Poking around inside our?nostrils is disgusting, unhygienic and potentially harmful, so it’s baffling that it’s as common as it is?
在鼻孔里捅來捅去聽起來真惡心，既不衛(wèi)生也不安全，真是很奇怪為什么摳鼻子會那么流行。

Most of us do it, but few of us will admit to it. If we get caught red-handed, we experience shame and regret. And we tend to frown upon others when they do it in public. I'm talking, of course, about reaching up into your nostrils with a finger in an effort to scrape out snot. Would anybody ever decide to see what snot tastes like?
這是一件很多都會做但鮮少有人承認(rèn)的事。如果哪天你被當(dāng)場抓住，那肯定是又尷尬又羞愧。而且如果我們看見別人在公開摳鼻，也會拋過去一個白眼。我說的摳鼻是指：伸出一個手指，捅進(jìn)鼻孔，把鼻涕等物什從鼻孔里掏出來。難道有人會想要嘗嘗鼻涕的滋味嗎？

The formal medical term used to describe the act of picking one's nose is “rhinotillexomania”. The first systematic scientific study of the phenomenon may have been undertaken as recently as 1995, by a pair of US researchers named Thompson and Jefferson. They sent a survey by mail to 1,000 adult residents of Dane County, Wisconsin.
摳鼻的醫(yī)學(xué)術(shù)語是“rhinotillexomania”（摳鼻子），對它的系統(tǒng)研究可能也就從1995年美國科研人員湯普森和杰弗遜的研究開始。他們向威斯康辛州戴恩縣的1000名成年人發(fā)送了調(diào)查問卷郵件。

Of the 254 that responded, a whopping 91% of their respondents confessed to picking their noses, while only 1.2% could admit to doing it at least once each hour. Two subjects indicated that their nasal mining habits interfered with their daily lives (moderately to markedly). And, to their surprise, two other people reported so much nose picking that they had actually picked a hole right through their nasal septum, the thin tissue that separates the left and right nostrils.
在254份有效問卷中，高達(dá)91%的人承認(rèn)他們有摳鼻屎的習(xí)慣，其中1.2%的人平均每小時都要摳一次。兩位受試者指出，他們的“挖礦”事業(yè)已經(jīng)逐漸妨礙到日常生活了。更神奇的是，另外兩位受試者說，他們因?yàn)橥诘锰饎?，直接把鼻中隔（左右鼻孔中間相隔的地方）挖了個洞！

Nose for danger
挖鼻屎也有危險

In a 2006 study, a group of Dutch researchers found that nose picking can help bacterial infections get around. They discovered that nose pickers at an ear, nose, and throat clinic were more likely to carry Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in their noses than non-pickers.
在2006年的一份研究中，一組荷蘭科研人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，摳鼻習(xí)慣會增加細(xì)菌感染的危險。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)在耳鼻喉科的臨床中，習(xí)慣摳鼻的人感染金黃葡萄球菌的幾率更高。

So, given all these risks, and the potential for provoking disgust in other people, why do we still do it? There are no clear answers, but as Tom Stafford wrote recently about nail-biting, perhaps it’s a combination of the simple satisfaction we derive from ‘tidying-up’ and the fact that our nose is within easy reach all the time – in other words, we pick it ‘because it’s there’.
既然有那么多風(fēng)險，還可能收到更多白眼，我們?yōu)槭裁催€堅持摳鼻呢？答案還是不清楚，根據(jù)湯姆·斯塔福最近關(guān)于咬指甲癖的文章，也許習(xí)慣摳鼻只是我們從清潔身體上獲得了單純的快感，而且鼻子恰巧又長在容易夠著的地方。換句話說就是，“不摳白不摳”。

Or perhaps nose picking is just evidence of laziness. Fingers, after all, are never in short supply when you feel the urge to clear your nostrils. Which is more than can be said about a box of tissues.
愛摳鼻也可能只說明你懶惰。當(dāng)鼻子感覺想被摳一摳時，用一根手指解決，總比到處找紙巾要來得方便。

It's gratifying to know that some researchers are still trying to understand the reasons we pick our noses and the consequences that arise from it.
而且，單知道還有這么多人在努力研究我們摳鼻的原因和后果，想想還是蠻高興的。