手機已經變成人類最親密的夥伴，但是你讀過下面這篇文章後可能永遠也不想用它了。一起來讀這篇有趣的文章，同時熟悉英文裡的倍數、分數以及比較級的說法。

They are pretty much essential, but you may want to ditch your mobile phone for ever after reading this.The average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a flush handle in a men's toilet, tests have revealed.An analysis of handsets found almost a quarter were so dirty that they had up to ten times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria.One of the phones in the test had such high levels of bacteria it could have given its owner a serious stomach upset.

測試報告顯示，一般手機上所攜帶的有害細菌量，是男廁所一個抽水馬桶按紐帶細菌量的18倍。近四分之一的手機都很骯髒，細菌含量高達可接受細菌安全值的十倍。其中一只測試手機細菌攜帶量高到導致使用者出現嚴重腹痛症狀。

While TVC is not immediately harmful, elevated levels indicate poor personal hygiene and act as a breeding ground for other bugs.The findings from a sample of 30 phones by Which? magazine suggest 14.7 million of the 63 million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards.Hygiene expert Jim Francis, who carried out the tests, said: 'The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilising.' The most unhygienic phone had more than ten times the acceptable level of TVC and seven were above the threshold.

（* TVC: 是Total viable count這三個的縮寫，意思是細菌總量。）

儘管這些細菌不會立刻致病，但手機上攜帶的細菌量這麼高表示人們的衛生習慣很糟，而手機也成為細菌滋生的土壤。這項由英國《Which?》雜誌開展的研究共抽樣檢測了30個手機。調查表明，現在英國人使用的6300萬隻手機中，有1470萬隻手機存在健康隱憂。進行手機檢測的衛生專家法蘭西斯說：一個手機上所攜帶的有害細菌量超出了可接受的範圍。這個手機需要消毒了。最髒的手機所攜帶的細菌量是可接受值的十倍多，另外有七隻手機的細菌量超標。

This worst handset also had 39 times the safe level of enterobacteria, a group of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of humans and animals and include bugs such as Salmonella. It boasted 170 times the acceptable level of faecal coliforms, which are associated with human waste. Other bacteria including food poisoning bugs e.coli and staphylococcus aureus were found on the phones but at safe levels. Which? researcher Ceri Stanaway said: 'Most phones didn't have any immediately harmful bacteria that would make you sick straight away but they were grubbier than they could be.

這只最髒的手機所攜帶的腸桿菌量是安全值的39倍。腸桿菌是存活於人體和動物小腸內的細菌，如沙門氏桿菌。這只手機所攜帶的糞大腸菌比可接受值高出170倍。糞大腸菌是一種存在於人體糞便中的細菌。在手機上發現的細菌還包括可引起食物中毒的大腸桿菌和黃金葡萄球菌，但這些細菌的量都在安全範圍值以內。《Which?》雜誌說：大部分手機所攜帶的細菌不會立刻讓你生病，但它們可比想像中的要髒多了。