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Fighting a natural reflex
为什么我们改不掉用手摸脸的习惯？
We touch our faces all the time, and it has never seemed to be a big problem – until COVID-19 arrived. Touching our faces – the "T-zone" of our eyes, nose and mouth in particular – can mean giving ourselves the deadly virus.
我们总是在用手摸脸，似乎这也从来不是个大问题——直至新冠病毒的出现。摸脸——特别是眼睛、口鼻所在的“T区”——或许能让我们感染这种致命的病毒。
This is why organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have suggested that we avoid touching our faces. "Just stop this simple behavior," William Sawyer, founder of Henry the Hand, a nonprofit organization that promotes hand hygiene, told The Washington Post. "It's the one behavior that would be better than any vaccine ever created."
这便是疾病预防控制中心等组织建议大家不要摸脸的原因。“别做这个简单的动作，”宣传手部卫生的非盈利组织“Henry the Hand”的发起人威廉·索耶在接受《华盛顿邮报》采访时如此表示。“这样做（不摸脸）比研发出来的任何一种疫苗都有效。”
Yet, stopping this "simple" behavior might be harder than you think because it's already hardwired into our system.
然而，不做这个“简单”的动作或许比你想象中要难，因为这个动作早已固定存在于身体系统之中。
Some face touching is an automatic reflex – like when there is an itch on your nose, you'll scratch it without thinking. According to CNBC, a 2014 study found that touching your face also helps reduce stress and regulate emotions. For example, you're more likely to do it when you feel awkward or embarrassed. According to Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California Berkeley, US, this action may also come with a social function: When you are talking to someone and want to change the subject, for example, touching your face is like "the curtains on a stage, closing up one act of the social drama, ushering in the next," Keltner told the BBC.
一些摸脸的动作是自然反射行为——比如，当你觉得鼻子有点痒时，你就会不自觉地去挠一挠。据美国全国广播公司财经频道报道，一项2014年的研究发现，摸脸也有助于减少压力、调节情绪。比如，你在感到尴尬不安时，往往更容易做这个动作。美国加州大学伯克利分校的心理学家达契尔·凯尔特纳认为，这个动作或许也具备社交功能：比如，你在和某人交谈时想要换个话题，摸脸的动作就像是“舞台上的幕布落下，社交戏剧的一幕结束，即将开始下一幕，”凯尔特纳在接受英国广播公司采访时如此表示。
Moreover, face-touching in almost all of these occasions is subconscious, which means it's very hard to change "because you don't even know you're doing it", said Sawyer.
此外，摸脸的动作在上述的所有场合中几乎都是下意识的，意味着这点很难改，“因为你甚至都没发觉自己在做这个动作，”索耶表示。
But you're not alone. In a 2015 study, where a group of medical students were filmed in class, it was found that they touched their faces an average of 23 times an hour – with 44 percent of the touches being in the "T-zones". That was particularly surprising since medical students were supposed to know better.
但会这么做的并非只有你一人。一项2015年的研究记录了班级中一组医学生的行为，发现医学生们平均每小时摸脸23次——其中有44%的人触碰了“T区”。这一发现令人尤为意外，因为医学生们理应有着更好的卫生常识。
Since it's so hard to shake the habit, maybe the easiest way is to wash our hands more often. This way, we can be sure that our hands are free from the novel coronavirus.
既然这个习惯很难改正，或许最简单的方法便是更加频繁地洗手。这么一来，我们就能确保手上不会有新冠病毒了。
