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第1段
1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of a lecture in a history class.
旁白：听一段历史学课堂讲座。
2 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->So we've been talking about the printing press, how it changed people's lives, making books more accessible to everyone.
教授：我们一直在谈论印刷术，它是如何改变了人们的生活，使得每个人都可以读书。
3 .More books meant more reading, right?
更多的书，就意味着有更多的阅读，对吧。
4 .But, as you know, not everyone has perfect vision.
但是正如你所知道的那样，不是每个人都有很好的视力。
5 .This increasing literacy, um, in reading, led to an increasing demand for eye glasses.
随着阅读方面读写能力的提升，导致了眼镜需求的不断增长。
第2段
1 .And here's something you probably haven't thought of: This increased demand impacted the societal attitudes toward eye glasses.
有一些事情你们之前可能从来没有想过，对眼镜需求的增加也影响了对眼镜的社会态度。
2 .But, first let me back up a bit and talk about vision correction before the printing press.
让我们先回顾下在印刷术之前的视力矫正是什么样的。
3 .And, um, what did people with poor vision do, I mean, especially those few people who were actually literate, what did they do before glasses were invented?
那些视力弱的人，尤其是那些少数真正有文化的人，在眼镜发明之前他们做了什么？
4 .Well, they had different ways of dealing with not seeing well.
他们有很多不同的方法来对付看不清东西。
5 .If you think about it, poor vision wasn't their only problem, I mean, um, think about the conditions they lived in:[listing] houses were dark, sometimes there weren't any windows; candles were the only source of light.
你想想就知道，视力弱不是他们唯一的问题。我是指，考虑到他们所生活的时代的条件，那时候房子暗， 有的还没窗户，蜡烛是唯一的灯光来源。
6 .So in some places, um, like ancient Greece for example, the wealthiest people with poor vision could have someone else read to them. [dripping with sarcasm] Easy solution if you could afford it.
所以在有些地方，例如古希腊，视力弱的有钱人可以让别人读给他们听，只要能付得起钱，这很好解决。
第3段
1 .Another solution was something called a "reading stone".
另外的一种解决办法是一种被称之为“阅读石头”的东西。
2 .Around 1000 C.E. European monks would take a piece of clear rock, often quartz, and place it on top of the reading material.
大概在公元1000 年左右，欧洲僧侣们会拿一块清澈的石头，一般都是拿石英，放在阅读材料的上面。
3 .The clear rock magnified the letters, making them appear larger, um, looks like what happens when a drop of water falls on something, whatever's below the drop of water appears larger, right?
清澈的石头放大了这些字体，使它们看起来更大，嗯，就像有一滴水落某物上，水滴下面的东西都看起来要大一些，对吧？
4 .Well, the "reading stone" works in a similar way.
这跟阅读石头的运作原理是一样的。
第4段
1 .But rocks like quartz, quartz of optical quality, weren't cheap.
但是像石英这样的石头，石英具有光学性能并不便宜。
2 .Late in the 13th century, glass maker in Italy came up with a less expensive alternative—they made reading stones out of clear glass.
13 世纪后期，意大利的玻璃制造商想出了一个更便宜的替代品，他们用透明玻璃做阅读石头。
3 .And these clear glass reading stones evolved into the eye glasses we know today.
这些玻璃的阅读石头演变成了今天我们所知道的眼镜。
4 .So we're pretty sure that glasses were invented in about the late 1200's, well, over a hundred years before the printing press.
所以我们很明确的知道眼镜是在12 世纪后期才发明出来的，比印刷术早了一百多年。
5 .But it's not clear who exactly invented them first or exactly what year, but record shows that they were invented in both Europe and China at about the same time.
但是不知道到底是谁发明的眼镜，也不知道具体是哪年发明的，但是有记录表明欧洲和中国同时发明出了眼镜。
6 .By the way, we call this "independent discovery".
顺便说一下，我们称它为独立发现。
7 .Independent discovery means when something is invented in different parts of the world at the same time and it's not as unusual as it sounds.
独立发现的意思是说某个东西在不同的地方同时被发明出来，而且它并不像它听起来那么不寻常。
8 .You can look at the timeline charts at the back of your textbook to see when things were invented in different cultures at about the same time to see what I'm talking about.
你们可以看看教科书后面的时间表，看看不同文化背景下同一时间发明的东西，就知道我所说的了。
第5段
1 .So now let's tie this to what I've said before about societal attitude towards glasses.
现在我们把这个跟我之前所说的对眼镜的社会态度联系起来。
2 .Initially in parts of Europe and in China, glasses were a symbol of wisdom and intelligence.
起初在中国和欧洲的某些部分，眼镜被视为智慧和聪明的象征。
3 .This is evident in the artwork from the period.
这个从那个时期的艺术品中就能看出来。
4 .European paintings often portrayed doctors or judges wearing glasses.
欧洲的画作中医生或者法官通常是带着眼镜的。
5 .In China, glasses were very expensive, so in addition to intelligence, they also symbolize affluence, um, wealth.
在中国，眼镜以前很昂贵，因此，眼镜除了代表智慧，也代表了财富。
6 .In 14th century Chinese portraits, the bigger the glasses, the smarter and wealthier the subject was.
14 世纪中国的肖像画中，描绘对象戴的眼镜越大，就代表他越有钱也越聪明。
7 .So glasses were a status symbol in some parts of the world.
所以在世界上的某些地方眼镜一直是地位的象征。
第6段
1 .Now let's go back to the invention of the printing press in 1440.
现在我们回头来说一下1440 年印刷术的发明。
2 .What happened? Suddenly, books became readily available and more people wanted to read, so the need, oh well, actually not only the need but the demand for more affordable glasses rose drastically.
当时发生了什么事呢？突然，书籍变的唾手可得，越来越多的人想看书，因此，对眼镜的需求，特别是对能买得起的眼镜的需求，极大地增加。
3 .Eventually, inexpensive glasses were produced, and then glasses were available to everyone.
最后，便宜的眼镜生产出来了，后来，人人都能用得上眼镜了。
4 .People could purchase them easily from a traveling peddler.
人们可以很容易就从小贩那儿买到眼镜。