喝水就能美容养颜是真是假?

　　For years it has been one of the most basic rules of beauty: if you want a clear, youthful complexion, you must drink at least eight glasses of water every day. Facialists, make-up artists, alternative health practitioners, nutritionists — and yes, we beauty journalists — have all agreed that a good dose of H2O will ‘flush out’ our systems, banish spots, plump out wrinkles and moisturise our skin from the inside out. It really is the elixir of great-looking skin. Various dermatologists have suggested in recent years that this theory simply doesn’t wash, insisting the only thing maintaining moisture levels in our skin is the outer layer of skin.

　　几年来，美容界一直流传着一个“美容法则”，那就是每天多饮8杯水，这样能使你拥有一个年轻、自然的面容。无论是美容专家、健康专家或者还是营养师、甚至美容杂志的记者都“同意”“水能美颜”这一观点，他们觉得饮水能使得脸上的暗纹、斑点消除，饮水是最健康的一种“从里到外”的养颜方式。在近些日子，有皮肤科医生推翻了这一论调，声称唯一能保持肌肤水润的物质不是体内的水份，而是皮肤的最外层。

　　But most beauty devotees remain convinced; just look at all those female celebrities permanently clutching a bottle of the stuff. Recent research seemed to suggest the water lovers are right — and that certain types of water are even better for you than others. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, female participants were told to drink one and a half litres of water a day for eight weeks without changing any other elements of their lifestyle. Some drank ordinary tap water. Others drank Willow Water, a natural mineral water sourced in the Lake District.

　　即便如此，许多人仍旧觉得饮水是美容的最有效的方法。有测试者使用临床的安慰剂对照（placebo-controlled）双盲测试，他们将女性分成2个小组，被测试的人每日饮用1.5公升的水，期间不改变任何生活方式：A小组的人饮用普通的自来水。B小组的人饮用矿泉水。

　　At the end of the trial, the results were astonishing. Those who drank ordinary tap water saw a 19 per cent reduction in their wrinkles. Those who drank Willow Water (and no, until this point I hadn’t heard of it, either) saw a dramatic 24 per cent reduction.

　　测试后的结果是惊人的：A小组（饮用普通水质）的人脸上的皱纹减轻了19%，而那些饮用矿泉水的人皱纹竟有24%被减轻了。

Vocabulary： 

　　double-blind adj. (试验者和受试者)双盲的(试验或测试)；双盲测试的