One of the World’s Most Crucial and Selfless Acts is Still Simply Washing Your Hands It’s a familiar situation in a public restroom: You’re on your way in, and someone else is leaving without washing their hands. They see you, and wheel around toward the sink. They start whistling, as if to seem casual, and then give their hands a quick spritz with water. 這是在公共廁所里常見的情況：在進(jìn)去的時候碰上某個人還沒有洗手正準(zhǔn)備離開，他們看到你，就轉(zhuǎn)身朝水池走去。他們開始吹口哨，裝作似乎很隨意的樣子，然后迅速用水沖一下。 Even among people who will never see each other again, there’s a compulsion to perform a tiny baptism of the fingertips: Not enough scrubbing or soap to actually remove a virus, just enough to signal civility. Accordingly many Americans' standard of what constitutes a washing of the hands is abysmal. 即使是那些萍水相逢的人，也會有一種沖動，想要給對方的指尖進(jìn)行一次小小的洗禮，因?yàn)樗麄儾⒉挥昧Σ料匆膊挥梅试韥硐麥绮《?，只是表示禮貌而已。由此可見，許多美國人對于洗手的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)非常糟糕。 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies around the world have one clear, concise, definitive recommendation: Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. 美國疾病控制與預(yù)防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)和世界各地的其他機(jī)構(gòu)有一個清晰、簡明、明確的建議:至少洗手20秒。 Those of us who’ve lived our entire lives removed from epidemics of cholera and other deadly hygiene-related outbreaks haven’t witnessed the power of hand-washing and take it for granted. But it may be the single most important thing any given person can do to help stop and prevent outbreaks. 我們這些一生都遠(yuǎn)離流行性霍亂和其他與衛(wèi)生有關(guān)的致命疾病爆發(fā)的人，并沒有見證過洗手的力量，也沒有把它視為理所當(dāng)然。但這可能是任何特定的人所能做的最重要的事來幫助阻止和預(yù)防疾病爆發(fā)。 People are told to cover their coughs and sneezes, but studies show a vast majority don’t wash their hands after doing so. 人們被告知咳嗽和打噴嚏時要用手遮住，但研究表明，絕大多數(shù)人在這樣做后不洗手。 Someone carrying the pathogenic microbes might shake your hand, or touch a doorknob or desk that you later touch. Once you pick them up, if you touch your face, the circle is complete. 攜帶致病菌的人可能會和你握手，或觸摸你稍后要碰的門把手或桌子。一旦你接觸到這些病菌，再觸摸你的臉，你就會被感染。 scrubbing 用力擦洗 concise 簡明的 witnessed 見證 pathogenic 致病的 casual 隨意的 compulsion 沖動 prevent 預(yù)防 majority 大多數(shù) complete 完整的