考研英语阅读素材：美国为何公厕奇少?

今天给大家带来的内容是：美国为何公厕奇少?

(本文选自《经济学人》20201212期)

背景介绍：

去年，《经济学人》的一篇文章讲到了在英国上厕所有多难。英国的公共厕所大都收费，而像咖啡馆、餐厅、酒吧之类场所的厕所一般会设有密码，仅供顾客方便。但其实除了欧洲外，你想在美国街头上个厕所也是一件不太容易的事情。

Public Toilets

公共厕所

America is suffering from a lack of public toilets

美国正饱受公厕短缺之苦

Yesterday’s outrage often slips away quietly. In 2016 a North Carolina law requiring transgender people to use the toilet of their birth sex upset the nation’s stomach. Companies pulled out of ventures in the state, sports leagues called off games and rock stars cancelled concerts.

往日的愤怒总是会随时间的流逝而消散。2016年，北卡罗来纳州颁布了一项法律，要求跨性别者按照出生时的性别如厕，这让人们感到不适。一些公司撤出了在该州的投资，体育联盟取消了原计划在该州举行的比赛，摇滚明星取消了原计划在该州举办的音乐会。

The law was repealed and replaced with one which prevented state and local agencies from regulating who uses which toilet in public buildings, but barred local governments from passing non-discrimination laws blocking private businesses from doing the same. On December 1st that ban expired, meaning that local governments in North Carolina can enact legislation to prevent discrimination against LGBT people.

随后，该法案遭到废除，取而代之的是一项禁止州政府及地方政府规定公厕中谁应该上哪边的新法案，同时该法案还禁止地方政府通过非歧视法律来阻止私营企业这么做。12月1日，随着该禁令到期，北卡罗来纳州地方政府终于可以通过立法来防止跨性别人群受到歧视。

Thus closes another chapter in the politics of the toilet. The story is a long one. In the 1950s and 60s civil-rights protesters decried “whites only” latrines. An Oakland assemblywoman, Margaret Fong Eu, took a sledgehammer to a toilet wrapped in chains outside the state capitol in 1969 to protest against pay toilets in public buildings, arguing that they placed an undue burden on women because urinals were often free.

厕所政治的另一个篇章就此结束，但故事还很长。上世纪五六十年代，民权示威者对一些厕所“仅供白人使用”表示抗议。1969年，奥克兰女议员玛格丽特·方·尤拿着一柄大锤砸开了州议会大厦外的一个被锁着的厕所，以抗议公厕收费。在她看来，公厕收费给女性带来了额外的负担，因为小便池通常是免费的。

Activists poured fake urine over the steps of Harvard’s Lowell Hall in 1973 demanding “potty parity”, the equitable distribution of male and female toilets. Grip bars in bathrooms were among the demands of the disability protesters who occupied a federal building in San Francisco for 26 days in 1977.

1973年，一些激进分子将假尿泼洒在哈佛大学洛厄尔学堂的台阶上，以要求“厕所平权”，即男女厕所的均等分配。1977年，残疾抗议者占领了旧金山一幢联邦大楼26天，他们的诉求之一就是在厕所里安装扶手杆。

The feminist fight against pay toilets, and a campaign by a student group, the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America, led to many states banning pay toilets in the 1970s. Vandalism and the cost of upkeep shut down many public ones.

上世纪七十年代，女权主义者开始与收费公厕作斗争，与此同时，学生组织“美国收费公厕终结委员会”也发起了一项运动，最终推动许美国多州禁止公厕收费。人们的故意破坏以及高昂的维护费用使得许多公厕被迫关闭。

Discussions about public toilets assume they are still widely available, according to Taunya Lovell Banks, of the University of Maryland, but “free or low-cost public toilets operated by government have largely disappeared”, and access to toilets in government buildings has been reduced since the Oklahoma City Bombing and 9/11.

马里兰大学的陶尼亚·洛弗尔·班克斯说，人们在讨论公厕问题时仍然认为公厕是广泛存在的，但“由政府运营的免费公厕或廉价公厕已经很难找到了”，而且自从俄克拉荷马城爆炸事件及911事件发生以来，政府机构内的厕所几乎都不对外开放了。

So those caught short must duck into a local business and awkwardly ask for relief. “Restrooms are for customers only” signs mean it often takes a penny to spend a penny, creating a barrier to the poor.

因此，那些手头拮据的人在内急时只得尴尬地请临近商户行个方便。“厕所仅供顾客使用”的标识意味着人们想上厕所就必须进店消费，这就给穷人带来了困扰。

Where public urination is criminalised, the homeless may have no option but to risk arrest by going in public places. In some states, this can land them on the sex-offender registry. Closures of toilets during covid-19 have only added to the problem.

在一些将公共场所随地小便视为犯罪的地方，一些无家可归者别无选择，只能冒着被捕的风险就地小便。在一些州，这种行为可能会使他们被列入性犯罪者名单。新冠肺炎疫情期间，更多厕所的关闭进一步加剧了这一问题。

The lack of accessible toilets has public-health consequences. Holding water for too long can lead to urinary-tract infections, and failure to defecate can lead to constipation and haemorrhoids.

无障碍厕所的缺乏会对公共卫生造成影响。长期憋尿会导致尿路感染，排便不畅会导致便秘和痔疮。

This can be difficult for workers who lack easy access to toilets, such as taxi drivers, and disproportionately affects women, who need to go more frequently. No toilets also means no soap. An outbreak of hepatitis A linked to the lack of toilets led to the death of 20 and the hospitalisation of hundreds in San Diego in 2017.

对于出租车司机等职业群体而言，缺乏便利的厕所很让人难受，并且对女性影响更甚，因为她们上厕所的频率更高。没有厕所也就意味着无法洗手。2017年，圣地亚哥就因缺乏厕所爆发了一场甲肝疫情，最终导致20人死亡，数百人住院治疗。

Public toilets are costly to install and maintain, and can attract undesirable behaviour. But spurred on by America’s homelessness crisis, some cities are answering the call. The right to urinate might not be up there with the right to vote, but having it guaranteed would be a relief.

公厕的建造及维护成本高昂，并且还有人故意破坏。但在美国无家可归危机的刺激下，一些城市正在响应号召新建公厕。小便的权利可能不像投票权那么重要，但有了保障就会让人松一口气。

(红色标注词为重难点词汇)

重难点词汇：

outrage [ˈaʊtreɪdʒ] n. 愤慨;暴行;侮辱 vt. 凌辱

decry [dɪˈkraɪ] vt. 责难;谴责;诽谤

sledgehammer [ˈsledʒhæmər] n. 大锤 v. 猛力打 adj. 手下不留情的;强力的

vandalism [ˈvændəlɪzəm] n. 恣意破坏他人(或公共)财产行为

upkeep [ˈʌpkiːp] n. 维持;维修费;保养

awkwardly [ˈɔːkwərdli] adv. 笨拙地;尴尬地

constipation [ˌkɑːnstɪˈpeɪʃn] n. 便秘

haemorrhoids [ˈhemərɔɪdz] n. 痔疾