9个看似谎言的事实：你信吗？反正我信了

 The old adage¹ that "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics" is, funnily enough, rather hard to find an original source for.

俗语有云：“世上有三种谎言：谎言，该死的谎言，以及统计数据”。但有趣的是，很难找到这句话的出处。

It was popularised by the American author Mark Twain, who attributed it to British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli.

美国大作家马克·吐温对英国首相本杰明·迪斯雷利说过这句话，之后就流行开来了。

But we digress.

但是我们要说的不是这个。

9个看似谎言的事实：你信吗？反正我信了

Here are nine statistics, courtesy of a Reddit thread, which will make you very much doubt them:

Reddit网站消息人士提供的信息显示，以下9个数据会让你深表怀疑：

1) Two out of three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70

（1）在70岁的时候会有三分之二的澳大利亚人会得皮肤癌

The Cancer Council of Australia says that, over past decades, the incidence of skin cancer has risen in Australia - by 60 per cent between 1982 and 2010 in melanoma diagnoses.

澳大利亚癌症委员会称，在过去的数十年间，澳大利亚患皮肤癌案例呈上涨趋势，其中从1982年到2010年，黑素瘤患者比例就增加了60％。

Between 1998 to 2007, GP consultations² to treat non-melanoma skin cancer increased by 14 per cent, reaching 950,000 visits each year.

1998年至2007年间，全科医生咨询机构治疗非黑素瘤皮肤癌案例增加了14％，平均每年看诊达95万次。

2) You could fit the world’s population in the boundary of New York City

（2）纽约市就可以容纳全世界的人口

However, this would only happen if there were no buildings, the land was perfectly³ flat and everyone stood bunched together exceptionally tightly, according to calculations by waitbutwhy.com.

不过，waitbutwhy网站计算后称，前提是那里什么建筑物也没有、地势极其平坦、每个人都紧挨在一起。

3) The average cloud weighs 500 tonnes

（3）每朵云平均重500吨

As Peggy LeMone of the National Center for Atmospheric⁴ Research says, the water density⁵ of a typical cumulus cloud is 1/2 a gram per cubic meter.

美国大气研究中心的佩吉·莱蒙说，通常情况下一朵积云水汽的密度在每立方米0.5克。

The average size of the same cloud is around a kilometer long, wide and tall, meaning they are around one billion cubic meters in volume.

这样的一朵云，平均长宽高都约有1千米，也就是说其体积大约有一百万立方米。

This means the average water content of a typical cumulus cloud is 500,000,000 grams, or 500 tonnes.

这就意味着一朵普通的积云水汽含量在5亿克，或者说500吨。

4) Samsung accounts for 20 per cent of South Korea's GDP

（4）三星产值占韩国国内生产总值（GDP）的20％

The electronics company's 2014 revenue was $305 billion, 21.67 per cent of South Korea's 2014 GDP of $1.410 trillion.

2014年，三星这家电子公司的收入达3亿5百万美元，占到韩国当年14.1亿美元GDP的21.67％。

5) Nintendo existed at the same time as the Ottoman empire

（5）《任天堂》（日本电子游戏公司及其开发的电脑游戏名称）和奥斯曼帝国处于同一个时期

The games company was founded as a playing card company in 1889, whereas the Ottoman Empire existed until 1922.

这家游戏公司1889年成立的时候是一家纸牌公司，而奥斯曼帝国的历史一直持续到1922年。

Nintendo only developed into a video game company in the 1970s.

《任天堂》直到20世纪70年代才发展成为一个电子游戏公司。

6)The University of Oxford⁶ is older than the Aztec Empire

牛津大学有着和阿兹特克帝国一样久远的历史

The triple alliance between the city states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan began in 1427, whereas there is evidence of teaching at the University of Oxford as early as 1096.

特诺奇提兰、特斯科科、特拉科潘三城结盟始于1427年，而有证据证明牛津大学早在1096年就已经开始教学了。

7) In terms of numbers of species, 20 per cent of mammals are bats

（7）就物种种类的数量来说，蝙蝠的种类占哺乳动物种类总数的20％

There are around 1,240 classified bat species, compared to around 5,400 mammal species.

现有记载的蝙蝠种类就有1240种，而哺乳动物的种类是5400种。

The mammals group is relatively⁷ small in itself, as there are around 1.2 million species of animals, 950,000 of which are insects.

哺乳动物本身就是一个种类数量相对比较小的群体，世界上大约有120万种动物，其中昆虫类动物就有95万种。

8) Six per cent of all humans that have ever lived, are alive now

（8）在地球上存在过的人类中6%的人都还活着

Depending upon population projections⁸ at different points in history, slightly over 100 billion homo sapiens are predicted to have been born, ever.

根据历史上不同时期的人口调查结果显示，全世界出生人口估计共约有1000亿。

The current population of the earth is around 7.3 billion, meaning that today's cohort is roughly seven per cent of all people to tread on Terra.

目前地球上约有73亿人口，也就是说目前的人口约占到在地球上存在过人口总数的7%。

9) Most silent films are lost

大部分的无声电影已经流失了

Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation has estimated that 90 per cent of American films made before 1929, are gone forever.

马丁·斯科塞斯成立的电影基金会估计1929年以前制造的美国电影中有90%已经完全不在了。

Most were intentionally⁹ destroyed because studios saw no need to preserve them and the material was too expensive to house.

大部分的电影都是被人为毁坏的，因为电影公司认为那些电影已经没有了保存的价值，而且保存这些电影的成本很高。

1 adage   

n.格言，古训

参考例句：

• But the old adage that men grow into office has not proved true in my experience.但是，根据我的经验，人们所谓的工作岗位造就人材这句古话并不正确。
• Her experience lends credence to the adage " We live and learn!"她的经验印证了一句格言: 活到老，学到老！

2 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

5 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

6 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

9 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。