考研英语二晨读2018-07-29

Too much time in the classroom causes short sight,research shows

　研究显示：长时间待在教室容易导致孩子近视

The more years you spend in full-time education,the more short-sighted you are likely to be,according to a large UK study.The link appears to be that students have too little exposure to bright natural light—and the antidote suggested by the researchers is for children to spend more of the day outdoors.

英国一项大型研究的结果显示，你接受的全日制教育的时间越长，你的近视程度就可能越高。原因似乎是由于学生们接触到的明亮自然光太少，研究人员建议的解决办法是让孩子们白天在户外多待一段时间。

The study,carried out by Cardiff and Bristol university scientists,analysed information on the genetics,eyesight and educational background of 68,000 participants in the UK Biobank database.The findings,published in the BMJ,imply that a graduate who spent 17 years in education is on average one dioptre more short-sighted that someone who left school at the age of 16 after spending 12 years in education.That deterioration is equivalent to the difference between having perfect vision and needing glasses to drive safely.

这项由英国卡迪夫大学(Cardiff University)和布里斯托大学(University of Bristol)的科学家们开展的研究对英国生物样本库(UK Biobank)中6.8万名参与者的基因、视力和教育背景信息进行了分析。发表在《英国医学杂志》(BMJ)上的这篇研究报告显示，平均来说，一名受过17年教育的毕业生比一名受过12年教育、16岁就辍学的学生的近视程度要高100度。这种视力退化相当于拥有完美视力和需要戴眼镜才能安全驾驶之间的区别。

“With the rapid rise in the global prevalence of myopia and its vision-threatening complications,together with the economic burden of visual loss,the findings of this study have important implications for educational practices,”said Jez Guggenheim,of Cardiff University’s School of Optometry and Vision Sciences.Using Biobank data,the Bristol and Cardiff scientists analysed 44 genetic variants associated with risk of myopia and 69 variants associated with time spent in education.They found that while the number of years at school and college strongly influenced eyesight,there was no effect in the opposite direction:propensity to myopia did not lead people to remain in education for longer.

“由于近视及威胁视力的并发症的全球发病率的快速增加，以及视力损失的经济负担，这项研究成果对教育实践有着重要的意义，”卡迪夫大学视光学和视觉科学学院的杰斯古根海姆(Jez Guggenheim)说。使用英国生物样本库的数据，布里斯托大学和卡迪夫大学的科学家分析了44种与近视风险相关的基因变异、以及69种与受教育时间相关的变异。他们发现，虽然在中小学和大学学习的时间对视力有很大的影响，但反过来却不成立：即近视倾向不会导致人们接受教育的时间延长。

There are two explanations for the link.One is the old idea that too much“near”or“close”work strains the eyes,particularly in children.“An association between time spent reading and myopia is less consistently shown across studies than the protective effect of time spent outdoors.”

对这种关联有两种解释。一种是陈旧的观点，即过多的“近距离”工作令眼睛疲劳，尤其是对儿童而言。“研究显示，阅读时长和近视之间的关联性不如户外时间对视力的保护作用表现得那么持续一致。”

1.short-sighted ['ʃɔ:t'saitid]
adj. 目光短浅的；近视的

2.antidote ['æntɪdəʊt]
n. 矫正方法

3.dioptre [daɪ'ɑptɚ]
n. 屈光度

4.deterioration [dɪ,tɪərɪə'reɪʃn]
n. 恶化；退化；堕落

5.equivalent [ɪ'kwɪv(ə)l(ə)nt]
adj. 等价的，相等的； n. 等价物，相等物

6.prevalence ['prev(ə)l(ə)ns; ]
n. 流行；普遍；

7.myopia [maɪ'əʊpɪə]
n. 近视

8.variant ['veərɪənt]
n. 变异；变体

9.propensity [prə'pensɪtɪ]
n. 倾向；爱好