Color Blindness

Color blindness. Written by Cheryl Reifsneider. Focus question. What causes color blindness and how can it affect a person's life?

色盲。 谢丽尔·赖夫斯奈德 著 探究问题： 色盲的成因是什么？它会对人们的生活产生哪些影响？

What colors do you see? Imagine looking at a box of crayons and seeing only shades of gray, blue, and yellow. That's what they look like to many people who are colorblind. Most people who are colorblind can still see some colors. They just can't see as many colors as other people.

你能看见哪些颜色？ 想象一下，你看着一盒蜡笔，却只能看到灰、蓝、黄三种颜色的不同深浅。 这就是很多色盲患者眼中的世界。 大多数色盲患者依然能看见部分颜色。 只是他们能分辨的颜色比普通人少。

Where do colors come from? White light has every color of the rainbow hidden inside it. Each color is a different wavelength. Things appear to be different colors because they absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light. A strawberry looks red because it reflects red wavelengths while absorbing most others.

颜色从哪里来？ 白光里藏着彩虹的所有颜色。 每种颜色都对应不同的波长。 物体之所以呈现不同颜色，是因为它们吸收和反射不同波长的光。 草莓看起来是红色，因为它反射红色波长的光，吸收其他大部分波长的光。

How color vision works People see colors because our eyes respond differently to different wavelengths of light. When light enters one of your eyes, it gets focused on the retina. The retina is a thin layer of tissue at the back of the eyeball. The light triggers rod cells and cone cells. These cells send signals to the brain, which uses the signals to make images.

色觉的工作原理 人类能看见颜色，是因为眼睛对不同波长的光会产生不同的反应。 光线进入眼睛后，会聚焦在视网膜上。 视网膜是眼球后方的一层薄组织。 光线会激活视杆细胞和视锥细胞。 这些细胞向大脑发送信号，大脑再利用信号生成图像。

Rods and Cones Rod cells are the most sensitive cells in your retina. They let you see in very low light. However, they can't tell different colors apart. Cone cells handle color vision. There are three types of cone cells. One type absorbs blue light, one green light, and one red light. Combining these three main colors allows us to see thousands of colors. When one or more types of cone cells aren't working though, color blindness results.

视杆细胞与视锥细胞 视杆细胞是视网膜中最敏感的细胞。 它们能让我们在极弱的光线下看清东西。 但它们无法分辨不同的颜色。 色觉由视锥细胞负责。 视锥细胞一共有三种。 一种吸收蓝光，一种吸收绿光，一种吸收红光。 三种颜色组合起来，让我们能看见成千上万种颜色。 但如果一种或多种视锥细胞无法正常工作，就会引发色盲。

Different types of colorblindness Red -green colorblindness People with red -green colorblindness have trouble telling red and green apart. This is the most common type of color vision problem. It affects about 1 out of every 12 men and 1 out of every 200 women. People with red -green color blindness usually have something wrong with their green cone cells. As a result, green and yellow objects appear reddish in color. Sometimes red -green color blindness is caused by a missing or damaged red cone cell. In this case, red, orange, and yellow objects appear green or black.

不同类型的色盲 红绿色盲 红绿色盲患者很难分辨红色和绿色。 这是最常见的色觉障碍类型。 每12名男性中约有1人患病，每200名女性中约有1人患病。 红绿色盲通常是绿色视锥细胞出了问题。 因此，绿色和黄色的物体在患者看来偏红。 有时红绿色盲是由红色视锥细胞缺失或受损引起的。 这种情况下，红色、橙色和黄色的物体会看起来呈绿色或黑色。