The school system is a bastion of education and enlightenment, a fortress of higher learning where our children can safely discover the facts about the way our world works. Through this system we have the opportunity to grow and mature into responsible adults, secure in our knowledge of history, science, and mathematics.
學校系統是教育啟蒙之堡壘，是我們的孩子獲取知識，明曉世界如何運轉之所在。在學校的教育下，我們有機會漸趨于成熟，成長為一代富于責任感、使命感的青年，同時因胸藏萬象，熟習歷史、科學與數學知識，從而常感富足安適之意。
Except, of course, for all the ridiculously irresponsible lies we're being fed. Here are ten of the biggest lies taught to us in school.
當然，我們在大書其優點時，也不能落下其灌輸給學生的荒謬、不可靠的錯誤知識。下面就是那些年學校教給我們的10個最大的“謊言”。
10.Deoxygenated Blood Is Blue (Which Is Why Your Veins Appear Blue)
10.缺氧血液是藍色的（這可以解釋為何你的靜脈呈藍色）
If you look closely at the inside of your wrist, you'll probably see a small network of blue veins running up into your hand. Despite what they might teach you in elementary school, that's not blue blood running through there. The myth is that deoxygenated blood is blue, while blood leaving the heart is red because it's been filled with fresh oxygen. When you bleed, the blood is immediately red because it's exposed to oxygen in the air.
如果你仔細觀察你的手腕內側，可能就會發現手腕皮下交織成網的藍色靜脈。不管你的小學教科書對此如何說明，手腕下流經靜脈的血液其實并非藍色。我們不覺便陷入這樣的一個誤區：由于從心臟運輸至全身各器官的血液里面富含新鮮的氧，故而動脈血是紅色的，而缺氧血是藍色的；當你流血時，血液隨即變紅則是因為接觸到空氣中的氧氣。
But if you've ever given blood or had blood taken at the doctor's office, you'll know that it's not some alien blue liquid filling up that sealed tube—it's, well, it's blood. The reason your veins look blue is a simple trick of the light, and the way your eyes perceive colors. When light filters through the layers of skin, the low frequency wavelengths (like red) are refracted by pigmentation and thin fat layers, leaving mostly blue light to reflect back to your eyes. An albino person will usually have red veins because of the lack of pigmentation in their skin.
但是倘你曾經獻過血或在醫師處抽過血，你就會發現裝在密封試管中的藍色液體并不陌生——沒錯，那就是血液。你的靜脈之所以呈現藍色不過是光線的一個小把戲，取決于人眼對不同顏色的感知能力。當光線滲進皮膚表層時，低頻率波長的光線（如紅光）就被色素淀積和薄脂肪層折射出去，從而使反射回人眼的光線多為藍光。而白化病患者的靜脈通常呈現紅色，那是因為他們的皮膚中缺乏色素淀積。
9.There Were Thirteen Original Colonies In America
9.北美地區最初有13個殖民地
It's easy to understand why people believe this lie, but it is a lie nonetheless. The American flag has thirteen stripes representing the original thirteen colonies—but really there were only twelve.
只要聯想到美國國旗上的13道條紋代表著獨立之初北美地區的13個殖民地，就很容易理解為何人們對這個“謊言”深信不疑，但事實卻并非如此，實際上北美地區最初只有12個殖民地。
That's because Delaware was never a separate colony. After the British invaded the region and stole it from the Dutch in the 1660s, the Delaware territory was juggled between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Eventually it ended up under the ownership of William Penn—the guy who also owned Pennsylvania—and it remained a part of Pennsylvania until the Revolutionary War. In fact, it wasn't even called Delaware—it was just known as “The Three Lower Counties.”
這是因為那時候特拉華（Delaware）還不是一個單獨的殖民地。自17世紀60年代英國入侵特拉華并成功從荷蘭手中奪取此地起，特拉華的處境就一直頗為尷尬，它位于賓夕法尼亞州與馬里蘭州之間，但既不單獨成州，也不屬于任何州。最終威廉·佩恩（William Penn）獲得該地區的所有權，由于他早先就曾擁有賓夕法尼亞州，因此在獨立戰爭之前，特拉華地區一直屬于賓夕法尼亞殖民地的一部分。實際上，它最初甚至不叫特拉華，而被稱為“下三郡”（The Three Lower Counties）。
8.玻璃是液體
The myth: old windowpanes are thicker at the bottom because glass is a slow moving liquid.
誤區：古時候的玻璃窗底部較厚，由此可推斷玻璃是緩慢流動的液體。
At some point in time, a historian looked at an ancient windowpane and noticed something unusual: the glass was thicker at the bottom than at the top. Since there was no other way to account for it, he came to the conclusion that glass was an extremely slow moving liquid that settled over the years, resulting in thin, brittle glass at the top that gradually thickened towards the bottom edge of the windowpane.
曾經有一個歷史學家在觀察一扇古時玻璃窗時，注意到一個不同尋常的現象：玻璃底部部分較其他部分更厚。由于找不到其他原因對此現象加以闡釋，他由此得出結論，認為玻璃是流動極其緩慢的液體，隨著時間的推移逐漸趨于穩定，于是造就了后來我們所見的玻璃窗形態：上部稀薄易碎，而底部邊緣則越發增厚。
And then everybody believed him. The myth spread until even college professors were teaching it in their classes, since even scientists don't understand science sometimes. But one researcher recently decided to test the viscosity (rate of flow) of glass, and came to the result that even the least viscous type of glass wouldn't change much before 10^32 years—about three times the length of the existence of the universe. Though why we should believe him more than the first scientist is a bit of a mystery—effectively they are both making it up.
那時所有人都相信他的說法。這個謠傳便播散開來，甚至連大學老師在課堂上都是如此教授，但我們也不能過多苛責，畢竟就連科學家有時也不能理解科學。但最近有一個研究者決定測量玻璃的粘度（液體流動時,在其分子間產生內摩擦的性質稱為液體的粘性，粘性的大小用粘度表示），最后測量結果顯示，即使是粘度最低的玻璃也要經過10^32年（約是宇宙存在時間的三倍）才有較大的變化。但問題是我們究竟要相信誰呢——實際上，他們兩人的說法都屬子虛烏有。
The real reason antique glass windows are bottom-heavy goes back to the way they were made in the Middle Ages. Window-makers would blow glass into a large sphere, then flatten it into a disk by spinning it. The spinning motion caused the edges of the disk to thicken, much like spinning a pizza dough. And when they cut the disk into windows, they placed the thicker side at the bottom for stability.
其實關于古時玻璃窗底部更厚的原因還得追溯至中世紀的玻璃制造工藝。玻璃制造者用一個不銹鋼的空心管挑適量高溫熔化的玻璃水，將其吹成一個大玻璃球，然后通過旋轉將其壓制定形成一個圓盤。這樣的旋轉運動使得圓盤邊緣越發增厚，這和旋轉披薩面團的原理相類似。隨后他們將圓盤切割成窗戶形狀，并將較厚的一端置于底部以固平衡。
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