麗莎·霍爾斯特是誰？：英語精讀講義

At the end of my video on misconceptions,

在我關於迷思的影片結尾，

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

我提到了一個所謂的「事實」，即人們睡覺時一年會吞下八隻蜘蛛。

But unlike the other misconceptions in that video,

但與該影片中的其他迷思不同，

which I explained away, 片語動詞

我沒有對這個迷思進行闢謠解釋，

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

而是把它當成一個廉價的笑話，就沒再深究了。

This wasn't because it's true, 文法

這並不是因為它是真的，

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

而是因為這個迷思背後的故事其實有點像個謎。

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

我記得第一次看到「八隻蜘蛛」這個事實，

was years ago on the lid of a Snapple can.

是在多年前的一個Snapple飲料瓶蓋上。

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

Snapple以前常在飲料上印一些真假難辨的冷知識，

and though they've tried to hide it,

儘管他們試圖掩蓋，

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

但網頁時光機（Wayback Machine）顯示，「八隻蜘蛛」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

那個專門揭穿各種都市傳說的首選網站，

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

果不其然，「一年八隻蜘蛛」的事被列在上面。

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

往下捲動，Snopes說這個故事出自1993年的Lisa Holst，

when email was still fairly new for most people

那時電子郵件對大多數人來說還很新鮮，

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

而主題類似「回覆：回覆：轉寄：回覆：回覆：轉寄：驚人事實」的訊息

were a higher proportion of network traffic.

在網路流量中佔據了很大的比例。

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

Snopes表示，Lisa Holst在《PC Professional》上寫了一篇名為《眼見為實》的文章，

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

列舉了各種人們會相信的編造事實，

and eight spiders a year was one of them.

而「一年八隻蜘蛛」就是其中之一。

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

我覺得，用這個完美的迷思來結束影片再好不過了，

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

就像一個小小的寓言，告訴你為什麼不該輕信。

Out of interest, 片語搭配

出於好奇，

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

我去找了那篇文章，想看看她還提到了哪些假事實。

But googling for her brought up nothing. 片語動詞

但是用Google搜尋她，卻什麼也沒搜到。

Well, not literally nothing, 語氣意圖

好吧，不是真的一無所獲，

but nothing helpful.

而是沒什麼有用的資訊。

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

大多是其他揭穿八隻蜘蛛迷思的文章，使用的語言與Snopes的文章完全一樣，

which looks suspicious.

這看起來很可疑。

Intrigued, I contacted Snopes myself about their source, 文法

被激起興趣的我親自聯繫了Snopes，詢問他們的消息來源，

but got back a form reply. 用詞

卻只收到了格式化的回覆。

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

我不知道無視聯絡表單是不是他們的一貫作風，

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

就像禁止複製貼上和背後彈出式廣告那樣，

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

但對於一個致力於揭露真相的網站來說，這似乎有些奇怪。

Further digging yielded other articles about people like myself 慣用語

進一步挖掘發現了其他文章，提到有像我一樣的人

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

試圖尋找Lisa Holst，並驗證Snopes版故事的真實性。

There's a page on MetaFilter and Stack Exchange

MetaFilter和Stack Exchange上都有相關頁面，

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

甚至還有一個名為eightspiders.com的網站在尋找她。

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

營運最後一個網站的那傢伙甚至聯繫了美國國會圖書館，

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

他們說不知道有叫《PC Professional》的雜誌，

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

這讓我們對Snopes產生了一種類似看xkcd漫畫時的古怪心情。

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

如果Lisa Holst版的故事是真的，

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

為什麼沒人能找到關於她或她文章的任何紀錄？

And if it's not real,

如果不是真的，

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

這只是Snopes犯的一個錯誤嗎？

If so, 表達脈絡

如果是這樣，

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

為什麼他們不回覆那些把這件事指出來的人？

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

又或者我們已經穿過了鏡中世界，其實「Lisa Holst編造了一年八隻蜘蛛的事實」

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

本身就是一個迷思，而傳播者正是Snopes自己。

It wouldn't be the first time, 片語搭配

這也不是第一次了，

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

因為Snopes網站上確實有一篇故意造假的文章，

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

聲稱Mr. Ed其實是一匹斑馬。

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

我查到這裡就查不下去了，

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

但如果你碰巧知道關於Lisa Holst或Snopes這件事的任何內情，

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

請隨時聯絡我，或者留個影片回覆。