I have worn glasses since early childhood. I often wished I didn’t have to. Sport was difficult before soft contact lenses arrived. As a rugby full back, I was a determined tackler, but a hapless spiller of the high ball.
我从小就戴眼镜。我常常希望自己要是不戴眼镜就好了。在软性隐形镜片问世前，戴眼镜的人运动起来很麻烦。作为橄榄球后卫，我是一个颇为执着的拦截者，但在捉高球方面我就不那么走运了。
The name-calling — “goggles”, “four-eyes”, “prof” — was annoying, but left no lasting scars. The sharp-tongued ripostes you develop are useful in all areas of life.
“眼镜”、“四眼”、“教授”这样的绰号很烦人，但也没有给我留下什么永久性伤害。还击中练就的伶牙俐齿倒是在生活中的各个方面都挺有用的。
As a myope, I was part of a small club back then. That is not true of young people today. Of Europeans aged 25 to 29, some 47.2 per cent are shortsighted, according to a study in the Opthalmology journal.
那时我这样的近视眼属于一个小群体。但对如今的年轻人来说就不是这样了。根据期刊Opthalmology上刊登的一份研究，欧洲25到29岁的人群中，有47.2%都是近视。
Katie Williams of King’s College London, which led the study, says that in cities in east Asia, almost 80 per cent of young people are short-sighted.
主持这项研究的是伦敦国王学院(King's College London)的凯蒂•威廉斯(Katie Williams)。她表示，在东亚的城市中，几乎80%的年轻人都是近视。
The rise in myopia has been startling. In Europe, only 27.5 per cent of 50 to 59-year olds are short-sighted, which means the level has almost doubled in a generation.
近视人群的涨幅令人吃惊。欧洲50到59岁的人群中，只有27.5%是近视。这就意味着仅仅在一代人的时间里，近视人群的比例就几乎翻了一番。
There are marked differences within generations. The longer people remain in education, the more short-sighted they are. Among 45 to 49-year olds, 26.3 per cent of those who left school before 16 are short-sighted. Among those who have been through higher education, the level is 51.4 per cent.
近视人群的比例有明显的代际差异。受教育的时间越长，近视的几率就越大。45到49岁的人群中，16岁前就离开学校的人中有26.3%近视。受过高等教育的人群中，近视人群的比例达到了51.4%。
Can we attribute these results to those who think they need glasses being more likely to have their eyes tested? King’s College London says not. The Opthalmology report was based on a series of studies that tested the eyes of a representative sample of people.
这种结果是否可以归结于那些认为自己需要眼镜的人更可能去测视力？伦敦国王学院的研究者们并不这么认为。作为报告基础的一系列研究采用的样本人群是具有代表性的。
“While there is always some element of volunteer bias in studies, the studies were mainly looking at age-related eye diseases (and often not just eye diseases) so it is unlikely that short-sighted people self-selected to participate, ” the college says.
“尽管研究中总会有一些志愿者偏差的因素，但是这些研究主要瞄准的是与年龄相关的眼疾（而且通常不仅是眼疾），因此不太可能是近视的人自己选择了参加，”该学院表示。
Why are people becoming more short-sighted? The Opthalmology authors say myopia runs in families and is “highly heritable” but environmental factors play an important role too.
为什么人们越来越近视？研究报告的作者们表示，近视在家族中传递，具有“高度遗传性”，但环境因素也起着非常重要的作用。
What those factors are is unclear. “Myopia has been associated with education, near work, urbanisation, prenatal factors, socio-economic status, cognitive ability, season of birth, light and time spent outdoors, ” the researchers say.
那些因素是什么尚不清楚。“近视同教育、近距离工作、城市化、孕期因素、社会经济地位、认知能力、出生的季节、光线、还有在户外待的时间有关，”研究者们表示。
The link between sight and higher education is also murky. It may be that further schooling means more reading and less time outside. It may be that there are “shared genetic factors underlying myopia and intelligence”.
视力和高等教育之间的联系也尚未弄清。可能是在学校待得越久，就意味着读书更多，户外运动越少。也可能是“在近视和智力的背后，潜藏着一些共同的遗传因子”。
What is clear is that the explosive rise in myopia will have long-term consequences. Having to wear glasses or contact lenses is just the start. As we get older, shortsighted people are more likely to suffer from retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.
有一点是很清楚的，那就是近视人群的爆炸性增长将会造成长期影响。不得不戴眼镜或者隐形眼镜仅仅是开端。随着年龄增长，近视人群更可能受到视网膜脱落、青光眼和白内障的困扰。
This may not be a brewing public health crisis on the scale of the obesity epidemic, but it is pretty serious. If firmer evidence emerges that all work and no play makes Jack a dull-sighted boy, parents and educationalists will have to examine changing the balance.
或许这并不是一个酝酿中的像肥胖症流行那样规模的公共健康危机，但也相当严重。如果有更切实的证据表明只工作不玩耍，就会变得近视，那么家长和教育家就需要研究一下如何调整两者的平衡了。
In the meantime, a problem for some means opportunity for others. The worldwide market for glasses and contact lenses is expected to grow from $81bn in 2011 to $130bn in 2018, says Transparency Market Research.
同时，一些人的问题也是另一些人的机会。据Transparency Market Research的数据，全球眼镜和隐形眼镜的市场规模预计将从2011年的810亿美元增长到2018年的1300亿美元。
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