来源：新东方

家居xx大搜查

You’ve worked hard to make your house a beautiful, peaceful haven – but even super-tidy homes can harbor unwelcome germs. But, not to worry: health.com have tracked down these germs and come up with simple strategies to get rid of them.

你已经非常努力地让你的家成为一个美丽、安宁的庇护所—但即使超级干净的家也会藏匿有讨厌的xx。不过不用担心，“健康”网站已经追踪到这些xx，并想出了一些能够xx它们的简单策略。

1. Kitchen sink, countertop, and sponges
厨房洗涤槽、工作台面和清洁海绵

There are lots of places for germs to hang out in the kitchen, including the drain in your sink, the countertop, and the sponges, rags, scrubbers. But for every germy hot spot in the kitchen, there’s a smart and simple way to clean up.
Simple Fix: After you rinse or cook food, clean the sink, counters, and faucet with soap and water or an antibacterial cleanser. It’s tempting to leave your cleaning implement – a damp rag or sponge – hanging around to use the next day, but that could create a germ breeding ground. Instead, sanitize1 your sponge or brush in the dishwasher and your dishrags in the washing machine. To really disinfect the sink and drain, clean them twice a week with a solution of one tablespoon of bleach and one quart of water: scrub the basin, then pour the solution down the drain.

厨房里有很多地方可供xx栖身，比如洗涤槽里的排水管、工作台面、清洁海绵、抹布和擦洗工具。不过针对厨房里每个经常会有xx的地方，都有一个简单的清洁妙招。
 
简单解决办法：洗完食物或烹饪完食物后，用肥皂和水，或者用xx清洁剂清洗洗涤槽、厨房台面以及水龙头。人们往往将湿抹布、清洁海绵等清洁用品悬挂起来第二天继续使用，不过那样也会使它们成为xx的滋生地。不要那样做，而是将清洁海绵或清洁刷放入洗碗机里xx，将抹布放入洗衣机里清洗。若想要真正为洗涤槽和排水管xx，每周用一汤匙漂白剂和一夸脱(约946毫升)水的混合溶液清洗两次：先擦洗洗涤槽，然后将混合溶液倒入排水管。

2. Your cutting boards
切菜板

Washing your food before eating removes some germs, of course, and cooking meat kills dangerous bacteria like salmonella. And you probably know it’s smart to chop meats and veggies on separate boards. Still, almost 25% of food-sickness outbreaks are the result of kitchen mistakes, such as using contaminated cutting boards.
Simple Fix: If your food doesn’t smell or feel right, throw it out. As for your cutting board, use glass or plastic, both of which are nonporous and most resistant to germs. When you’re done with the board, wash it in hot, soapy water, and then spray it with a mixture of one teaspoon of bleach to 16 ounces of water that you keep in a clearly labeled spray bottle. Finally, rinse the cutting board again with hot water or toss it in the dishwasher. Got a beat-up board? Replace it. Bacteria can hide in a cutting board with lots of knife-cut indentations2.

食物在吃前洗一下当然能够去除一些xx，肉经过烹饪可以杀死沙门氏菌等有害xx。你可能知道切肉和切蔬菜的切菜板{zh0}分开。不过，仍有差不多25%因食物引起的疾病都是由于厨房操作错误造成的，比如使用了被污染的切菜板。
简单解决办法：如果你的食物闻起来或摸上去感觉不对，那么就该扔掉。玻璃或塑料材质的切菜板不会渗漏，预防xx滋生效果{zh0}。用完切菜板后，用热的肥皂水清洗，然后在16盎司(约28毫升)水中加入一茶匙漂白剂，将此混合液倒入一个喷雾瓶中，标识清楚，然后喷些混合液在切菜板上。{zh1}，再次用热水冲洗切菜板，或者将它放入洗碗机里清洗。你的切菜板已经破旧了吗？换掉它。xx可能会隐藏在切菜板上菜刀切破的凹口里。

3. Wet laundry
刚洗好的湿衣服

There’s a tenth of a gram of feces hiding in every pair of underwear, and washing doesn’t always remove it all. That means you can get E. coli on your hands every time you transfer underwear from the washer to the dryer. And a single soiled undergarment can spread those dangerous bacteria to the whole load.

