沒有什么是一成不變的，就連我們一直以來都堅信不疑的事實也會改變。比如，過去的人認為醫生在進行外科手術前不用洗手。現在呢？醫生手術前不洗手簡直難以想象。以下六個“事實”是你在學校里學到的，但是隨著時間流逝已經不再準確，或者，老師從一開始就教錯了。是時候把這些錯誤的舊觀念從腦子中清洗出去啦。

THEN: America won its independence on July 4, 1776
過去認為：美國于1776年7月4日贏得獨立。

NOW: America was not officially independent until seven years later, in 1783.
現在認為：美國一直到七年之后，也就是1783年才正式獨立。

Every year on July 4, Americans celebrate Independence Day with parades, barbecues, and fireworks.
每年的7月4日，美國人都會用游行、燒烤、煙花來慶祝獨立紀念日。

But while the Declaration of Independence was adopted by 12 colonies on July 4, 1776 and signed by 13 colonies in August, America was not yet free from Great Britain's rule.
事實上，盡管1776年7月4日美國12個英屬殖民地聯合簽署了《獨立宣言》，并在同年8月擴展到13個，但是當時的美國并沒有脫離英國的統治。

The American Revolution waged on for years. Finally, the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and America became free.
美國獨立戰爭打了很多年。最后，在1783年9月3日簽署了《巴黎條約》，美國才終獲自由。

THEN: George Washington's teeth were made of wood
過去認為：喬治?華盛頓的假牙是木頭做成的。

NOW: Washington's teeth were human teeth from his slaves and also made from ivory.
現在認為：華盛頓的假牙有一部分是他的奴隸的牙齒，還有一部分是象牙做成的。

A set of dentures that George Washington wore are kept at the Mount Vernon plantation house museum. The dentures are fashioned out of ivory and human teeth.
喬治?華盛頓戴過的一套假牙被保存在弗農莊園博物館。這些假牙是用象牙和人牙制成的。

While historians note the "limitations of history" when sourcing Washington's human teeth back to the individuals they were taken from, written evidence shows Washington purchased teeth from slaves and made note of it in one of his ledgers.
在追溯這些人牙的主人時，歷史學家指出這是“歷史的局限性”，而書面證據顯示，這些人牙是華盛頓從奴隸那里買來的，并在他的一本賬簿上有所記載。

Slaves during the 18th century sometimes sold their teeth to dentists to make money. In 1784, Washington "paid several unnamed 'Negroes' ... 122 shillings for nine teeth, slightly less than one-third the going rate advertised in the papers," according to PBS.
在十八世紀，奴隸會將自己的牙齒賣給牙醫來換錢。據美國公共廣播公司報道，1784年，華盛頓“付給幾個不知名的黑人122先令，換取了9顆牙齒，略低于報紙上刊登的人牙市場價格的三分之一”。

Washington likely then had the teeth implanted into his jaw in a surgical procedure common at the time.
之后華盛頓很可能將這些牙齒通過外科手術植入牙床，這在當時很普遍。

THEN: Pluto is a planet
過去認為：冥王星是一顆行星。

NOW: Pluto isn't a planet
現在認為：冥王星不是行星。

We've known since the late 1800s that a ninth planet, after Uranus, potentially existed. In 1906, Percival Lowell, the founder of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, even began a research project intended to locate the mysterious "Planet X."
自從19世紀末以來，人類就知道，自天王星之后可能存在第九顆行星。1906年，美國亞利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫的羅威爾天文臺的創立者帕西瓦爾?羅威爾甚至發起了一個研究項目，試圖定位這個神秘的X行星。

Then in 1930, a 23-year-old newbie at the facility found it. The discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh, had been tasked with systematically comparing photographs of the sky taken weeks apart to search for any moving objects. He eventually saw one and submitted his finding to the Harvard College Observatory. After an 11-year-old English girl named the new planet (for the Roman god of the underworld), we started including Pluto as a planet in our solar system.
1930年，該天文臺一名23歲的新人發現了這顆行星的位置。發現者克萊德?湯博接到的任務是，通過比照拍攝時間相隔數周的星空照片來搜尋任何移動的天體。最終湯博發現了一個新天體，并將這一發現呈交給哈佛大學天文臺。一個11歲的英國小女孩用羅馬神話中的冥神為這顆新行星命名后，人類就開始將冥王星納入我們的太陽系。

But in 2003, an astronomer found a larger object beyond Pluto — which he named Eris, according to NASA. The new information caused a bunch of other astronomers to question what really makes a planet a planet, and they decided, based on size and location, that Pluto just didn't make the cut. Neither did Eris, actually. Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet.
但是，根據美國宇航局的消息，2003年，一位天文學家發現了冥王星之外的一個更大的天體，并將其命名為鬩神星。這一新發現促使一大批天文學家開始質疑，成為一個行星的條件到底是什么，并且基于冥王星的體積和位置決定冥王星不夠資格成為行星。鬩神星也沒能躋身行星的行列。冥王星自此被降級為矮行星。

Needless to say, elementary schools kids were pretty bummed.
不用說，這么一來讓小學生們挺郁悶的。

But there may be hope. Researchers have recently been debating whether to make Pluto a planet again.
不過，也許還有希望。研究人員最近正在討論是否重新讓冥王星成為一顆行星。

