处和近处的东西。后来，三焦距眼镜也被人发明了。

How about sunglasses？ Theyre about as old as eyeglasses. People in China started wearing sunglasses in the 12th Century. These early sunglasses were also made of quartz. Inuit12 people also wore sunglasses made of walrus ivory13 around the same time.

那太阳镜呢？它们和眼镜的历史差不多。中国人在12世纪就开始戴太阳镜了。这些早期的太阳镜也是由石英制成的。因纽特人也在差不多同一时间戴着海象牙做的太阳镜。

Today， many people also wear contact lenses14. These were invented by Adolf Fick in 1887. The first contact lenses were not very soft15 for people to wear. Luckily， todays lenses are softer and can be worn all day. However， you should always take your contact lenses out at night.

現如今，很多人也会戴隐形眼镜，这是阿道夫·菲克在1887年发明的。最初的隐形眼镜人们戴起来不是很柔软。幸运的是，今天的镜片更柔软，可以全天佩戴。不过，晚上一定要把隐形眼镜取出来。

Today， about 50% of people in the world wear eyeglasses or contact lenses. And some people wear glasses with no lenses at all！This is called fashion glasses. People wear them just because they want to look good.

如今，世界上约有50%的人戴眼镜或隐形眼镜。而有些人戴的眼镜根本就没有镜片！这就是所谓的时尚眼镜。人们戴这种眼镜只是因为他们想看起来好看。

Are wearing glasses part of your daily life？ How about sunglasses or fashion glasses？ Its likely that  many of the people in your life use some help to see better.

戴眼镜是你日常生活的一部分吗？太阳镜还是时尚眼镜呢？可能你生活中的许多人靠外界的辅助才会看得更清楚。

（英语原文选自：wonderopolis.org）