人們戴眼鏡有多久了？

張紫軒

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！

你是否曾經需要瞇著眼睛才能看到遠處的東西？很多孩子在教室里都會瞇著眼睛看鐘或黑板。然而，瞇眼對眼睛是有害的。解決這個問題，比較好的辦法就是找一副眼鏡！

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鏡是誰做的。不過，可以肯定的是，眼鏡在13世紀就被制作出來了。眼鏡大約在同一時間出現在意大利北部和中國。它們可能首先出現在其中一個地方，然后再被推廣到另一個地方。

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.

這些早期的眼鏡就像放大鏡，其中很多眼鏡都不是玻璃做的——相當多的早期眼鏡都包含石英。那是因為在當時玻璃并不清晰，用來做眼鏡的話效果不佳。

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世紀以前，眼鏡的樣子和我們現在看到的眼鏡不太一樣。直到此時，人們為了讓眼鏡能戴在臉上，都會戴上耳柄。可能是因為越來越多的人開始讀書，喜歡讀書，此時眼鏡也得到了普及。在18世紀，懂得讀書寫字的人變多了，讀書的人一多，就意味著需要眼鏡的人多了。

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世紀，人們才開始看眼科醫生配眼鏡。那時候，他們只是不斷地戴和換不同的眼鏡，直到找到一幅能讓他們視力更好的眼鏡。后來，眼科醫生出現了，并改變了這種狀況。

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.

你做過眼科檢查嗎？如果有的話，眼科醫生首先會讓你從遠處看一組字母。他們可能還會開燈觀察你的眼睛，再用其他方式測試你的視力。在做完所有這些之后，眼科醫生會告訴你是否需要一副眼鏡。

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.

多年來，眼鏡發生了很大的變化。一個大的變化是本杰明·富蘭克林在1784年發明了雙焦鏡。這樣眼鏡可以讓人們同時看清遠處和近處的東西。后來，三焦距眼鏡也被人發明了。

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.

那太陽鏡呢？它們和眼鏡的歷史差不多。中國人在12世紀就開始戴太陽鏡了。這些早期的太陽鏡也是由石英制成的。因紐特人也在差不多同一時間戴著海象牙做的太陽鏡。

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，很多人也會戴隱形眼鏡，這是阿道夫·菲克在1887年發明的。最初的隱形眼鏡人們戴起來不是很柔軟。幸運的是，今天的鏡片更柔軟，可以全天佩戴。不過，晚上一定要把隱形眼鏡取出來。

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，世界上約有50%的人戴眼鏡或隱形眼鏡。而有些人戴的眼鏡根本就沒有鏡片！這就是所謂的時尚眼鏡。人們戴這種眼鏡只是因為他們想看起來好看。

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.

戴眼鏡是你日常生活的一部分嗎？太陽鏡還是時尚眼鏡呢？可能你生活中的許多人靠外界的輔助才會看得更清楚。

（英語原文選自：wonderopolis.org）