Sorry Mom, Carrots Won't Actually Improve Eyesight
媽媽你被坑啦：吃胡蘿卜不能提高視力

Like many kids, I didn't like vegetables — especially carrots and broccoli. Adults frequently told me that carrots would improve my eyesight, so that seemed like a good reason to try liking them.
和很多的小朋友一樣，我不喜歡吃蔬菜，尤其討厭胡蘿卜和西蘭花。大人們總是告訴我胡蘿卜有助提高視力，聽起來是個好理由，我們好像應該多吃。

There was one person who didn't tell me this, he actually told me the opposite. My grand father overheard somebody tell me that carrots would improve my eyesight. He didn't say anything immediately, but he let me in on a little secret after that person left the room — it was all a big lie. Carrots do not improve your eyesight.
可是有人卻不這么說，事實上他的說法正好相反，那就是我的爺爺。爺爺偶然聽到別人教育我胡蘿卜可以提高視力，他當時沒有說什么，不過等那人離開房間后，爺爺告訴我了一個小秘密：胡蘿卜提高視力是個大謊話！

Sure, carrots contain beta-carotene, which metabolizes into Vitamin A and everyone agrees that is essential for maintaining eye health, but it does not improve it (unless the body is deprived of it to begin with). Also, it really has nothing to do with carrots, the necessary vitamins can come from any source.
的確，胡蘿卜含有豐富的β-胡蘿卜素，通過新陳代謝可以轉化成維生素A。大家都知道維生素A是保持眼部健康的基本要素，但它并不能提高視力（身體缺少基本需要的維生素A的情況除外）。另外，這也跟胡蘿卜沒什么大關系，我們可以通過各種途徑攝取身體必需的維生素。

So where did this myth come from?
那這種子虛烏有的說法是從哪兒來的？

During World War II, the British were particularly good at shooting down Nazi bombers at night, when it's almost impossible to see other planes. It was as if they had super-human sight, and they did. They had radar.
在二戰期間，英國士兵很擅長在夜間可視條件極差的情況下擊落納粹德國的轟炸機，就好像他們有著超人的視力一樣。他們的確有，那就是秘密武器雷達。

Once news stories started to circulate about these pilots with seemingly super-human eyes, the government needed a good explanation to prevent the Germans from learning about this technology. Carrots.
等到關于這些飛行員的“超人眼”故事開始傳播開的時候，英國政府就需要個合理的解釋，阻止德國人了解這項技術。于是他們想到了胡蘿卜。

Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham, nicknamed "Cats Eyes" for his incredible ability to shoot down enemy planes, had a natural love for carrots. The story wrote itself and they explained that they were feeding other pilots a lot of carrots to improve their eyesight too.
綽號“貓眼”的空軍上尉John Cunningham擊落敵機能力極強，他特別愛吃胡蘿卜。于是故事就這樣編出來了：英國政府解釋說也讓其他的飛行員吃胡蘿卜提高視力。