囧研究：別讓學生再做作業了！近視成大問題

Could sending your child to a good school and making sure they do their homework be putting their eyesight in serious danger? That's the concern raised by research that reveals alarmingly strong links between time spent studying hard and childhood short-sightedness - myopia - that can lead to serious eye diseases.
把孩子送進好學校、確保他們做作業，會不會置其於視力之虞呢？這正是研究關心的問題。研究結果堪憂：勤奮學習所花的時間和兒童近視問題有密切關聯，近視可能引發嚴重眼疾。

Myopia causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close ones can be seen clearly. It often develops in childhood, with the eyeball starting to elongate, becoming more egg-shaped than spherical, or the lens becoming too curved, so the light entering the eye is not focused correctly.
近視會引發看遠處的事物模糊，而近處的清晰可見。這通常是童年時形成的，眼球逐漸被拉長，變得越發像蛋形而非球形；或者是因爲晶狀體過度彎曲，進入眼睛的光線無法正確聚焦。

It looks as if schoolwork might be a strong risk factor for myopia in children. In East Asia, where children are often academically hothoused from an early age, the rise in myopia is even greater.
似乎學校作業是引起兒童近視顯著的風險因素。在東亞，孩子很小就被圈起來讀書，近視眼人數增長更快。

The key to protecting your child may be as simple as ensuring they play outside as much as possible in the school holidays and after school. Children who did a lot of close-up academic work and spent most of their time indoors were more likely to become short-sighted.
保護小孩的關鍵其實很簡單，只要確保他們在課後和假期裏的戶外活動時間越長越好。近距離的課業多、待在室內時間又長的孩子更有可能近視。

Chinese school designers are busy with the attempt to tackle their country's rising myopia rate. In Guangdong province, for example, they have constructed bright-light classrooms with walls and ceilings made of see-through plastic. Two years ago, Taiwanese researchers got one school to lock its students out of the classroom during break-time and lunch. As a result, students had 80 minutes more sunlight during the school day.
中國的學校設計師們正忙着試圖解決越來越高的近視率。以廣東省爲例，廣東建造了強光教室，牆壁和天花板都是由通透的塑料製成。兩年前，臺灣的研究人員讓一所學校在休息時段和午飯時間把學生鎖在教室外面。這樣，學生白天上課就多了80分鐘的時間接觸陽光。