澳洲孩童面臨生日蠟燭禁令以防範病菌傳播

Australian Kids Face Birthday Candle Ban to Prevent Spreading Germs

澳洲孩童面臨生日蠟燭禁令以防範病菌傳播

By Charlie Campbell

Australian children are to be banned from blowing out candles (吹蠟燭)

on birthday cakes under new hygiene (衛生) regulations (規定)

that have been slammed (猛烈抨擊) by the Australian Medical Association as “bubble-wrapping.” (氣泡包裝紙，此引申為過度保護)

According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph (澳洲每日電報), the guidelines (守則), set by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC，澳洲國家健康與醫療研究會), instruct (指示、命令) daycare centers (托兒中心) to provide birthday boys and girls with their own individual cupcakes (杯子蛋糕) to blow the candles out, to avoid the spread of germs.

“Children love to blow out their candles while their friends are singing ‘Happy birthday,’” the document (公文) states (陳述、聲明). “To prevent the spread of germs when the child blows out the candles, parents should either provide a separate (個別的) cupcake, with a candle if they wish, for the birthday child and enough cupcakes for all the other children.”

Daycare staff (職員) should also be required (被要求) to clean toys, doorknobs (門把) , floors and cushion covers (抱枕、墊子套) with germ-killing disinfectant (殺菌、消毒劑)

on a daily basis, while youngsters must wash their hands with alcohol-based (以酒精成份為主的) sanitizer (消毒、殺菌劑) before and after playing in sandpits (沙坑), says the NHMRC.

But Australian doctors say the guidelines go too far (太過分、太超過), noting how exposure to (暴露於…) bacteria is essential (必要的) for the development of a healthy immune system (免疫系統).

“If somebody sneezes (打噴嚏) on a cake, I probably don’t want to eat it either — but if you’re blowing out candles, how many organisms (生物、有機體) are transferred (遷移、調動) to a communal (共有的) cake, for goodness’ sake? (看在老天的份上、拜託?!)” AMA president Steve Hambleton told News Ltd.

“It’s normal and healthy to be exposed to a certain amount of environmental antigens (抗原) that build up (增進、組成) our immune systems. If you live in a plastic bubble (塑膠泡泡，意指隔離) you’re going to get infections (傳染病) [later on] that you can’t handle (掌控).”

The NHMRC also urged (催促) parents to allow their children to stay at home if feeling unwell in order to avoid unnecessarily spreading infections to their school classmates. Schools should ignore doctors’ letters that state a pupil is healthy if teachers suspect (懷疑) otherwise (不同樣地), said the council.

在這裡補充一些和文章有關的單字和內容解釋：

Slam:

這個字除了在這篇文章中提到的，對於某人或事件猛烈抨擊外，平常也用來形容猛地關上門、扔、推東西等等，發出”砰！” 一聲的樣子。 另外，籃球比賽中的灌籃(slam dunk)也可以用這個字來表示喔。 美國有一本籃球雜誌就以它作為名稱呢。

bubble-wrapping:

也就是”bubble wrap”的意思。 這種塑膠做成的氣泡包裝紙相信是許多人無聊時的最愛，原因就是壓破它有一種難以言喻的觸感和細微的”波”聲。 通常氣泡包裝紙都用來包覆在貴重或易碎的物品上，在文章裡的意思則是說NHMRC太過保護這些孩童、小題大作。