探用肥皂和水洗手可以洗掉细菌。但是，在许多公共卫生间里都能到的热风干手器似乎会将微生物重新喷回干净的皮肤上。这就是16岁的齐塔·阮通过拭抹人们刚洗过和吹干过的手时发现的情况。
公共卫生间的便池很少有盖子。因此，冲水会将排泄物中的细菌喷洒到空气中。同样的空气被吸入那些壁挂式电动干手器中。齐塔说，这些机器为微生物提供了一个可以繁殖的温暖家园。她补充说，清洁这些机器的内部可能很困难。
“刚洗过的手会被这些机器内滋生的细菌污染。”齐塔说。
In tests,the hot -air 在测试中，热风干手器传播的微生物比纸巾多得多Washing your hands with soap and
water washes away germs.But the hot -air hand dryers found in many public
restrooms seem to spray 4microbes right back onto clean skin.That ’s what 16-year -old Zita Nguyen found by swabbing 5people ’s freshly washed and dried hands.
Toilets in public restrooms seldom
have lids.So flushing 6them sprays the germs from excreted 7wastes into the air.That same air is drawn into those wall -mounted electric hand dryers.These machines provide a nice warm home in which microbes can flourish 8,Zita says.Cleaning the inside of these machines can be difficult,she adds.
“Freshly washed hands are getting
contaminated 9with this bacteria that grows inside these machines,”Zita says.
26
刻
齐塔想探索一个想法。在离热风干手器较远的地方烘干双手，会减少掉回到皮肤上的细菌数量吗？
这名青少年让四个人在一家商场和一个加油站的卫生间里洗手并弄干双手。参与者们用肥皂和水洗手。每次洗手后，他们用三种不同干手方法中的一种来弄干手。在一些测试中，他们只是简单地使用纸巾。在其他测试中，他们使用了电动干手器。有时，他们把手靠近机器，放在机器下面约13厘米的地方。有时，他们把手放在干手器下面约30厘米的位置。每一种干手条件测试了20次。
干手后，齐塔立即用棉签拭抹他们的手提取细菌。然后，她把拭子擦到培养皿上。她将这些培养皿放置了
三天。swabbing
之后，所有的培
养皿上都覆盖着灰白的斑点。齐塔警告说，有害细菌可能潜伏在卫生间的干手器中。
Zita wanted to explore an idea.
Would drying hands farther away from the hot -air dryer lessen the number of germs that fall back onto the skin?
The teen had four people wash and
dry their hands in restrooms at a mall and a gas station.The participants washed hands with soap and water.After each washing,they dried their hands using one of three different methods.In some trials 10,they simply used paper towels.In the others,they used an electric hand dryer.Sometimes,they held their hands close to the machine,
about 13centimeters below it.Other times,they held their hands about 30centimeters below the dryer.Each hand -drying condition was performed 20times.Right
after
this
drying,
Zita
swabbed their hands for germs.Then she rubbed the swabs onto
petri dishes 11.She housed these dishes for three days.
Afterward,
all
the
petri
dishes were covered with off -white spots.Zita warns that harmful germs might be lurking 12in the
restrooms ’dryers.
27
探
Fewer than50colonies13,on average, turned up in each dish exposed to swabs from hands dried with paper towels or from hands held farther from the electric dryers. In contrast14,more than130colonies,on average,grew in petri dishes from hands held close to
the hot-air dryers.
At first,Zita
was amazed by all
the microbes in
these dishes.Quickly, however,she realized
they represented what covered people’s hands after using a hot-air dryer.“This is disgusting,”she now says.“I’m never going to put my hands so close to these machines again!”
平均而言，每个从用纸巾擦干的手或远离电动干手器吹干的手上提取样本的培养皿中只有不到50个菌落。相比之下，平均每个在靠近电动干手器吹干的手上
提取样本的培养皿
中有130多个菌落。
起初，齐塔对这
些培养皿里的微生
物感到惊讶。但很
快，她意识到它们代表了人们使用热风干手器后手上沾染的东西。“这太恶心了。”她现在说，“我再也不会把手离这些机器这么近了！”
(英语原文选自:)
[]传染[]
microbe[][]
[]拭子用拭子)拭抹(伤口
[].冲洗(excreted[]
flourish[]长势好，茁壮成长
contaminated[]弄脏的
[]试验，试用dish有盖培养皿
[].潜伏；潜藏[]
contrast[]
28