超市用红色的网袋装橘子，在我们看来可能是一件再平常不过的事。其实，看似普通的网袋，做成红色是为了“欺骗”我们的眼睛。研究发现，红色的网袋有让橘子显得成色更好的“奇效”，同理，还有给绿色蔬菜的包装袋上印上绿色暗纹。这背后是什么色彩学原理？让我们一起来了解一下吧。
Source：网络
今天的外刊节选自Scientific American，共计489词，预计阅读时间5分钟。
通过这次的外刊，你将收获：
○关于颜色的专业表达
○长难句的拆解
希望你在阅读全文后能够回答以下问题：
○红色网袋让橘子的卖相更好是什么原理？
○文中提到过去的错误认知是什么样的？
○研究中用三原色创始人的图片做了什么？
外刊解析
The ‘Confetti Illusion’ Makes Fruit Appear Riper Than It Really Is
Fruit seems riper when it is wrapped in a net that matches its optimal color, such as a really orangey orange
In the supermarket you inspect oranges in a net bag. They look ripe and appetizing. Then, when you get home, you are shocked: they’re still green! This is caused by a perceptual phenomenon known as color assimilation or the confetti illusion: objects appear to take on the color of a pattern placed over them. The product sells better when it’s in a net that’s the color of specimens of perfect ripeness. What is already well known in the fruit-and-vegetable trade now has a scientific basis. (Of course, Citrus Red No. 2 dye can also make green oranges appear ripe. But undyed fruit, such as organic produce, can still be spiffed up with the confetti illusion.)
Source：Unsplash
Karl Gegenfurtner, a perception psychologist at Justus Liebig University Giessen [AS1] in Germany, has shown how this illusion works in fruit in in a short paper in the journal i-Perception. A perceptual illusion is generally understood to be an incorrect interpretation of sensory stimuli. The phenomenon is based on the fact that stimuli always represent incomplete information, which is only combined with your experiences to put together a sensory impression. This can lead to errors.
Gegenfurtner himself had previously found that oranges he had bought were not actually as ripe as they appeared to be through the net. After the initial disappointment, the color researcher’s interest was aroused. To rule out the possibility that the observed effect was caused only by reflections between the net and the fruit, he graphically re-created the net as a striped pattern and placed a photograph of a greenish, shimmering, unripe orange behind it. Lo and behold the piece of fruit suddenly appeared noticeably darker.
Source：Karl R. Gegenfurtner
“These findings highlight the significant implications of color assimilation in everyday consumer environments, offering a fresh perspective on how visual perception can be manipulated,” Gegenfurtner wrote in his study. “Looking around in typical supermarkets, it is easy to see that fruits and vegetables (e.g., lemons, onions, zucchini, or even potatoes) are typically packaged in nets that are of the color of perfect exemplars.” Light reflections between the net and the fruit may even increase the color saturation.
To show how powerful the optical phenomenon can be in his paper, Gegenfurtner also demonstrated the confetti illusion with the faces of the three founders of trichromatic color theory: Hermann von Helmholtz, James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Young. The effect is astonishing: The faces change hue depending on the colors of the striped pattern. And in a black-and-white version of the demonstration, the faces become very dark or very light. The illusion provides “a big chuckle for the color scientist, a sad moment for the consumer!” Gegenfurtner concluded.
Source: Scientific American
Author: Katharina Menne
Date: August 19th, 2024
生词拓展：
1. assimilation
英音/əˌsɪmɪˈleɪʃn/ 美音/əˌsɪməˈleɪʃn/
[N] The process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas. 同化；吸收
例句：The assimilation of new technologies is crucial for business growth.
对新技术的吸收对于业务增长至关重要。
2. confetti
英音/kənˈfeti/ 美音/kənˈfeti/
[N] Small pieces of colored paper that are thrown into the air during celebrations. 五彩纸屑
例句：The wedding ended with a shower of confetti.
婚礼在五彩纸屑的纷飞中结束。
3. spiff up
英音/spɪf ʌp/ 美音/spɪf ʌp/
To make something neat or attractive. 打扮；装饰
例句：He spiffed up his car before the big date.
他在约会前把车打扮得干净整洁。
4. shimmering
英音/ˈʃɪmərɪŋ/ 美音/ˈʃɪmərɪŋ/
[ADJ] Reflecting a soft, flickering light. 闪烁的；微微发光的
例句：The lake had a shimmering surface under the moonlight.
湖面在月光下闪闪发亮。
5. trichromatic
英音/ˌtraɪkrəˈmætɪk/ 美音/ˌtraɪkrəˈmætɪk/
[ADJ] Relating to or using three colors, often referring to the way humans perceive color through three types of cone cells in the eyes. 三色的；三色视觉的
例句：The trichromatic theory explains how the human eye perceives color.
三色理论解释了人类眼睛如何感知颜色。
知识卡：
色彩同化错觉在生活中的应用
广告与包装设计：一些广告或产品包装会故意让产品颜色与背景颜色接近，从而让产品看起来更和谐或醒目，这其实也是利用了色彩同化错觉的原理。
壁纸或织物图案：有时候带有花纹的墙纸或布料会让我们感到某些颜色比实际更亮或更暗。这是因为花纹和背景颜色的交互影响了我们对这些颜色的感知。
有色网格+黑白背景：在黑白照片上打上彩色网格，照片看起来就有了颜色。
时尚搭配：穿着浅色衣服的人如果站在深色背景前，衣服颜色会显得比实际的深。这种现象常常被设计师利用，通过搭配不同颜色来创造特定的视觉效果。
（来源：网络）
重难点解析：
1. The phenomenon is based on the fact that stimuli always represent incomplete information, which is only combined with your experiences to put together a sensory impression.
译文：
这一现象基于这样一个事实：刺激总是表现为不完整的信息，只有结合你的经验才能形成一个完整的感官印象。
解析：
本局中the fact that引导了一个同位语从句，用来解释说明fact的详细信息。从句中，stimuli是主语，represent是谓语动词，incomplete information是宾语，后面的which又引导了一个新的非限定性定语从句，补充说明incomplete information的处理方式。由此可见本句话的信息量主要集中在incomplete information是如何影响我们组建感官印象的。
2. To rule out the possibility that the observed effect was caused only by reflections between the net and the fruit, he graphically re-created the net as a striped pattern and placed a photograph of a greenish, shimmering, unripe orange behind it.
译文：
为了排除观察到的效果仅仅是由网和水果之间的反射引起的可能性，他把重建了一张条纹图代表网，再在底下铺上了一张绿色的、微微发亮的、没熟透的橘子图片。
解析：
本句话的难点在于后半句，“grahically re-created the net”应理解为“用图像模拟的方式”做了一张网的图，通过新建一张条纹图来模拟这个net，这样就能排除网和水果之间反射的因素，从图像的角度分析条纹对衬托颜色的作用了。
3. “These findings highlight the significant implications of color assimilation in everyday consumer environments, offering a fresh perspective on how visual perception can be manipulated,” Gegenfurtner wrote in his study.
译文：
“这些研究结果凸显了色彩同化在日常消费环境中的重要影响，为如何操控视觉感知提供了新的视角，”格根富特纳在他的研究中写道。
解析：
本句的逗号后面offering引导的是一个伴随状语，详细说明了the significant implications具体能做到什么（为如何操控视觉感知提供新的视角）；everyday这里作为一个充当定语的形容词，中间没有分隔，用来直接修饰consumer environments，即“日常消费环境”。
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