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Well, my sister just had a baby and she keeps talking about how her left arm is getting so much stronger than her right.
我姐姐剛生完孩子，她一直在說她的左臂正變得比右臂更強壯。
OK, so there’s some anecdotal evidence.
好吧，所以有一些軼事證據。
So, then when the baby looks up at their parent, what they see is the left profile.
所以，這樣的話，當孩子抬頭看他們的父母時，看到的就是左邊的側臉。
Right. And so the theory goes: the left side of the face becomes imprinted in our memories.
沒錯，所以這個理論說：左邊的臉印刻在了我們的記憶中。
But the parental imprinting hypothesis doesn’t explain why left profiles have decreased over time.
但是這個親本印記假設并沒有解釋為什么畫左側臉的現象漸漸減少了啊。
I mean, parents are still carrying their babies in their left arm, right?
我的意思是說，現在父母仍然在用他們的左臂抱孩子，對嗎？
Exactly! All right, what about the way the artists’ studio is organized, specially the light source.
沒錯！好了，這跟畫家工作室的規劃有沒有關系呢？特別是光源。
Remember that the light source determines where the shadows are.
別忘了，光源決定了陰影的位置。
So, if you’re a right-handed artists, you’d want to the light coming from your left
所以，如果你是慣用右手的畫家，你會想讓光線從你的左邊過來，
because you don’t want your printing hand to cast a shadow across your canvas, right?
因為你不想讓你畫畫的手在畫面上留下陰影，對吧？
And if the light’s coming from your left, you’d want your subject to turn to their right into the light.
那如果光線從你的左邊過來，那你就會希望模特轉向他們的右邊，正對著光線。
And if they do that, what do you see?
如果他們那么做的話，你會看到什么？
The left side of their face.
他們左邊的臉。
Exactly, and well into the 20th century, many an artist’s primary light source would be the sun.
正是如此，而且進入20世紀后，很多畫家的主光源是太陽光。
And they set up their studio to take maximum advantage of it.
他們把畫室布置得能最大限度利用陽光。
But then what happens as other high-quality, portable, artificial light sources become available.
但是接下來隨著其他高質量、便攜的人工光源出現時，會發生什么？
Well, you could position your subject in a lot more different ways and still have good lighting on your subject and on your canvas.
你可以讓模特按照更多不同的方式擺姿勢，而且仍有良好的光線照在模特和你的畫布上。
So...?
所以......?
You’d expect to see a more balanced ratio of left- and right-side portraits.
就能看到肖像畫中左右邊的比例更加均衡。
