評論
打印
Science and technology
科學技術
Hotel hygiene
旅館衛生
Mind the remote
當心遙控器
The next time you check in…
下次你在辦理入住手續的時候…
NO ONE likes to think about who was in their hotel room before them, let alone what they got up to.
沒人愿意想象在他們入住旅館之前有人在里面待過，更不愿去想那些人在房間里干了些什么，
The best to hope for is that your lodgings are clean and hygienic.
如果房間干凈衛生就謝天謝地了。
But are they? Researchers from the University of Houston have probed the cleanliness of rooms, exposing the most—and least—filthy surfaces.
可是事實真的如此嗎？休斯頓大學的研究者調查了客房的潔凈度，揭露了那些最骯臟的地方。
After swabbing samples from hotel rooms in Indiana, Texas and South Carolina, they found the TV remote control and the bedside-lamp switch were among the most contaminated.
他們分別在印第安納州、德克薩斯州和南卡萊羅納州的旅館客房提取了樣品，然后發現其中的電視遙控器和床頭燈開關是最臟的，
The toilet, bathroom sink and items from the housekeeper's carts also had high levels of bacteria.
廁所、洗手池和保潔員手推車里的物品也是細菌量較高的地方，
Maids' mops and sponges were thought to pose the greatest threat as they could cause cross-contamination between rooms.
研究人員認為最大的威脅來自保潔員的拖把和海綿，因為它們可能造成各房間的交叉污染，
Some of the cleanest surfaces included the bed headboard and the bathroom-door handle.
而床頭板和浴室門把手等地方是最干凈的。
Katie Kirsch, an undergraduate who this week presented the results to the general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, cautioned that the data were limited by a small sample size:
大學生Katie Kirsch這周在美國微生物學會的全體大會上提交了研究結果，值得注意的是，他們只在每個州的三家旅館進行了調查，樣本太少所以數據有一定限制。
only three hotel rooms were tested in each state. Within each room the same 19 surfaces were tested for aerobic and coliform bacteria.
他們在每間房取19個相同的地方進行有氧大腸菌群測試，
No infectious diseases were tested for and the presence of bacteria is not necessarily a health threat.
他們沒有進行傳染病測試，因為這里的細菌不大會引發健康威脅，
Indeed, humans have always lived with bacteria.
事實也確實如此，我們每天都和細菌生活在一起。
As a whole, Ms Kirsch thought hoteliers maintained a high level of sanitation.
總的來說，Kirsch認為旅館老板把環境衛生維持在一個較高的標準，
But the researchers, who included members of Purdue University and the University of South Carolina, were concerned that there is no universal cleaning process for hotels.
但是包括普渡大學和南卡萊羅納大學在內的一些研究人員擔心旅館沒有一個通用的保潔程序，
Standards are largely down to the beady eye of individual housekeepers.
衛生標準的高低很大程度上取決于個別管家的警覺性，
They suggested applying Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a preventive approach to reducing the risk of physical, chemical and biological hazards.
所以他們建議采用“危害分析和關鍵環節控制點”這種預防方法來減少物理、化學和生物方面的威脅，
HACCP was drawn up by NASA, America's space agency, to ensure the safety of food for astronauts.
HACCP由美國宇航局NASA起草，起初是用來確保航天員的食品安全，
Since then it has been adopted by a number of industries.
后來被各個行業廣泛采用。
But is cleaning a hotel room really rocket science?
打掃旅館房間是一件很復雜的事嗎？
Good hotels value a reputation for cleanliness, and people can easily discover online those that are filthy.
好旅館會在整潔方面很重視自己的名聲，并且人們很容易在網上發現那些較臟的旅館。
Paranoia about cleanliness has already risen to the point that sterile modern living can make people sick by weakening their immune systems.
一些重視清潔的偏執狂已經上升到打造無菌生活的層面，但這樣會削弱他們的免疫系統使他們更容易生病，
The odd night in a roach motel might even do some people a bit of good.
所以在蟑螂出沒的汽車旅館度過一個不平凡的夜晚甚至可能對某些人更有益處。