THEN: Witches in Salem were burned at the stake
過去認為：薩勒姆的女巫們是綁在柱子上燒死的。

NOW: They were actually hanged
現在認為：那些女巫們其實是被絞死的。

Even if you didn't read Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" in high school, you probably learned somewhere that the townspeople of Salem burned witches at the stake.
就算你上高中時沒讀過阿瑟?米勒的《薩勒姆的女巫》，你也很可能從別處了解到薩勒姆的鎮民將女巫們綁在柱子上燒死。

But that never happened, according to Richard Trask, a town archivist for Danvers (formerly known as Salem Village.) He also chaired the Salem Village Witchcraft Tercentennial Committee from 1990 to 1992 and wrote a book detailing the time period called "Salem Village Witch Hysteria."
但是據丹弗斯（過去被稱為薩勒姆村）鎮的檔案保管員理查德?特拉斯克說，這件事從未發生過。特拉斯克還曾在1990年至1992年期間擔任薩勒姆村巫術三百年委員會主席，并寫過一本書，詳細描述了這段名為“薩勒姆村女巫瘋癲”時期。

At the time of the trials, New England still followed English law, which listed witchcraft as a felony punishable by hanging — not burning at the stake, Trask said. In Europe, however, the church labeled witchcraft heresy and did tie up suspected practitioners and light them on fire. You can see where the confusion started.
特拉斯克說，在審判時，新英格蘭地區仍遵循英國法律，而英國法律規定巫術是重罪，應該被絞死，而不是綁在柱子上燒死。不過，在歐洲，教堂會把巫術定為異端，也確實曾將疑似巫師人員綁起來燒死。現在你知道為什么會搞錯了吧。

THEN: Israelite slaves built the pyramids
過去認為：以色列奴隸建造了金字塔。

NOW: Egyptians workers built the pyramids themselves
現在認為：埃及工人自己建造了金字塔。

Even movies like "The Prince Of Egypt" perpetuate the idea that slaves built the pyramids. Although many think the Bible tells us they did, the book doesn't mention the story specifically.
《埃及王子》等電影讓奴隸建造金字塔的想法深入人心。盡管許多人認為《圣經》里是這么寫的，但是《圣經》并沒有特別提到這段故事。

This popular myth reportedly stems from comments made by former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin when visiting Egypt in 1977, according to Amihai Mazar, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
耶路撒冷希伯來大學的阿米哈伊?瑪扎爾教授說，據說，這一流行的傳言源于以色列前總理梅納赫姆?貝京1977年訪問埃及時發表的評論。

"No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn't exist at the period when the pyramids were built," Mazar told the AP.
瑪扎爾告訴美聯社說：“建造金字塔的沒有猶太人，因為造金字塔的時候，猶太人還不存在呢。”

Recent archaeological finds actually show that Egyptians built the pyramids themselves. Workers were recruited from poor families in the north and south but were highly respected, earning crypts near the pyramids and even proper preparation for burial.
最近的考古學發現顯示，是埃及人自己建造了金字塔。工人是從北部和南部的貧苦家庭招募的，但是這些工人都備受尊敬，死后被葬在金字塔附近的地下墓室里，甚至還有體面的安葬儀式。

Slaves wouldn't have been treated so honorably.
奴隸是不可能有這樣尊貴的待遇的。

THEN: The Great Wall Of China is the only man-made structure visible from space.
過去認為：中國的長城是從太空唯一可見的人造建筑。

NOW: Many man-made places are visible from space.
現在認為：從太空可以看見很多人造場所。

Technically, this wasn't ever a solid "truth" — just a fact third-graders ubiquitously included in their class reports. In fact, rumors that you can see the landmark, not only from a spaceship, but all the way from the moon, date back as far as 1938.
從技術層面上來說，并不存在確鑿的“真相”——這只是三年級學生們普遍寫進課堂報告的一個“事實”。其實，早在1938年，就有傳言說，你不但可以從宇宙飛船上，還能從月球上看到長城。

In 2003 though, the first Chinese astronaut finally shattered the myth.
不過，在2003年，中國第一名航天員粉碎了這個傳言。

The party responsible, a man named Yang Liwei, admitted he couldn't see the Great Wall from space.
中國航天員楊利偉承認，他從太空中看不到長城。

Other photos surfaced here and there. The consensus became that you can, indeed, catch glimpses of the Great Wall but only under the right conditions (snow on the structure) or with a zoom-capable camera. You can also see the lights of large cities — and major roadways and bridges and airports and dams and reservoirs.
但是其他照片顯示，你確實可以從太空瞥見長城，但必須有良好的前提條件（比如長城上蓋了雪）或使用可變焦的攝像頭。你還可以看到大城市的燈光、主要公路、大橋、機場、水壩和水庫。

"The only thing you can see from the Moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white, some blue and patches of yellow, and every once in a while some green vegetation," Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean told NASA. "No man-made object is visible at this scale."
阿波羅12號的宇航員艾倫?賓告訴美國宇航局說：“從月球上你唯一能看到的是一個美麗的球體，大部分是白色，小部分是藍色，還有幾片黃色，偶爾可以看到一些綠色植被。從月球上看不到任何人造物體。”

To further clarify, people probably mean these structures are visible from satellites orbiting Earth — but that's not actual space.
為了進一步澄清，人們指的是，這些建筑可以從繞地球飛行的人造衛星上看到——但那并不是實際意義上的太空。

英文來源：商業內幕網
翻譯&編輯：丹妮