BROADCASTS.com

The Invention of Sunglasses

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Brie: Hey, Andrea, why are you wearing sunglasses?  The room is dark and we can barely see each other as it is.

Andrea:  I’m trying to protect myself from your aura.  It’s glowing so bright that it’s nearly 

blinding me!

Brie: Oh, come on, I’m not going to fall for that.  I wasn’t born yesterday.

Andrea: Alright, in all honesty, these are my props for today’s fun fact.  Are you ready for it?

Brie: Today’s fun fact?  Sure, bring it on! 

Andrea: We all know that wearing sunglasses can protect our eyes from sunlight and other bright lights.  However, tinted lenses were originally invented for a whole other purpose.  In ancient China, court judges were not supposed to show their emotions while listening to legal testimony. They wore tinted lenses to help them hide their 

facial expressions.

Brie: 你是说太阳眼镜最初是由中国人发明的吗？中国古代的法官审理案子的时候就会戴上太阳眼镜来隐藏他们的面部表情？

Andrea: Yes, the first tinted lenses were originally made out of smoky quartz and worn in the 12th century by Chinese judges. 

Brie: 早在12世纪，中国人就能想出用戴太阳眼镜的方法来掩饰法官的真实情感，从而达到明察秋毫，秉公办案的目的，真是太聪明啦！The Bible says, “Eyes are the window to the soul”, meaning that our eyes reveal a lot about our hidden emotions and thoughts. I guess the Chinese are the first practitioners of this wisdom. 

Andrea: Either that, or they believed that justice is blind. Through hiding their emotions behind tinted lenses, they could carry out justice more objectively - less based on bias and emotion and more based on fact!   

Brie: Okay, now you are just speculating.  How do you know it was for such a 

principled reason?

Andrea:  You’re right, I do tend to like to view the world “through rose-tinted glasses!”

Brie: 乐观地看待问题很好呀，只是不要过于乐观就可以了。

Close:

So, everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Let’s go over some of the vocabulary and phrases from this dialogue.

Vocabulary:

Aura  / ˈɔr ə /  光环

Blinding  / ˈblaɪn dɪŋ /  夺目的

Props   / prɒp /  道具

Testimony  / ˈtɛs təˌmoʊ ni /  证词 

Facial expressions / ˈfeɪ ʃəl ɪkˈsprɛʃ əns /  面部表情

Smoky Quartz  / ˈsmoʊ ki  kwɔrts /  烟熏石英

Practitioners / prækˈtɪʃ ə nərs /实践者

Objectively  / əbˈdʒɛk tɪv li /  客观地

Bias  / ˈbaɪ əs /  偏见

Speculating  / ˈspɛk yəˌleɪtiŋ / 推测/推断

Principled  / ˈprɪn sə pəld /  有原则的

Phrases:

In all honesty 老实地说

I’m not going to fall for that 我才不信呢

I wasn’t born yesterday 我不是三岁小孩了

Bring it on 来吧/放马过来吧

Carry out justice 执法

Justice is blind 司法面前人人平等/司法是一视同仁的

Through rose-tinted glasses 用过于乐观积极的态度去看待

Alright, join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们的话，别忘了点击订阅支持我们！如果有什么疑问，想法，或者建议，请给我们留言，我们会在第一时间给你答复！拜拜，咱们下期再见！