洗碗機，有沒有必要？

我們應該為約瑟芬·科克倫豎立一尊雕像，如果不是這位偉大的女性，我們所有人都得用手洗碗。用手洗碗不僅讓人感覺不好，而且也不是很衛(wèi)生——洗碗機能夠更有效地清除餐具上的細菌。這些我們稍后再談，我們先來講講這位廚房里的女主人公。

Cochrane lived a well-heeled life and loved to entertain her many friends. Over the course of time, her household servants had chipped their fair share of the family's 17th-century china. Frustrated, Cochrane began washing the dishes herself, a task she hated. She wondered why someone hadn't invented a machine to make it easier. In 1886, she took matters into her own dishpan hands and built the first practical dishwasher, improving on an 1850 design by some guy named Joel Houghton.

科克倫一直過著富裕的生活，喜歡宴請她的朋友。某一次聚會后，她的傭人在洗碗時打碎了她家里17世紀的瓷器?？瓶藗悓Υ撕苄耐?，于是開始親自洗碗。但是她很討厭洗碗，她想知道為什么有人沒有發(fā)明一種機器來讓洗碗變得更容易。1886年，她通過改進喬爾·霍頓在1850年設計的洗碗機，建造出了第一臺實用的洗碗。

Houghton's device was hand-cranked and only splashed water on dirty dishes. Cochrane's washer was more thoughtful. It had a motor that turned a wheel that pumped hot soapy water from a boiler over the dishes. It would take a while for Cochrane's dishwasher to catch on, but when it did, people loved it.

霍頓的裝置是手搖式的，只是往那些臟盤子上潑水。科克倫的洗碗機更加先進，其中有一個馬達，能夠?qū)㈠仩t里的熱肥皂水輸送到盤子上?？瓶藗惢艘欢螘r間才讓她的洗碗機進入人們的視野，但是在那之后，人們立刻喜歡上了這一發(fā)明。

What Cochrane didn't know was that hand-washing dishes was less sanitary than cycling them through the dishwasher. Today's dishwashers use scalding hot water, high-tech spray nozzles, and other features to cleanse dishes and rid them of germs and bacteria. Handwashing doesn't even come close. That's because our hands, as The Washington Post points out, cannot withstand the "140 or 145 degrees Fahrenheit [60 to 62 degrees Celsius] — that many dishwashers use to get stuff really clean."

雖然科克倫發(fā)明了洗碗機，但她并不知道洗碗機要更加衛(wèi)生。如今的洗碗機都使用滾燙的熱水、高科技噴嘴以及其他功能來清洗盤子上的污垢和細菌。與其相比，手洗還差得遠呢!正如《華盛頓郵報》指出的那樣，我們的手根本無法承受60攝氏度左右的水溫，而許多洗碗機正是用這一溫度的熱水來清潔餐具。

Moreover, the sponge a person uses is a cesspool of some of the most awful, sickening creatures in your kitchen. Scientists have found nearly 400 different species of bacteria on household kitchen sponges. The density is astronomical — around 45 billion per square centimeter. Yuck!

此外，洗碗所使用的抹布是廚房里最可怕、最惡心的東西?？茖W家們在家庭廚房的抹布上發(fā)現(xiàn)了近400種不同的細菌，其密度是一個天文數(shù)字——約為450億/cm2。討厭!

Experts say using a dishwasher is not only healthier, but it will save you time, money, water and energy. According to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, new ENERGY STAR dishwashers use less energy and water — 5,000 gallons a year — than handwashing.

科學家們表示，使用洗碗機不僅更健康，而且可以節(jié)省時間、金錢、水。根據(jù)美國環(huán)境保護署和美國能源部的數(shù)據(jù)，新型的能源之星牌洗碗機與手洗相比，每年可以節(jié)約18000升的水。