BBC Ideas｜打喷嚏拍摄的奇妙历史

The curious history of filming the sneeze | BBC Ideas
Thanks to the latest research into violent expiratory events- or, sneezes - we can now observe in very close detail the "turbulent multiphase cloud" which distributes a payload of droplets and mucosalivary ligaments, or, well, stringy gobs of spit, at high speeds and over great distances.
得益于对剧烈呼气事件（或喷嚏）的最新研究，我们现在可以近距离观察“多相湍流气体云”的细节，它将液滴和黏液唾液带，或者说是一连串的唾液，以高速、远距离的形式传播。
These gross but engrossing images are made possible by highly sensitive, slow-motion cameras which can track each single speck of snot.
高灵敏度的慢动作摄像机可以追踪每一滴鼻涕微粒，从而拍摄出这些恶心但非常有趣的图像。
This is high-tech stuff, but the fascination with sneezing and the attempt to capture and examine the sneeze is actually as old as the moving image itself.
这虽然是高科技的产物，但人们对打喷嚏的痴迷以及捕捉和研究喷嚏的尝试其实与动态影像本身一样久远。
This short film, known as Fred Ott's Sneeze, was recorded in 1894 to test a new moving picture machine called the Kinetoscope.
这部短片名为《弗雷德·奥特的喷嚏》，录制于 1894 年，目的是测试一种名为“活动电影放映机”的新型电影放映机。
This five-second long film, showing Fred Ott taking a pinch of snuff and then sneezing, captured the imagination of a public who were wowed by the idea that something as fast as a sneeze could now be captured, preserved, and repeated.
这段 5 秒长的视频展示了弗雷德·奥特吸了一撮鼻烟，然后打喷嚏的画面，吸引了公众的想象力，他们惊叹于像打喷嚏这样快的动作现在也能被捕捉、保存和重复。
Of course, sneezes were also an object of fascination long before the cinema.
当然，早在电影出现之前，打喷嚏也是让人着迷的对象。
For the ancient Greeks, sneezes could be an omen from the gods.
对古希腊人来说，打喷嚏可能是神灵的预兆。
According to one ancient Roman doctor, sneezing during sex could be used as a contraceptive.
根据一位古罗马医生的说法，嘿咻时打喷嚏可以用来避孕。
But the most common interpretation of a sneeze is probably that you might be getting ill.
但对打喷嚏最常见的解释可能是你也许生病了。
But it was not until the late 19th Century that the idea that infectious diseases can be caused by microscopic pathogens was introduced.
但直到 19 世纪末，人们才开始认识到传染病可以由微观病原体引起。
It was this new understanding of how disease is spread, along with the global shock of the Spanish Flu pandemicin 1918, that spawned the public health messages that we know today, like,"Coughs and sneezes spread diseases." It was the development of stroboscopic photography in the 1930s which really brought this message home.
正是这种对疾病传播方式的新认识，加上 1918 年西班牙流感大流行对全球造成的冲击，催生了我们今天所熟知的公共卫生信息，比如“咳嗽和喷嚏会传播疾病。”20 世纪 30 年代频闪摄影技术的发展才真正将这一信息传播开来。
This work, led by the MIT researcher Harold Edgerton, used short sharp flashes of light to seemingly freeze time andanalyse all sorts of high-speed phenomena, including the humble sneeze.
这项由麻省理工学院研究员哈罗德·埃杰顿领导的工作，利用短促锐利的闪光似乎可以凝固时间，分析各种高速现象，包括不起眼的打喷嚏。
Images like this one helped us to understand the raw power of sneezes, and to think about how we might protect ourselves and those around us.
这样的图像帮助我们了解喷嚏的原始威力，并思考我们应该如何保护自己和周围的人。
An infectious sneeze can be dangerous at any time.
具有传染性的喷嚏在任何时候都会很危险。
But the prospect of a wave of viral infections was particularly worrying to public health officials in the UK during the Second World War who were keen to protect the health of those working in the war effort.
但在第二次世界大战期间，英国的公共卫生官员对病毒感染浪潮的可能性尤为担忧，他们渴望保护参战人员的健康。
Wartime propaganda made good use of these stroboscopic sneezes to persuade people to cover their mouths and wear masks.
战时宣传充分利用了打喷嚏的这些频闪图像，劝说人们捂住嘴巴，戴上口罩。
The germ mask is a simple way of keeping the germs at bay.
细菌口罩是防止细菌传播的一种简单方法。
Get one and wear it now.
现在就去买一个戴上吧。
In the age of SARS and COVID-19, cutting-edge technology is still being used to try to better capture and visualise the mechanics of the sneeze.
在非典和 2019 冠状病毒病时代，人们仍在使用尖端技术，试图更好地捕捉打喷嚏的原理并将其可视化。
Maybe an even fuller understanding of exactly how a sneeze works will help us to use tools like masks and social distancing more effectively in the fight against epidemics
也许，更全面地了解打喷嚏的确切原理将有助于我们在抗击流行病时更有效地使用口罩和保持社交距离等手段方法。
But it's not only researchers who are continuing the long tradition of filming sneezes.
不过，不仅是研究人员在延续拍摄喷嚏的悠久传统。
A quick search on a video streaming site will bring up homemade footage from vloggers and filmmakers, all capturing these explosive moments for themselves.
只要在视频流网站上搜索一下，你就会看到视频博主和电影制作人自制的视频片段，他们都为自己捕捉到了这些一触即发的瞬间。
The image of the sneeze is with us to stay.
打喷嚏的图像将一直伴随着我们。
Yes, it can provide us with useful information, but it can also be a comic punchline, a tool for persuasion, or just a source of fascination.
是的，它可以为我们提供有用的信息，但它也可以是喜剧的笑料、说服的工具，或者仅仅是令人着迷的源泉。
It's something that is common to us all, yet it is also so strange, spontaneous, and fast that we never really get to see it.
打喷嚏是我们每个人都会做的事，但它又是如此奇怪、自发和快速; 以至于我们从未真正看到过它。
Maybe capturing it on film, repeating it, and slowing it down, gives us a measure of control- or at least the illusion of control - that we can't have in real time.
也许在影片中捕捉它、重复它、放慢它的速度，能给我们一定程度掌控感——或者至少是掌控的错觉——这是我们无法实时控制的事情。
And so in well over a century since Fred Ott's Sneeze, in some respects our viewing habits haven't really changed so much after all.
因此，在《弗雷德·奥特的喷嚏》之后的一个多世纪里，我们的观影习惯在某些方面并没有发生太大变化。

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