托福閱讀材料：在自然中生長的孩子更健康

Many experts advise common sense. "We don't want to say to children, 'OK, play by the dirty river bank and catch whatever you can, but we can say there's nothing wrong with kids playing in the dirt. They don't have to live in total sanitation, and they won't die from eating something off the floor. It's probably more healthy than not."

許多專家建議人們憑常識辦事。“我們不會對孩子們說：‘好，去骯臟的河邊玩吧，想抓什么就抓什么。但可以這樣講，小孩子玩泥巴沒什么大不了的，他們不必生活在完全干凈的環(huán)境中，也不會因為吃掉到地上的　東西就死掉。這樣說不定會使他們更健康。”

On a small family farm in Mongolia, a rooster struts around little Bayar's bed, a goat drinks from his bathwater and livestock serve as babysitters.

在蒙古國一個家庭小農場里，一只大公雞在小小的巴亞爾的床邊來回踱步，一只山羊過來喝他的洗澡水，周圍的家畜就是照料他的保姆。

By contrast, Mari, growing up in high-rise, high-tech Tokyo, and Hattie, whose doting parents live a "green" lifestyle in San Francisco, both have modern conveniences and sanitation.

與此形成鮮明對比的是，瑪麗出生在高樓林立的科技之城東京，海蒂的父母將其視為掌上明珠，在舊金山過著“綠色”的生活方式，兩個孩子都享受著便捷的現(xiàn)代生活和干凈的衛(wèi)生環(huán)境。

Statistically, Mari and Hattie are healthier. Some 42 out of 1,000 children in Namibia, and 41 out of 1,000 in Mongolia die before their 5th birthday; compared with only 8 in 1,000 in the U.S. and only 4 in Japan.

數(shù)據(jù)顯示，瑪麗和海蒂的身體更健康。在納米比亞，每1000個孩子中約有42個在過五歲生日前夭折，蒙古為41個;而在美國和日本，這一數(shù)字僅為8個和4個。

Yet the upscale urban infants are at higher risk for some health problems -- including allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease -- than the babies in the rural developing world.

不過，城市里的寶寶雖然生活條件優(yōu)越，但與欠發(fā)達國家農村地區(qū)的寶寶相比，患上某些疾病的風險更高，包括過敏癥、哮喘，以及1型糖尿病、多發(fā)性硬化和炎癥性腸病等自身免疫性疾病。

Now, there's research that suggests there may be a way to get the best of both worlds.

現(xiàn)在，有一項研究認為，也許有一種方法可以拉近兩個世界的距離，讓彼此取長補短。

According to the "hygiene hypothesis," first proposed in 1989, exposure to a variety of bacteria, viruses and parasitic worms early in life helps prime a child's immune system, much like sensory experiences program his brain. Without such early instruction, the immune system may go haywire and overreact with allergies to foods, pollen and pet dander or turn on the body's own tissue, setting off autoimmune disorders.

根據(jù)1989年首次提出的“衛(wèi)生假說” (hygiene hypothesis)理論，孩子在成長早期如果接觸多種病毒、細菌和寄生蟲，將有利于其免疫系統(tǒng)的發(fā)展，似乎這樣能促進大腦對其做出更好的防御準備。反之，如果缺乏這類早期接觸，免疫系統(tǒng)就可能出現(xiàn)紊亂，做出過激反應，如對食物、花粉和寵物毛屑過敏等，或者引發(fā)人體機理問題，出現(xiàn)自身免疫失調。

Many of these microorganisms evolved symbiotically with humans over millions of years--the so-called "old friends" theory. But where they've been eradicated, a key part of human development has been thrown off.

數(shù)百萬年以來，許多微生物與人類形成一種共生共棲的關系，就像我們的“老朋友”一樣;如果我們將某種微生物連根拔除，就等于錯過了人體進化歷程中的一個關鍵環(huán)節(jié)。

"The vast majority of microbes are harmless. There are only a few dozen that can cause lethal infections," says Thomas McDade, director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.

“絕大多數(shù)微生物都是無害的，只有幾十種微生物會引發(fā)致命感染。”美國西北大學人體生物研究實驗室主任麥克·戴德說道。

There are other dangers lurking in muddy water and animal feces. Nearly 70% of the 8.8 million deaths of children under age 5 world-wide in 2008 were caused by infectious diseases, most frequently pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, according to an analysis in the Lancet last week.

但臟水和動物排泄物也潛藏著其他一些危險。英國醫(yī)學雜志《柳葉刀》2010年五月中旬發(fā)表的一篇分析報告稱，在2008年全球880萬5歲前夭折的孩子中，有近70%死于感染性疾病，最常見的是肺炎、痢疾和瘧疾。

Scientists are still working on ways to separate good germs from bad ones; in the meantime, they have a few insights: Studies have shown that children who grow up with household pets have fewer allergies and less asthma than those who don't.

科學家仍在尋找辦法把好的微生物與壞的微生物區(qū)分開來，在此過程中，他們有了幾點深入發(fā)現(xiàn)。研究表明，從小和家庭寵物一起長大的孩子患過敏癥和哮喘病的幾率較低。

Michael Bell, an infectious disease specialist and deputy director of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that people should be vigilant about wound care since bacteria can cause problems if they get into the blood stream, and he still advocates hand-washing. "If you're not doing it 10 times a day, you're probably not doing it enough," he says.

美國疾病控制與預防中心醫(yī)療質量改進部副主任及感染病專家貝爾說，人們應該警惕傷口感染，因為一旦病毒侵入血液，就會造成各種問題。他還是提倡人們勤洗手。“一天至少要洗10次手。”貝爾說。

But he and other experts say that regular soap and water are fine in most cases. Sterilizing hands is critical mainly for health-care workers and in hospitals, where disease-causing germs are prevalent and can easily spread.

不過，他和其他一些專家表示，在大多數(shù)情況下，洗手用普通的肥皂和水就行了。手部消毒主要適用于醫(yī)療工作者以及醫(yī)院場所內，因為醫(yī)院里的致病微生物較多，而且容易傳播開來。