丽莎·霍尔斯特是谁？：英语精读讲义

At the end of my video on misconceptions,

在我关于误区的视频结尾，

I mentioned the supposed fact that people swallow eight spiders a year while sleeping. 用詞

我提到了一个所谓的“事实”，即人们睡觉时一年会吞下八只蜘蛛。

But unlike the other misconceptions in that video,

但与该视频中的其他误区不同，

which I explained away, 短語動詞

我没有对这个误区进行辟谣解释，

I turned this one into a cheap joke and left it at that. 習語

而是把它当成一个廉价的笑话，就没再深究了。

This wasn't because it's true, 語法

这并不是因为它是真的，

but because the story behind that myth turns out to be a bit of a mystery. 短語搭配

而是因为这个迷思背后的故事其实有点像个谜。

The first place I remember coming across the eight spiders fact 短語動詞

我记得第一次看到“八只蜘蛛”这个事实，

was years ago on the lid of a Snapple can.

是在多年前的一个Snapple饮料瓶盖上。

Snapple used to print facts of dubious value on their drinks 講解

Snapple以前常在饮料上印一些真假难辨的冷知识，

and though they've tried to hide it,

尽管他们试图掩盖，

the Wayback Machine reveals that eight spiders was one of them. 文化背景

但网页时光机（Wayback Machine）显示，“八只蜘蛛”就是其中之一。

Take a trip to snopes.com,

去snopes.com逛一逛，

the go-to site for debunking urban legends of all kinds, 講解

那个专门揭穿各种都市传说的首选网站，

and sure enough the eight spiders a year thing is listed. 表達脈絡

果不其然，“一年八只蜘蛛”的事被列在上面。

Scroll down and Snopes says the story comes from Lisa Holst in 1993,

往下滚动，Snopes说这个故事出自1993年的Lisa Holst，

when email was still fairly new for most people

那时电子邮件对大多数人来说还很新鲜，

and messages with subjects like RE: RE: FWD: RE: RE: FWD: amazing facts 文化背景

而主题类似“回复：回复：转发：回复：回复：转发：惊人事实”的消息

were a higher proportion of network traffic.

在网络流量中占据了很大的比例。

Lisa Holst says Snopes, wrote an article called Reading is Believing in PC Professional

Snopes表示，Lisa Holst在《PC Professional》上写了一篇名为《眼见为实》的文章，

listing all kinds of made up facts that people would believe 用詞

列举了各种人们会相信的编造事实，

and eight spiders a year was one of them.

而“一年八只蜘蛛”就是其中之一。

This, I thought, was the perfect misconception to finish the video, 語法

我觉得，用这个完美的误区来结束视频再好不过了，

like a little moral on why you should be less credulous. 用詞

就像一个小小的寓言，告诉你为什么不该轻信。

Out of interest, 短語搭配

出于好奇，

I went looking for the article to see what other fake facts she mentioned.

我去找了那篇文章，想看看她还提到了哪些假事实。

But googling for her brought up nothing. 短語動詞

但是用谷歌搜她，却什么也没搜到。

Well, not literally nothing, 語氣意圖

好吧，不是真的一无所获，

but nothing helpful.

而是没什么有用的信息。

Mostly it's other articles debunking the eight spiders myth using the exact same language as the Snopes article,

大多是其他揭穿八只蜘蛛迷思的文章，使用的语言与Snopes的文章完全一样，

which looks suspicious.

这看起来很可疑。

Intrigued, I contacted Snopes myself about their source, 語法

被激起兴趣的我亲自联系了Snopes，询问他们的消息来源，

but got back a form reply. 用詞

却只收到了格式化的回复。

I don't know if ignoring their contact form is their usual way of doing business 短語搭配

我不知道无视联系表单是不是他们的一贯作风，

along with copy-paste blocking and pop-under-ads,

就像禁止复制粘贴和背后弹窗广告那样，

but it seemed odd for a site dedicated to exposing the truth.

但对于一个致力于揭露真相的网站来说，这似乎有些奇怪。

Further digging yielded other articles about people like myself 習語

进一步挖掘发现了其他文章，提到有像我一样的人

trying to find Lisa Holst and verify Snopes's version of the story.

试图寻找Lisa Holst，并验证Snopes版故事的真实性。

There's a page on MetaFilter and Stack Exchange

MetaFilter和Stack Exchange上都有相关页面，

and even a website called eightspiders.com that went looking for her.

甚至还有一个名为eightspiders.com的网站在寻找她。

The guy who runs that last one even went so far as to contact the Library of Congress, 講解

运营最后一个网站的那家伙甚至联系了美国国会图书馆，

who said they didn't know of any magazine called PC Professional, 短語搭配

他们说不知道有叫《PC Professional》的杂志，

which leaves us in an odd xkcd kind of mood about Snopes. 文化背景

这让我们对Snopes产生了一种类似看xkcd漫画时的古怪心情。

If the Lisa Holst version of the story is real, 語法

如果Lisa Holst版的故事是真的，

then why can't anyone find any record of her or her article?

为什么没人能找到关于她或她文章的任何记录？

And if it's not real,

如果不是真的，

is it just a mistake on Snopes's part? 短語搭配

这只是Snopes犯的一个错误吗？

If so, 表達脈絡

如果是这样，

why haven't they replied to any of the people who brought it to their attention? 短語搭配

为什么他们不回复那些把这件事指出来的人？

Or perhaps we've gone through the looking glass and the Lisa Holst made up the eight spiders a year fact 習語

又或者我们已经穿过了镜中世界，其实“Lisa Holst编造了一年八只蜘蛛的事实”

is the myth promulgated by none other than Snopes themselves. 講解

本身就是一个迷思，而传播者正是Snopes自己。

It wouldn't be the first time, 短語搭配

这也不是第一次了，

as Snopes does have a purposely fake article on the site 語法

因为Snopes网站上确实有一篇故意造假的文章，

claiming that Mr. Ed was actually a zebra. 文化背景

声称Mr. Ed其实是一匹斑马。

I wasn't able to go any further than this,

我查到这里就查不下去了，

but if you happen to know anything about Lisa Holst or the deal with Snopes, 講解

但如果你碰巧知道关于Lisa Holst或Snopes这件事的任何内情，

please feel free to get in touch or leave a video response. 講解

请随时联系我，或者留个视频回复。