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You go to the local laundromat to do your wash.
想象一下你帶著換洗衣物到附近洗衣店清洗，
In the spinningbarrel full of sudsy water you load clothes of all colors:
呈現眼前的是一個裝滿了肥皂泡水的大滾筒，這時你把所有要洗的衣服扔下去:
a brightred tee-shirt, blue jeans, a green bandanna.
鮮紅色的T恤,牛仔褲，綠色圍巾。
The original mix ofclothing is as multi-colored as a rainbow.
這套服飾搭配就像是多姿多彩的彩虹。
Why, then, does thelint that collects in the lint tray always come out the same color—a bland gray?
那究竟是為什么在洗衣機過濾器中收集起來的絨線呈現出來的是不變的淺灰色？
The answer lies in the way color perception works.
答案就在人體的色覺是如何工作的。
Lint is acollection of tiny, loose fibers that come off your clothes due to normal wear and tear.
絨線是一些小小的散纖維，他們通常在洗滌過程或者是撕扯中產生。
As no cloth,and indeed no single strand of cloth, is perfectly wound, these tiny threads will always be breaking away.
因為沒有任何一塊布是紡織得十分的完美，所以這些小線頭就會到處亂竄。
Thus were you to load the washer with clothes of only one color—say a uniform purple—thelint would indeed be of that color.
因此如果在洗衣機里擱置的是一種顏色的衣物，例如紫色，那絨線就是紫色。
In most cases, however, a wash-load is a mixture of hues.
但大多數情況下，洗衣機里面會混合多種顏色。
The eye, upon examining a closely-knitcombination of colors, merges them into a single, generalized sensation.
當眼睛檢視那多種色彩的混合物之時，顯現出來的是他們共同普遍的色覺感受。
This phenomenon isexploited by painters, who sometimes put tiny dots of different primary colors right next to eachother on a canvas to create the illusion of a rich, single hue when viewed all together.
這種現象常被畫家利用，他們經常在一張畫布上把不同的原色挨著繪在一起，而造就出一種整體看來是濃郁單色的景象。
If you pullapart a piece of lint carefully you will see that it is indeed composed of multiple colored threads;
如果你小心的扯開一團棉絨，你會發現他實際上是由多種顏色的線頭組成。
but as soon as you back away from it, the gray sensation returns.
但你把它揉回去之后，看見的又是灰色。
In an idealized situation, where the threads contained all the primary colors in equal amounts, and were not obscured by dirt and other residues, the lint would appear to be white, not gray.
在所有原色的線頭數量相等，并且沒有被灰塵抑或其他的殘渣遮蓋的理想情況之下，那些絨線應該是白色的而不是灰色。
But then, if your lint were clean enough to see that effect clearly, you’d never need to wash yourclothes.
但是如果你的衣物已經能呈現出那樣的效果，就再也沒有必要洗衣服啦！
