It's not a chocolate coin wrapped in gold foil, people. That's actual metal that composes that Olympic medal, so why do athletes bite them?

同志们，金牌又不是包裹着金箔纸的巧克力，而是货真价实的金属制品，运动员们为什么如此热衷于咬奖牌？

There's actually a few reasons, but the most obvious is that it's a pose photographers really, really like to capture.

事实上有不少原因，而最明显的原因是，这是摄影师超级超级喜欢拍的一个动作。

"It's become an obsession with the photographers," David Wallechinsky, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians and co-author of "The Complete Book of the Olympics" told CNN in 2012. "I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that you can probably sell. I don't think it's something the athletes would probably do on their own."

“摄影师们非常痴迷于这个动作” 国际奥林匹克历史学家协会主席，《奥林匹克运动会全书》的作者戴维•沃利金斯基2012年在接受CNN采访时说，“我觉得他们把这看作是一种标志性的时刻，可能认为这样的照片会比较容易卖。我觉得，如果让运动员自己选的话，他们还真不一定会这么做。"

Biting down on a hunk of metal is more likely something someone might have done during the Gold Rush to test whether the shiny golden rock they just panned for was actually pyrite or fool's gold. Human teeth are harder than gold but softer than pyrite, according to the Mohs Hardness Scale, which categorizes how easily minerals scratch. This means a quick gnaw to real gold would actually leave an indentation. A hard chew of pyrite, meanwhile, might damage your teeth.

对着金属大力的咬下去，这更像是淘金热时期的人做的事情，目的是测试刚淘出来的金光闪闪的石块是否只是黄铁矿或（或者叫愚人金）。根据莫氏硬度表，人类牙齿的硬度比黄金大但比黄铁矿小。这就意味着迅速咬一下真正的黄金，会留下牙印。而使劲咬黄铁矿则可能会伤到你的牙齿。

The practice also once served to see whether coins were solid gold or just gold-plated over a cheaper metal, Today I Found Out explains.

《今日发现》解释称，这一做法也曾用来判断硬币是否是纯金，还是仅仅是用较便宜的金属镀金而成。

With that in mind, it's likely that Old West/pirate lore led to someone once biting their Olympic medal in a spontaneous, "Is this real life?" moment, and the photographers thought it was cute. Because if someone really was hoping to discover whether that gold medal is pure gold, their smiles would quickly fade.

考虑到这一点，当获奖选手在怀疑“这一切都是真的吗？”的时候，很有可能因为想起老西部或者海盗的故事而咬了一下金牌，而摄影师认为这个动作很有爱。因为如果有人真的想要去测试那块金牌是不是纯金，他们的笑容很快就会消失的。

Olympic gold medals are actually just 1.34 percent gold. The rest is silver, ABC News reports. And much of it is recycled silver this time around, which makes the 2016 Rio medals "the most sustainable ever made," according to Forbes magazine contributor Anthony DeMarco (via ABC News). DeMarco says the materials that make up a "gold" medal are worth $564.

据ABC新闻报道，奥运会金牌实际上只含有1.34%的金，其余材质为标准纯银。福布斯杂志撰稿人安东尼.德马科称，此次奥运会中奖牌使用的大部分是回收银，这使2016年里约奖牌成为有史以来“最环保的”的奖牌。德马科说，一块“金”牌的制作材料价值为564美金。

Winning athletes would be better served to make sure the checks they receive for coming out on top don't bounce. Along with their gold medals, Olympic winners get $25,000 prizes.

获奖运动员其实还不如去检查一下支票，确保他们接下来的收支不会跳票。除了金牌之外，奥运会冠军还会得到2.5万美金的奖励。