When Did We Become So Obsessed With Being ‘Symmetrical’?
Mirrors lie. They reverse things. That face you see in the bathroom every morning, in your makeup compact: that is “opposite you” — the inverse of the face everyone else sees. We all know this, in theory.
镜子会说谎。它们会把东西倒转过来。你每天早上在浴室、在化妆盒的镜子中看到的那张脸，是「相反的你」——别人眼中看到的你的反面。这一点，在理论上，我们都是知道的。
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reverse 翻转:to turn something over or around, in order to show the back of it，比如说：•Reverse the paper in the printer.把打印机中的纸翻过来。
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compact(内有镜子的)化妆粉盒；A compact is a small, flat case that contains face powder and a mirror.
And yet, for the past two years or so, this simple fact has riveted and sometimes deeply upset many people (especially young ones) trying out the facial-symmetry filters on social media. Some of these filters invert the mirror’s reflection, revealing images of one’s face as others perceive it, unnerving many users by casting new light on all the imperfections to which our familiar mirrored reflections inure, or even blind us: the uneven hairline, the crooked mouth, the not perfectly level eyes.
但过去两年来，这个简单的道理还是吸引了许多人（特别是年轻人）在社交网络上尝试对称脸滤镜，这让他们着迷不已，有时还深感不安。有些滤镜会将镜像反转，显示出自己的面孔在他人眼中的样子，这让许多用户感到不安，因为要重新审视自己的所有缺陷，而这些缺陷是普通镜面反射让我们习以为常甚至视而不见的：不均匀的发际线、歪斜的嘴巴、并不完全平行的眼睛。
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invert the mirror’s reflection 镜像翻转
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inure sb / yourself to sth· 使习惯于，使适应于(不愉快的事物) to make sb / yourself get used to sth unpleasant so that they，比如说：•Nurses soon become inured to the sight of suffering.护士们很快就习惯了那些病痛的场面。
These all spring sharply into focus when reversed. For these reasons, confronting one’s “flipped” face can feel a bit alienating (not unlike hearing your own voice on tape).
镜像反转会迅速凸显这些特征。因此，直面自己的「反转」面孔可能带来一种陌生感（这与在录音中听到自己的声音不无相似之处）。
Other filters startle in a different way, by creating symmetry, aligning features and smoothing irregularities, or presenting perfected yet deeply unfamiliar images via a kind of real-time Photoshop or virtual plastic surgery.
其他滤镜给人惊吓的方式则不同，比如制造对称性、调整面部特征并抹平瑕疵、或是通过某种实时图像处理技术或整容模拟器呈现出完美但极其陌生的影像。
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startle /'stɑːt(ə)l/ v.使〔某人〕吃惊; 吓〔某人〕一跳:to make someone suddenly surprised or slightly shocked，比如说：•Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.抱歉，我不是故意吓你一跳的。
The filters have become enormously popular. Every few months, a new face-symmetry-focused trend seems to take hold on TikTok, set to audio from music (like Olivia Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu”) or movies. Scroll through the pages and pages of users trying these filters, and you’ll find a range of reactions: some people laugh at what looks like a warped fun house reflection; others appear to feel real shock and despair at the unfamiliar face on their phone screen.
这种滤镜非常受欢迎。每隔几个月似乎都会有对称脸的新趋势在TikTok流行起来，配上来自音乐（比如奥莉维亚·罗德里格的《Deja Vu》）或电影的音频。挨个浏览尝试这些滤镜的用户主页，你会发现他们反应各不相同：有人会对看起来像一间扭曲欢乐屋的反射大笑；另一些人似乎真的被手机荧幕上那张陌生面孔吓到，失望透顶。
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feel real shock and despair at the unfamiliar face on their phone screen.被手机荧幕上那张陌生面孔吓到，失望透顶
One commonly used symmetry effect, listed on the app as one of TikTok’s own Creative Effects, is “Inverted.” According to TikTok’s public view counts, the Inverted effect has been used in nearly 10 million videos. On the hashtag page for #Inverted, a description asks users: “Are you #Inverted? Use our Creative Effect and find out.”
在TikTok自带的「创意特效」中，一个常用的对称特效就是「倒转」。根据TikTok的公开浏览统计，有接近1000万条影片都使用了「倒转」特效。在关于「#倒转」的标签页上，一段描述这样反问用户：「你#倒转了吗？用我们的创意特效来看看效果吧。」
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symmetry /'sɪmɪtrɪ/ 对称: the quality of being symmetrical，比如说：•the symmetry of the design图案的对称性
The algorithm may favor symmetry filter use, as well. Whether it’s algorithmic, pure human interest or some mixture of the two, videos tagged #Inverted have netted a whopping 23 billion views on the app.
算法可能也在鼓励用户使用对称滤镜。无论是算法使然，或纯粹是人的好奇天性，或两者兼有，带有「倒转」标签的影片在这个应用程序上一共获得了惊人的230亿浏览量。
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whopping /'wɒpɪŋ/ 异常大的;庞大的；If you describe an amount as whopping, you are emphasizing that it is large，比如说：The Russian leader won a whopping 89.9 percent yes vote.这位俄罗斯领导人赢得了89.9%的高票支持。
What propels this craze in this moment? The strangeness of pandemic times may be partly responsible. In the past two years, we’ve had both way too much virtual “face time” and way too little normal time with people face to face. In private, we’ve stared for hours at our own and other people’s faces, with all our flaws, on videoconferencing screens. (The rise in pandemic-era plastic surgery has been called the “Zoom boom.”) And in public, masks have deprived us of the healthy human experience of interacting with the faces all around us. This alone may explain a heightened interest in face-scrutinizing apps.
是什么推动了当下这股热潮？疫情时期的距离感可能是部分原因。过去两年，我们虚拟影片的时间太多，而与人面对面的正常时间也太少了。私下里，我们要在影片会议的荧幕上长时间盯着自己和他人的面孔，看清我们长相的所有缺陷。（疫情时代整容手术的兴起也被称为「Zoom热潮」）。在公共场合，口罩则剥夺了我们与周围所有面孔互动的健康人性体验。仅此一点可能就足以解释为什么大家愈发热衷于审视面部的应用程序。
But motivations well beyond the pandemic also drive this trend. There’s the modern amusement of going viral on social media; the ancient and eternal fascination with beauty and how to assess it; the lighthearted, carnivalesque fun of playing around with mirror images; and the deep desire to see ourselves as others see us.
但推动这一趋势的因素远不止疫情本身。这是火遍社群媒体的现代娱乐；是对美以及如何看待美的古老而永恒的迷恋；是摆弄镜像带来的轻松快乐；也是想从他者的视角看自己的强烈愿望。
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