听力文摘：不洗手的害处

The Importance of Hand Washing

洗手很重要

In a recent study of people passing through major U.S. airports, it turned out that about thirty percent weren't washing their hands after using the bathroom.

近日，一项调查发现，30%美国主要机场出入的乘客们表示便后不洗手。

These people who don't wash their hands don't just keep them in their pockets. They walk around shaking other people's hands, holding babies, and handling food and doorknobs.

而这些乘客不会老实地双手插袋，和其他人握手，抱抱小孩，处理食物，开关门……

So basically, these folks are running around exposing the fastidious hand washers among us to infections that can range from the pesky common cold to SARS, which can be fatal. After all, many infections are transmitted through hand-to-hand contact.

基本上，就是因为这些人不洗手，成为了疾病的媒介，从麻烦的感冒到可以致命的传染性非典型肺炎SARS。毕竟不少疾病都是握手接触传播的。

What's interesting is that people tend to exaggerate when they're asked about hand-washing. In surveys, ninety-five percent of people claim to wash their hands every time, when the actual observed percentage is much lower.

有趣的是受访者还会“夸大其词”。研究表示，95%的人声称每次都会洗手；而观察到的数据却小得多。

So think about the fact that only around seventy-five percent of people claim to wash their hands after sneezing or coughing!

想想事实上，有大概75%的人声称会在打喷嚏后洗手。

The actual number is there much lower, too. Um?

那么，事实上的洗手的人微乎其微了。

Probably. On the bright side, since the SARS outbreak in Toronto, hand-washing rates at the airport have been near to one hundred percent. So all it takes to get people scrubbingdiligently is a major epidemic¹.

极有可能，但是值得庆幸的是，在SARS在多伦多爆发后，机场洗手率高达百分之百。所以全民“勤奋”地洗手全靠“传染病”了。

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。