Simple Fix: Think 150 degrees, the temperature at which you should run your washer and dryer, to kill bacteria. Wash underwear separately, and wash whites with bleach, which kills 99.99% of bugs. Transfer wet laundry to the dryer quickly so germs don’t multiply; dry for at least 45 minutes (or until the load is fully dry). Wash your hands after doing laundry, and run a cycle of bleach and water after laundering unmentionables3 to eliminate any lingering germs.

每件内衣上都隐藏着十分之一克排泄物，而洗往往是洗不干净的。那也就是说你每次将内衣从洗衣机放入干衣机时手上都会沾上大肠杆菌。一件脏的内衣会将那些危险的xx传播给整堆衣物。

简单解决办法：洗衣机和干衣机的温度要调到150华氏度(约65.5摄氏度)才能杀死xx。内衣要分开洗，洗白色内衣时加入漂白剂能够杀死99.99%的病菌。将洗好的湿衣服快速放入干衣机里，这样xx才不会繁殖。要至少烘干45分钟(或者直到衣服xx烘干)。洗完衣服后要洗手，并在洗完内衣后，在洗衣机里倒入漂白剂和水运转，以xx内衣留下的xx。

4. Your toothbrush
牙刷

The human mouth contains about 100 million microbes per milliliter of saliva. Those microbes eat the same food you do, and when you brush, food particles and bacteria stick to your toothbrush.

Simple Fix: After brushing, rinse your toothbrush with hot water and stand it up in a water glass to air-dry. Don’t lay it on the counter, where it can gather other bathroom germs, and don’t store it in a travel case, where bacteria can thrive in the moisture. You can even clean your toothbrush in the dishwasher once in a while.

在人类的口中，每毫升唾液含有大约一亿个xx。那些xx和你吃同样的食物，当你刷牙时，食物残渣和xx会粘在你的牙刷上。
简单解决办法：刷完牙后，用热水清洗牙刷，并将刷头朝上放在水杯中风干。不要将牙刷放在浴室台面上，这样会吸收浴室里的其他xx，也不要将牙刷放在旅行用的牙刷盒中，因为潮湿的环境容易滋生xx。你甚至可以偶尔将牙刷放在洗碗机中清洁一下。

5. The bathtub/shower
浴缸/淋浴间

Every time you take a bath or shower, you remove germs and viruses from your body. But all the bad stuff doesn’t conveniently slide down the drain; some of it thrives if those surfaces stay moist.

Simple Fix: Use a disinfecting cleanser once a week on the bathroom floor and sides of the tub and shower; rinse well and dry the surfaces with a towel. Keep the shower dry on a daily basis by using a squeegee4, and disinfect the squeegee weekly, too.

每次你泡澡或淋浴时，都从身上洗掉了xx和病毒。但所有那些脏东西并没有顺带着流入下水道，如果地面是潮湿的，其中一些xx又会死灰复燃。

简单解决办法：每周用xx清洁剂清洗浴室地面、浴缸外侧以及淋浴间，然后用毛巾擦干。每天用刮水器保持淋浴间干爽，每周还要给刮水器xx。

6. Your cell phone and other tech stuff
你的手机以及其他科技产品

The things you touch a zillion times a day – iPhone, BlackBerry, keyboard, computer mouse – are big carriers of germs.
Simple Fix: Clean the surfaces of your phone or other tech devices with a disinfecting product. Any antibacterial wipe will work; just don’t get your sensitive equipment too wet.

你每天碰触无数次的东西—iPhone、黑莓手机、键盘、电脑鼠标—都是xx的集中携带者。
简单解决办法：用xx产品擦拭手机或其他科技产品的表面。任何xx擦拭用品都可以，只要不要把你易损坏的产品弄得太湿就行了。

1. sanitize v. 对…作为省处理，给…xx。
2. indentation n. 凹口，凹陷。
3. unmentionable n. 内衣，裤子。
4. squeegee n. 刮水器。