大雪紛飛 破解關於雪最常見的3條流言

近幾日，全國多地迎來了入冬以來的首場大雪，杭州西湖銀裝素裹，宛如仙境一般。對於聖潔美麗的雪，你瞭解多少？也可能，你知道的那些都是錯的呢。比如下面這些：

1. No two snowflakes are the same

世界上不存在兩片完全相同的雪花

First of all, it’s a myth that no two snowflakes are the same. In 1988, a scientist found two identical snow crystals that had both formed in a snow storm in Wisconsin, USA.

首先，“不存在兩片完全相同的雪花”這一說法是假的。1988年，一名科學家發現了兩個完全相同的雪結晶，而且這兩片雪花都是在美國威斯康星州的一場雪暴中形成的。

Since then scientists have come to learn that snowflakes can only form into 35 different shapes. Although scientists are also unsure why exactly the various shapes of snowflake form, they have identified eight predominant shapes, with each of these eight shapes having several different variations.

之後，科學家瞭解到雪花只會有35種不同形狀的造型。雖然科學家也不清楚雪花會形成各種各樣形狀的準確原因，但是他們已經確定出了雪花的8種主要形狀，這8種形狀中的每一種又有幾種不同的變化。

2. Snow is white

雪是白色的

Second biggest myth, snow isn’t white. It’s actually colorless. Snow is made up of ice particles, and ice is translucent, which means that light does not pass through it easily, but rather it gets reflected.

這是第二大誤區，但其實雪不是白色的，而是無色的。雪是由冰晶分子組成的，而冰是半透明的，也就是說光線不能很輕易地穿透它，而會被其反射。

When light hits a snowflake, it gets reflected back from the snowflake’s many surfaces, often bouncing between these surfaces, and because of this that light is reflected back to our eyes as the color white. This is why, up close or magnified, a snowflake always looks clear, yet in reality appears as white.

當光線照射在雪上，雪花的衆多冰晶表面會將其反射回去，通常是在各表面間來回反射，也正因爲如此，反射進我們眼睛中的光線就呈現出了白色。這就是爲什麼近看或放大看雪花，顏色是透明的，但是在實際生活中肉眼看上去卻是白色的。

translucent[træns'lusnt]: adj. 半透明的

3. Snow always looks white

雪看起來總是白色的

Lastly, snow doesn’t always appear to us as the color white. Not counting the infamous yellow snow that everyone knows never to eat, you can also get naturally blue snow or even pink snow.

最後，雪所呈現的顏色也不是隻有白色。不算上臭名昭著的黃雪（每個人都知道不要吃這種雪），還有天然的藍色雪甚至是粉色雪。

Deep snow can sometimes appear blue in color because the extra layers of snow create a filter for light, which causes more red light to be absorbed by the snow than blue light, meaning that it looks blue.

深深的積雪有時候會呈現出藍色，因爲更厚的雪成爲了光線的濾鏡，導致雪層吸收的紅光多於藍光，這意味着雪會看起來發藍。

俄羅斯聖彼得堡的這場藍色的雪：

Likewise, snow can sometimes appear pink in mountainous regions or coastal Polar Regions due to it containing cryophilic fresh-water algae that have a red pigment in them.

同樣的，在山區或極地沿海區域的雪有時候會呈現出粉色，這是由於雪中含有喜歡寒冷的淡水藻類，而藻類的體內有紅色素。

cryophilic[,kraɪə'fɪlək]: adj. 嗜寒的

algae['ældʒi]: n. 藻類；海藻

pigment['pɪgmənt]： n. 色素

南極洲的彼得曼冰川上的粉色的雪：

As an interesting bonus fact, the fur of Polar Bears is actually made up of translucent fibers, trapping light between its many surfaces and making the Polar Bear look white, when in actuality if you were to examine a single piece of Polar Bear fur up close it would look clear – just like a snowflake.

另外補充一個有趣的小常識，北極熊的毛髮其實是半透明的，但是由於光線在層層毛髮的表面之間來回反射，所以北極熊看起來是白色的。事實上，如果你單獨看一根北極熊的毛髮，你會發現它和雪花一樣，是透明的。

It’s also a commonly known fact that, if shaved, a Polar Bear would be black in color. The reason a Polar Bear’s skin is black is because black is the color which locks in the most heat, meaning the Polar Bears is not only perfectly camouflaged but also incredibly thermally insulated.

而且還有一個人盡皆知的常識是，如果把毛剃光，北極熊的皮膚是黑色的。原因是，黑色可以鎖住最多的熱量，也就是說，北極熊這身皮毛不僅是一個完美的僞裝，還是一個超好的保暖服。

camouflage['kæmə'flɑʒ]: vt. 僞裝，掩飾