洗碗机，有没有必要？

我们应该为约瑟芬·科克伦竖立一尊雕像，如果不是这位伟大的女性，我们所有人都得用手洗碗。用手洗碗不仅让人感觉不好，而且也不是很卫生——洗碗机能够更有效地清除餐具上的细菌。这些我们稍后再谈，我们先来讲讲这位厨房里的女主人公。

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.

科克伦一直过着富裕的生活，喜欢宴请她的朋友。某一次聚会后，她的佣人在洗碗时打碎了她家里17世纪的瓷器。科克伦对此很心痛，于是开始亲自洗碗。但是她很讨厌洗碗，她想知道为什么有人没有发明一种机器来让洗碗变得更容易。1886年，她通过改进乔尔·霍顿在1850年设计的洗碗机，建造出了第一台实用的洗碗。

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.

霍顿的装置是手摇式的，只是往那些脏盘子上泼水。科克伦的洗碗机更加先进，其中有一个马达，能够将锅炉里的热肥皂水输送到盘子上。科克伦花了一段时间才让她的洗碗机进入人们的视野，但是在那之后，人们立刻喜欢上了这一发明。

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."

虽然科克伦发明了洗碗机，但她并不知道洗碗机要更加卫生。如今的洗碗机都使用滚烫的热水、高科技喷嘴以及其他功能来清洗盘子上的污垢和细菌。与其相比，手洗还差得远呢!正如《华盛顿邮报》指出的那样，我们的手根本无法承受60摄氏度左右的水温，而许多洗碗机正是用这一温度的热水来清洁餐具。

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厨房里最可怕、最恶心的东西。科学家们在家庭厨房的抹布上发现了近400种不同的细菌，其密度是一个天文数字——约为450亿/cm2。讨厌!

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.

科学家们表示，使用洗碗机不仅更健康，而且可以节省时间、金钱、水。根据美国环境保护署和美国能源部的数据，新型的能源之星牌洗碗机与手洗相比，每年可以节约18000升的水。