TE||Long sightedness
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导读
良心科普
近视、远视、散光、老花眼
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
Long sightedness
拯救远视患者
英文部分选自经济学人Science and technology版块
Long sightedness
拯救远视患者
I can see clearly now
Wear glasses. Earn more
戴上眼镜，看得更清，赚得更多
Looking to the future
放眼未来
“AT THE end of the day I would be anxious,” says Anil Awasthi, a 44-year-old garment worker in Delhi, “thinking what mistakes of mine would be pointed out.” He was worried about what was going to happen as his sight deteriorated, until—courtesy of VisionSpring, an American social enterprise—he got reading glasses. “I’m confident now that my work will meet my boss’s expectations,” he says. “I go home satisfied.”
“一天快结束的时候，我就会很焦虑，”在德里工作的44岁制衣工人阿尼尔·阿瓦西（Anil Awasthi）说，“不停地想着我会犯了什么错误被别人指出来。”视力恶化后，他就对以后的日子忧心忡忡，直到在美国社会企业VisionSpring的帮助下，他戴上了老花镜，这种忧虑才得以缓解。他说：“我现在可以确信我的工作一定会让老板满意，我可以很满意地回家了。”
For the rich, the worst consequence of long sightedness is having to wear the world’s most ageing accessory. For the poor, things are more serious. “It’s the 42-year-old seamstress or tailor,” says Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring’s founder. “If they can’t see, they can’t do their jobs, and if they can’t do their jobs they end up breaking rocks by the side of the road.”
对富人而言，远视最糟糕的后果是不得不带着世界上最老气的装饰品。而对穷人来说，事情则要严重得多。VisionSpring 的创始人，乔丹·卡赛罗（Jordan Kassalow）称，“一名42岁的裁缝，如果他看不清，就胜任不了自己的工作，如果不能胜任工作，最终就只能沦落到路边去碎石头。”
The first randomised control trial to measure the impact on productivity of reading glasses was carried out recently in a tea estate in Assam, in north-eastern India, paid for by Clearly, a charity. Nathan Congdon, a professor of ophthalmology at Queen’s University, Belfast, and his colleagues gave spectacles to half of a group of 751 tea-pickers aged over 40. The other half got none. Over 11 weeks, the productivity of those whose sight had been corrected rose by 39%. It rose for the others, too, showing the importance in such trials of having a control group. But that rise was only 18%. The rise in productivity for those with glasses was the largest caused by a medical intervention that has ever been shown in such a trial (others have been of mosquito nets and micronutrients). Since tea-picking is piecework, productivity translates directly into money.
最近，在印度西北部阿萨姆邦（Assam）的茶园内，由慈善机构Clearly赞助的首个随机对照实验，测量戴上老花镜对生产效率的影响。贝尔法斯特女王大学（Queen’s University, Belfast）的眼科学内森·康南教授（Nathan Congdon）及其同事，对751名40岁以上的采茶工分组，一半分发眼镜，一半什么都不给。在此后11周内，眼睛得到矫正的采茶工生产效率提高了39%，另一组的效率也提升了，这显示了在此类实验中对照组的重要性。但是效率只提高了18%。戴眼镜的采茶工生产效率的提高，主要归功于在这一实验中所用的医疗干涉（其他因素则是蚊帐以及微量元素的摄入）。因为采茶是计件工作，所以效率就是金钱。
Before Dr Congdon’s trial, none of the 751 had worn glasses. Given the potential gain in income, and the cheapness and simplicity of spectacles, that seems odd. It is not, however, unusual. Some 1.1bn people suffer from uncorrected long sight. In this, as in many areas of health, both governments and the market fail the poor.
在康南博士（Dr Congdon）试验之前，这751名采茶工无一配戴眼镜。但考虑到因佩戴眼镜而带来的潜在收益，以及眼镜价格便宜、简单可行，这一事实似乎很荒谬。但是，这又很正常。大约有11亿人患有远视，而与很多健康领域的情况相似，政府和市场无法照顾到穷人。
注：
Fail sb：To disappoint someone. To not be able to do something for a person.
Poverty is one explanation. Liberia, says Dr Congdon, has but two eye doctors, both in the capital. Even in China, which is far better-served, half of those with poor sight do not have the glasses they need. There are social issues: some people worry that spectacles make them look ugly. There are regulatory hurdles, too. In some countries, only licensed operators may sell glasses, so hardly anybody does. And because long sight creeps up on people, victims get used to it: “They probably thought, ‘you get to 50, you can’t pick like you used to’,” says Dr Congdon of the tea-pickers. “But by the end of the trial, their productivity was as good as the youngsters’.”
贫穷不是唯一的理由。康南博士（Dr Congdon）提到，利比里亚仅仅有两位眼科医生，还都在首都。即便是在配镜更加便利的中国，视力低下的人群中有一半没有佩戴所需的眼镜。有些是社会原因造成的：部分人担心带眼镜影响美观。一部分原因是监管问题。有些国家，只有持执照的经营者才能销售眼镜，这并不是人人都能加入的行业。当人们不知不觉患上远视时，他们都觉得这很正常。康南博士对采茶工的看法是：“他们可能认为你都50岁了，不能像年轻的时候那样采茶了。但是眼镜试戴结束后，发现他们的生产效率和年轻人一样高。”
注：
Creep up on：
1.to approach someone quietly, so that the person is suddenly surprised
2.If an event, day, or condition creeps up on you, you are surprised by its arrival,esp. because it has come gradually
VisionSpring is trying to nudge the market to work better by using the “Avon-lady” model. It introduces middle-aged women to glasses, then provides them with the wherewithal to sell them door-to-door. That idea is spreading slowly, but clear sight is a surprisingly hard sell.
VisionSpring正试图通过“Avon-lady”模式推动市场更好地发挥作用。其模式为向中年女性介绍眼镜，然后给她们一笔资金，让她们上门推销眼镜。这个方法正在缓慢推进，但提供清晰视力居然需要强行营销，令人吃惊。
注：
1.“Avon-lady”
Avon Products, Inc, known as Avon, founded by David H. McConnell in 1886 is a direct selling company in beauty, household, and personal care categories. Avon uses both door-to-door salespeople ("Avon ladies" primarily, as well as some men) and brochures to advertise its products.
2.hard sell：强行推销
In advertising, a hard sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message. This approach is the diametric counterpart of a soft sell.
The term is also used to describe aggressive sales techniques used by company representatives, particularly in the context of doorstep selling.
翻译组：
Li Xia, 女， HR, 经济学人发烧友
Frank，男，小硕，经济学人爱好者
Minjia，女，广告策划，经济学人读者
校核组：
Helga，女，笔译民工，经济学人爱好者
Vambie，女，互联网民工，经济学人粉丝
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Nikolai独家奉献
Nikolai，男，小硕, science追随者
据统计，人们五官接收的有关外界的信息中，80％来源于眼睛。视力退化带来的不便，相信近视和远视的朋友们都深有体会。那么，就远视人群来说，我们需要摆脱陈旧观念，摆脱中年远视是年龄增大的必然结果的思维。接受矫正，从擦亮窗户开始，开启人生第二春。
还有一种类型，天生的远视。我有一个非常要好的朋友即是如此，可她永远是阳光地面对生活。窗户上有擦不干净的疤，没关系，只要住在窗户里面的人心向着阳光，阳光就永远不会抛弃他！
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愿景
小组
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