張寧

In tests， the hot-air machines spread far more microbes3 than paper towels.

在測(cè)試中袁熱風(fēng)干手器傳播的微生物比紙巾多得多。

Washing your hands with soap andwater washes away germs. But the hot-airhand dryers found in many publicrestrooms seem to spray4 microbes rightback onto clean skin. Thats what 16-yearoldZita Nguyen found by swabbing5peoples freshly washed and dried hands.

用肥皂和水洗手可以洗掉細(xì)菌。但是，在許多公共衛(wèi)生間里都能找到的熱風(fēng)干手器似乎會(huì)將微生物重新噴回干凈的皮膚上。這就是16歲的齊塔·阮通過(guò)拭抹人們剛洗過(guò)和吹干過(guò)的手時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)的情況。

Toilets in public restrooms seldomhave lids. So flushing6 them sprays thegerms from excreted7 wastes into the air.That same air is drawn into those wallmountedelectric hand dryers. Thesemachines provide a nice warm home inwhich microbes can flourish8， Zita says.Cleaning the inside of these machinescan be difficult， she adds.

公共衛(wèi)生間的便池很少有蓋子。因此，沖水會(huì)將排泄物中的細(xì)菌噴灑到空氣中。同樣的空氣被吸入那些壁掛式電動(dòng)干手器中。齊塔說(shuō)，這些機(jī)器為微生物提供了一個(gè)可以繁殖的溫暖家園。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，清潔這些機(jī)器的內(nèi)部可能很困難。

“Freshly washed hands are gettingcontaminated9 with this bacteria thatgrows inside these machines，”Zita says.

“剛洗過(guò)的手會(huì)被這些機(jī)器內(nèi)滋生的細(xì)菌污染?！饼R塔說(shuō)。

Zita wanted to explore an idea.Would drying hands farther away fromthe hot-air dryer lessen the number ofgerms that fall back onto the skin？

齊塔想探索一個(gè)想法。在離熱風(fēng)干手器較遠(yuǎn)的地方烘干雙手，會(huì)減少掉回到皮膚上的細(xì)菌數(shù)量嗎？

The teen had four people wash anddry their hands in restrooms at a malland a gas station. The participantswashed hands with soap and water. Aftereach washing， they dried their handsusing one of three different methods. Insome trials10， they simply used papertowels. In the others， they used anelectric hand dryer. Sometimes， theyheld their hands close to the machine，about 13 centimeters below it. Othertimes， they held their hands about 30centimeters below the dryer. Each handdryingcondition was performed 20 times.

這名青少年讓四個(gè)人在一家商場(chǎng)和一個(gè)加油站的衛(wèi)生間里洗手并弄干雙手。參與者們用肥皂和水洗手。每次洗手后，他們用三種不同干手方法中的一種來(lái)弄干手。在一些測(cè)試中，他們只是簡(jiǎn)單地使用紙巾。在其他測(cè)試中，他們使用了電動(dòng)干手器。有時(shí)，他們把手靠近機(jī)器，放在機(jī)器下面約13 厘米的地方。有時(shí)，他們把手放在干手器下面約30 厘米的位置。每一種干手條件測(cè)試了20 次。

Right after this drying， Zitaswabbed their hands for germs.Then she rubbed the swabs onto petri dishes11. She housed thesedishes for three days.

干手后，齊塔立即用棉簽拭抹他們的手提取細(xì)菌。然后，她把拭子擦到培養(yǎng)皿上。她將這些培養(yǎng)皿放置了三天。

Afterward， all the petridishes were covered with off-whitespots. Zita warns that harmfulgerms might be lurking12 in therestroomsdryers.

之后，所有的培養(yǎng)皿上都覆蓋著灰白色的斑點(diǎn)。齊塔警告說(shuō)，有害細(xì)菌可能潛伏在衛(wèi)生間的干手器中。

Fewer than 50 colonies13， on average，turned up in each dish exposed to swabsfrom hands dried with paper towels or fromhands held farther from the electric dryers.In contrast14， more than 130 colonies， onaverage， grew in petri dishes fromhands held close tothe hot-air dryers.

平均而言，每個(gè)從用紙巾擦干的手或遠(yuǎn)離電動(dòng)干手器吹干的手上提取樣本的培養(yǎng)皿中只有不到50 個(gè)菌落。相比之下，平均每個(gè)在靠近電動(dòng)干手器吹干的手上提取樣本的培養(yǎng)皿中有130 多個(gè)菌落。

At first， Zitawas amazed by allthe microbes inthese dishes. Quickly，however， she realizedthey represented whatcovered peoples hands afterusing a hot-air dryer. “This is disgusting，”she now says. “Im never going to put myhands so close to these machines again！ ”

起初，齊塔對(duì)這些培養(yǎng)皿里的微生物感到驚訝。但很快，她意識(shí)到它們代表了人們使用熱風(fēng)干手器后手上沾染的東西?！斑@太惡心了?！彼F(xiàn)在說(shuō)，“我再也不會(huì)把手離這些機(jī)器這么近了！”