雙語囧研究 愛摳鼻屎說明你懶惰
Poking around inside our nostrils is disgusting, unhygienic and potentially harmful, so it’s baffling that it’s as common as it is?
在鼻孔裏捅來捅去聽起來真噁心，既不衛生也不安全，真是很奇怪爲什麼摳鼻子會那麼流行。Most of us do it, but few of us will admit to it. If we get caught red-handed, we experience shame and regret. And we tend to frown upon others when they do it in public. I'm talking, of course, about reaching up into your nostrils with a finger in an effort to scrape out snot. Would anybody ever decide to see what snot tastes like?
這是一件很多都會做但鮮少有人承認的事。如果哪天你被當場抓住，那肯定是又尷尬又羞愧。而且如果我們看見別人在公開摳鼻，也會拋過去一個白眼。我說的摳鼻是指：伸出一個手指，捅進鼻孔，把鼻涕等物什從鼻孔裏掏出來。難道有人會想要嚐嚐鼻涕的滋味嗎？The formal medical term used to describe the act of picking one's nose is “rhinotillexomania”. The first systematic scientific study of the phenomenon may have been undertaken as recently as 1995, by a pair of US researchers named Thompson and Jefferson. They sent a survey by mail to 1,000 adult residents of Dane County, Wisconsin。
摳鼻的醫學術語是“rhinotillexomania”(摳鼻子)，對它的系統研究可能也就從1995年美國科研人員湯普森和傑弗遜的研究開始。他們向威斯康辛州戴恩縣的1000名成年人發送了調查問卷郵件。
Of the 254 that responded, a whopping 91% of their respondents confessed to picking their noses, while only 1.2% could admit to doing it at least once each hour. Two subjects indicated that their nasal mining habits interfered with their daily lives (moderately to markedly). And, to their surprise, two other people reported so much nose picking that they had actually picked a hole right through their nasal septum, the thin tissue that separates the left and right nostrils。
在254份有效問卷中，高達91%的人承認他們有摳鼻屎的習慣，其中1.2%的人平均每小時都要摳一次。兩位受試者指出，他們的“挖礦”事業已經逐漸妨礙到日常生活了。更神奇的是，另外兩位受試者說，他們因爲挖得太起勁，直接把鼻中隔(左右鼻孔中間相隔的地方)挖了個洞！Nose for danger
挖鼻屎也有危險In a 2006 study, a group of Dutch researchers found that nose picking can help bacterial infections get around. They discovered that nose pickers at an ear, nose, and throat clinic were more likely to carry Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in their noses than non-pickers。
在2006年的一份研究中，一組荷蘭科研人員發現，摳鼻習慣會增加細菌感染的危險。他們發現在耳鼻喉科的臨牀中，習慣摳鼻的人感染金黃葡萄球菌的機率更高。So, given all these risks, and the potential for provoking disgust in other people, why do we still do it? There are no clear answers, but as Tom Stafford wrote recently about nail-biting, perhaps it’s a combination of the simple satisfaction we derive from ‘tidying-up’ and the fact that our nose is within easy reach all the time – in other words, we pick it ‘because it’s there’。
既然有那麼多風險，還可能收到更多白眼，我們爲什麼還堅持摳鼻呢？答案還是不清楚，根據湯姆·斯塔福最近關於咬指甲癖的文章，也許習慣摳鼻只是我們從清潔身體上獲得了單純的快感，而且鼻子恰巧又長在容易夠着的地方。換句話說就是，“不摳白不摳”。Or perhaps nose picking is just evidence of laziness. Fingers, after all, are never in short supply when you feel the urge to clear your nostrils. Which is more than can be said about a box of tissues。
愛摳鼻也可能只說明你懶惰。當鼻子感覺想被摳一摳時，用一根手指解決，總比到處找紙巾要來得方便。It's gratifying to know that some researchers are still trying to understand the reasons we pick our noses and the consequences that arise from it。
而且，單知道還有這麼多人在努力研究我們摳鼻的原因和後果，想想還是蠻高興的。
