Why do speed skaters wear glasses?

冬奥小百科：为什么速滑运动员要佩戴眼镜？

The reasons skiers and snowboarders don goggles or glasses might seem a little obvious, especially if you’ve ever hit the slopes yourself. Sunlight reflected off the snow can make it hard to see, and UV rays can even damage your eyesight. Special colored lenses also create contrast, so your whole path won’t look like one flat expanse of whiteness. Not to mention that eyewear shields your eyes from any snow you displace (or that the wind blows into your face).

如果你自己也玩过滑雪，滑雪和滑板运动员戴眼镜的原因应该是显而易见的。雪面上反射的阳光会让你睁不开眼，强烈的紫外线甚至可能损害你的视力。此外，特殊的有色眼镜会让你眼中看到的颜色出现反差，整个雪道不会看起来一片白茫茫。更不用说眼镜可以帮你遮风挡雪，防止运动过程中飞溅起的雪跑进你的眼睛里了。

Olympic speed skaters, meanwhile, are racing inside on smooth ice. So why do they wear glasses?

然而，奥运会的速滑选手是在室内的平滑冰面上比赛的，为什么他们也要佩戴眼镜呢？

According to NBC Olympics, glasses can increase visibility on indoor tracks, too, and some skaters’ lenses are tinted to help with that. And while the ice may look smooth from a distance, those sharp blades can kick up ice chips that could pose problems if they end up in your eyes. In the event of a crash, shatter-proof glasses also protect skaters’ eyes from errant blades and body parts.

据NBC奥运频道报道，佩戴眼镜也可以增强在室内冰场的可视性，为了看得更清楚，一些速滑选手佩戴的还是有色眼镜。尽管从远处看，冰面似乎很平滑，但是锋利的冰刀刮出的碎冰片如果飞进眼睛里，后果还是很严重的。万一运动员摔倒了，防摔眼镜可以保护运动员的眼睛不被随时可能出现在眼前的冰刀和他人的肢体冲撞伤害到。

But the biggest reason speed skaters opt for eyewear just might be their speed. Short-track speed skaters (who race around a roughly 111-meter track) can go as fast as 30 miles per hour or more, and long-track speed skaters (whose track is 400 meters long) sometimes hit about 35 miles per hour. The wind resistance generated by such speed—in a chilly arena—is enough to make any skater’s eyes start streaming with tears. Picture leaning your head out the window of a car that’s going around 35 miles per hour on a cold day: You’d probably want to be wearing glasses, too.

但是速滑选手选择佩戴眼镜最主要的原因可能是与速度有关。短道速滑（冰道周长约为111米）选手时速可达30英里（48千米）甚至更高，而速度滑冰（冰道周长为400米）选手时速可达近35英里。在寒冷的场馆内，这样的速度产生的强大风阻足以把运动员的眼睛冻到眼泪汪汪。想象一下大冷天里在一辆行驶时速35英里的汽车内，如果你要把头伸出车窗外，你应该也想戴一副眼镜。

That said, glasses aren’t a requirement, and you’ll occasionally see speed skaters with uncovered visages. Belgium's Stijn Desmet, for example, has raced in Beijing without eyewear, as has China’s Zhang Chutong.

尽管如此，速滑比赛并不强制选手佩戴眼镜，所以你偶尔也会看到不戴眼镜的速滑选手。举个例子，比利时选手斯泰恩·德梅和中国选手张楚桐在北京冬奥会上就没有佩戴眼镜。

英文来源：Mental Floss

翻译&编辑：丹妮

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