英語聽力文摘759 眼鏡的發(fā)展簡史

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Spec-tacular Inventions

When you think about inventions that have radically changed human existence, what comes to mind? Probably the wheel, the printing press, maybe the refrigerator and definitely personal computers. Then there are those more mundane things that we rarely think about, but without which we’d be much worse off. Like eyeglasses, for example. Imagine a world without glasses—many of us would walk around bumping into things and driving our cars up onto the sidewalk. So who invented glasses, and how were they first made?

The truth is that nobody knows who invented eyeglasses. At some point in Italy between 1268 and 1289 someone came up with the idea, but the actual inventor remains anonymous. What we do know is that the earliest lenses were made from quartz and were usually set into bone, metal, or leather. As soon as early opticians figured out how to make glass without bubbles and other obstructions, they started making lenses out of glass.

Ye Olde Nose Pinchers

Although glasses spread quickly throughout Europe and Asia, there was one major problem: Keeping them on the wearer’s face. Early glasses acted a bit like pinchers, squeezed onto the bridge of the nose. Ouch! It took nearly 400 years before opticians figured out that rigid sidepieces resting on top of the ears might do the trick.

No history of spectacles would be complete without some mention of Benjamin Franklin, who invented bifocals in the 1780s. Annoyed at having to constantly switch glasses whenever he wanted to read or take in the sights while traveling, Franklin had his reading glasses cut in half and fused with his distance glasses. Now that’s American ingenuity for you.

came up with 提出，想出

quartz 石英

optician n. 眼鏡商;光學(xué)儀器商;光學(xué)儀器制造者

rigid adj. 嚴(yán)格的;僵硬的，死板的

bifocal n. 雙光眼鏡;雙重焦點(diǎn)透鏡

ingenuity n. 心靈手巧，獨(dú)創(chuàng)性;精巧

PS：現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)習(xí)慣成自然：當(dāng)你的視力下降，你的眼睛變差了，你會(huì)去你的視光師或眼科醫(yī)生那里配一副眼鏡。但過去可不是這樣的：直到13世紀(jì)人們才真正使用助視器來改善他們的視力。

一、眼鏡的歷史

數(shù)千年前，瑪雅，埃及，中國和希臘的偉大文明創(chuàng)造了驚人的成就。然而，當(dāng)涉及到保持視力，即使是最偉大的學(xué)者也無能為力。那時(shí)，就像今天一樣，隨著年齡的增大眼睛通常也慢慢變差。偉大的羅馬演說家西塞羅曾抱怨一件麻煩事就是不得不讓仆人讀文章給他聽。尼祿皇帝需要通過一顆綠寶石來觀看他鐘愛的角斗。希臘哲學(xué)家托勒密(約公元150)了解了光折射的最初規(guī)律，但是直到1000多年以后阿拉伯?dāng)?shù)學(xué)家和天文學(xué)家阿爾哈曾才明確了形成清晰視覺的最基本的折射定律。

二、修道士發(fā)明了最早的助視器

最終，13世紀(jì)時(shí)意大利的修道士手工精心制作了第一個(gè)半成形的立式鏡片。這種鏡片就像放大鏡。為制作鏡片，修道士使用了一種石英叫綠寶石。幾年之后-1267年-牛津圣芳濟(jì)會(huì)的修道士羅杰培根提供了科學(xué)的證據(jù)說明用特殊形狀的立式鏡片可以將小字放大。

三、穆拉諾：眼鏡的誕生地

至今仍在全世界享有盛譽(yù)的威尼斯穆拉諾的玻璃工廠有理由聲稱自己是眼鏡的誕生地。13世紀(jì)，他們是唯一能夠制造純粹的軟玻璃的工廠。不久以后第一份質(zhì)量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)出爐。這些眼鏡，稱為閱讀助視器， 有一個(gè)凸起的立式鏡片，邊框是用鐵，牛角或木頭制成的。那時(shí)只有一種簡單的碩大的鏡片。總之，第一副眼鏡只能用作遠(yuǎn)視者閱讀用的助視器。

四、眼鏡成為身份的象征

直到200年以后至少在某種程度上可以代表第一副現(xiàn)代眼鏡的鏡框被制造出來了：鉚釘樣眼鏡被耳掛式眼鏡所代替。鏡框是一片式的。當(dāng)然只有少數(shù)富人能夠買得起這些鐵制或青銅制的眼鏡。在西班牙，特別大的眼鏡被認(rèn)為是身份的象征。皮制的鼻梁架也開始使用以使助視器戴起來更加舒適。那時(shí)最大的問題實(shí)際上是固定。鏡框經(jīng)常會(huì)從鼻子上滑落，由于鏡框很重，很多時(shí)候佩戴者覺得戴起來非常不舒服。18世紀(jì)，所謂的紐倫堡有框眼鏡在市場上出現(xiàn)。人們給它起了一個(gè)不怎么討人喜歡的名字“nose-crushers”-但它卻成為了一種時(shí)尚，并且佩戴起來比較舒適，而在這之前被認(rèn)為是不可能的。

大約在18世紀(jì)末，配有單片眼鏡的鏡架成為新寵。德國和英國上流社會(huì)有品位的淑女和紳士都戴這種眼鏡。法國人則更喜歡“pince-nez”眼鏡。也是單片鏡片的鏡架，但不僅可以戴在鼻子上，也可以利用眼周的肌肉固定。法國版的優(yōu)勢(shì)在于當(dāng)有其他人在一起時(shí)可以迅速取下，因?yàn)榈聡奈鞣洁従觽冇X得戴pince-nez被人看到還是會(huì)有點(diǎn)尷尬。

五、現(xiàn)代的框架眼鏡

直到上世紀(jì)的前20年框架眼鏡才變成現(xiàn)在的外觀和解剖學(xué)上的完美設(shè)計(jì)。如今，眼鏡有各種各樣的形狀和材料-選擇可以隨心所欲。框架眼鏡已經(jīng)成為全世界最重要的助視器并且成為受眾人歡迎的時(shí)尚配件。

——《科技在線》