穿浅色衣服真的会更凉快吗？

Question: What do astronauts, brides and Tom Wolfe have in common? They all wear white to keep the heat at bay. Anyway, the sartorial thinking is this: floaty, breezy, delicate fabrics of the lightest colors allow all that solar heat fighting its way to our skin to just reflect away instead.

提问：宇航员、新娘和汤姆•沃尔夫（以穿白色西装而闻名的作家）的共同点是什么？答案就是，他们都穿白色衣服来保持凉爽。总之，这样穿着是考虑到：面料轻薄精致的浅色衣服能反射阳光，从而让光的热量难以接触我们的皮肤。

Wear dark fabrics, the idea goes, and you're stuck with that heat as it greedily absorbs into the fabric and causes you to swelter in your own clothes. But white clothing will cheerfully bounce that solar heat right off, and you'll be (more) comfortable on a hot day.

这种观点认为，深色的布料会贪婪地吸收阳光的热量，因此穿深色衣服会让你一直感受到这些热量，让你闷热难受。但白色的衣服会将热量反射，让你在炎热的天气中更舒适。

While all that certainly sounds great in theory, there are a few other factors at play that might be working against the light clothing adage. At the very least, there's some compelling evidence that says it doesn't matter. Let's start with some 1980 academic research from the journal "Nature," titled "Why do Bedouins wear black robes in hot deserts?"

尽管“浅色服装原则”理论上听起来很正确，但其它一些影响因素可能会与这个理论相悖。至少，一些有说服力的证据表明，衣服的颜色并不重要。先来看看1980年发表在《自然》杂志的一项学术研究中的证据，该研究题目为“为什么贝都因人在炎热的沙漠里穿着黑色长袍？”

As you can guess, the researchers were as flummoxed as you and I by the fact that in oppressive heat, the residents of the Sinai desert wear billowing black robes instead of, say, white (or a maybe pretty pale lavender). What they found was when they tested white robes versus black (and note they did this by having some poor guy stand out in the heat while recording temperature), the differences were nil.

闷热的天气里，西奈沙漠的居民穿着黑色长袍，而不是白色的（或淡紫色的）。如你所料，研究人员就像你我一样对此感到困惑。他们发现，对白袍和黑袍进行测试时（研究人员让一些可怜的家伙站在酷热中，记录温度），两者的差异是零。

They found that the black clothing did absorb more heat, but that's where it stayed: In other words, the black soaks up additional heat, but that extra is lost by the time it actually gets to your skin. Way more useful for keeping cool, however? The fact that the robes are loose and billowing, to allow airflow.

研究人员发现，黑色的衣服确实吸收了更多的热量，但热量就此打住了。换句话说，黑色衣服吸收了额外的热量，但是当它真正接触到皮肤的时候，那些额外的热量已经消失了。穿黑色反而更能保持凉爽吗？事实上，是因为长袍宽大容易翻动，便于空气流动。

There's also an argument that the whole "light clothing" argument is missing a key element: the person who's wearing the clothes. This means that the heat your body radiates will actually reflect off white clothing, bouncing back to your body to keep you toastier. Not a bad theory, but it's not tested on humans.

还有一种观点认为，“浅色服装”理论忽略了一个关键因素：人体辐射出的热量。他们认为，身体辐射出来的热量也会被浅色衣服反射，再次回到你身上，让你感到更热。这个理论不错，但没有在人身上进行验证。

So, the answer is — it doesn't make a huge difference whether you're wearing black or white in hot weather.

所以，最终的答案是：在炎热的天气里穿黑色还是白色并没有什么大的区别。