With digital software like Photoshop being used ever so often to alter things so perfectly, it’s hard to tell what’s real anymore. Take these photos of the so-called ‘rainbow grapes’ that have been doing the rounds online for about a month. They’re about the coolest-looking fruit I’ve ever seen, but are they real?
随着PS软件的流行,人们P出来的图片也越来越完美,有时候真的很难分辨我们看到的图片中哪些是真哪些是假。就以近一个月来在网上流传的彩虹葡萄为例,这些葡萄的颜色可以说是我所见到过的色彩最丰富的水果了,可是它们是真的吗?

Well, yes and no. Rainbow grapes do exist, but they are just regular grapes photographed in a ripening stage known as Veraison, or the ‘onset of ripening’. “When grapes go into the final stage of ripening, the young immature grapes have a very dark, opaque green color and a very hard texture, like little rocks,” said Larry Stone, master sommelier and restaurateur. “And then when they go through veraison, the skin goes through coloration. If they’re white grapes, they go from a dark green to a kind of yellowish green color, and they get more and more transparent. A red grape will go from a green color to a red color. The shade of red depends on the variety of grape.”
实际上,彩虹葡萄是真实存在的,只不过它们是普通葡萄在转色期时的样子罢了。转色期就是葡萄浆果快要熟了,开始变色了。侍酒师和餐馆管理者拉里说:“当葡萄进入成熟期的最后一个阶段时,尚未成熟的葡萄会呈现出不透明的深绿色,此时它的肉质很老,就像小石头一样。当葡萄处于转色期的时候,它们的表皮会经历各种颜色的变化。如果它们是白葡萄,它们就会从深绿色变成某种淡黄绿色,并且会变得越来越透明。而红色的葡萄则会从绿色变成红色。其红色的深浅取决于葡萄的种类。”

And at the end, once they’re all ripe, all grapes of a particular variety display the same final color. That’s why you can’t buy or eat Rainbow Grapes, but you could certainly witness their beautiful transformation.
最后一旦所有的葡萄都成熟了,无论是哪个品种的葡萄,都会变成那种特定葡萄的颜色。这也是为什么人们买不到或者吃不着彩虹葡萄,不过人们还是可以见证葡萄颜色变化的美丽过程的。

However, that doesn’t seem to be stopping people from trying to actually sell rainbow grape seeds for a profit. The photos circulating online don’t help things much either, especially when they come with descriptions like ‘unique grape variety’ or ‘hybrid grapes’. And to make things even worse, most of these unscupulous vendors use digitally-altered images of rainbow grapes, like the ones originally posted on , as part of a Photoshop contest.
然而,仍然有人为了谋利在售卖所谓的彩虹葡萄的种子。所以网上流传的图片其实并未产生好的效果,尤其是当这些图片被配上“独特的葡萄品种”或者“杂交葡萄”等说明文字的时候。更糟糕的是,大多数无良商贩使用的都是被PS过的彩虹葡萄图片,比如最先出自于这个网站的那组图片,而这些图片是上传者为了参加PS大赛而制作的。