Science and technology
Hotel hygiene
Mind the remote
The next time you check in…
NO ONE likes to think about who was in their
hotel room before them, let alone what they got up to.
The best to hope for is that your lodgings are
clean and hygienic.
But are they? Researchers from the University
of Houston have probed the cleanliness of rooms, exposing the most—and
least—filthy surfaces.
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.
The toilet, bathroom sink and items from the
housekeeper's carts also had high levels of bacteria.
Maids' mops and sponges were thought to pose
the greatest threat as they could cause cross-contamination between rooms.
Some of the cleanest surfaces included the bed
headboard and the bathroom-door handle.
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:
only three hotel rooms were tested in each
state. Within each room the same 19 surfaces were tested for aerobic and
coliform bacteria.
No infectious diseases were tested for and the
presence of bacteria is not necessarily a health threat.
Indeed, humans have always lived with
bacteria.
As a whole, Ms Kirsch thought hoteliers
maintained a high level of sanitation.
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.
Standards are largely down to the beady eye of
individual housekeepers.
They suggested applying Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Points, a preventive approach to reducing the risk of
physical, chemical and biological hazards.
HACCP was drawn up by NASA, America's space
agency, to ensure the safety of food for astronauts.
Since then it has been adopted by a number of
industries.
But is cleaning a hotel room really rocket
science?
Good hotels value a reputation for
cleanliness, and people can easily discover online those that are filthy.
Paranoia about cleanliness has already risen
to the point that sterile modern living can make people sick by weakening their
immune systems.
The odd night in a roach motel might even do
some people a bit of good.
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译文参考：
科学技术
旅馆卫生
当心遥控器
下次你在办理入住手续的时候…
没人愿意想象在他们入住旅馆之前有人在里面待过，更不愿去想那些人在房间里干了些什么，
如果房间干净卫生就谢天谢地了。
可是事实真的如此吗？休斯顿大学的研究者调查了客房的洁净度，揭露了那些最肮脏的地方。
他们分别在印第安纳州、德克萨斯州和南卡莱罗纳州的旅馆客房提取了样品，然后发现其中的电视遥控器和床头灯开关是最脏的，
厕所、洗手池和保洁员手推车里的物品也是细菌量较高的地方，
研究人员认为最大的威胁来自保洁员的拖把和海绵，因为它们可能造成各房间的交叉污染，
而床头板和浴室门把手等地方是最干净的。
大学生Katie Kirsch这周在美国微生物学会的全体大会上提交了研究结果，值得注意的是，他们只在每个州的三家旅馆进行了调查，样本太少所以数据有一定限制。
他们在每间房取19个相同的地方进行有氧大肠菌群测试，
他们没有进行传染病测试，因为这里的细菌不大会引发健康威胁，
事实也确实如此，我们每天都和细菌生活在一起。
总的来说，Kirsch认为旅馆老板把环境卫生维持在一个较高的标准，
但是包括普渡大学和南卡莱罗纳大学在内的一些研究人员担心旅馆没有一个通用的保洁程序，
卫生标准的高低很大程度上取决于个别管家的警觉性，
所以他们建议采用“危害分析和关键环节控制点”这种预防方法来减少物理、化学和生物方面的威胁，
HACCP由美国宇航局NASA起草，起初是用来确保航天员的食品安全，
后来被各个行业广泛采用。
打扫旅馆房间是一件很复杂的事吗？
好旅馆会在整洁方面很重视自己的名声，并且人们很容易在网上发现那些较脏的旅馆。
一些重视清洁的偏执狂已经上升到打造无菌生活的层面，但这样会削弱他们的免疫系统使他们更容易生病，
所以在蟑螂出没的汽车旅馆度过一个不平凡的夜晚甚至可能对某些人更有益处。
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词汇解析：
1.let alone 不理，不管
Protecting the air, let alone improving it, is
a challenge.
别说要改善空气了，现在就是保护它也很难。
The central government has struggled to count
this debt, let alone control it.
对此中央政府连贷款金额都无法汇总，更别说对贷款进行调控。
2.live with 与…一起生活
I think she went to live with our grandmother.
我想她是去和祖母一起住了吧。
Do you live with someone?
你和什么人住在一起吗？
3.adopt by 采用
The compensation commission of the people's
court shall adopt by way of written examination to handle a compensation claim.
人民法院赔偿委员会处理赔偿请求,采取书面审查的办法。
The segregation that the person that has
osculatory history with sars patient wants 2 weeks to adopt by a definite date
commonly observes.
与非典型肺炎病人有接触史的人一般要通过为期2周的隔离观察。