外刊阅读20240803｜贤者时刻消亡史

+

上期划线句答案

+

本期内容

◆

双语阅读

Toilets were one of the biggest steps forward for humanity: they allowed us to create cleaner spaces, reducing death and improving health. By the 19th century, in Western countries, bathrooms with toilets were increasingly included in home design, catering to essential human needs, such as urination , defecation and personal cleaning. With the emergence of new hygiene standards through the 20th century, the focus of bathrooms shifted further towards convenience and cleanliness. In contemporary times, the role of domestic bathrooms has expanded beyond their practical utility to symbolise places of wellbeing, with more affluent homes including features such as hot tubs and toilets with hi-tech and luxury functions. And yet , the vast majority of public restrooms have not yet embraced this aspect of wellbeing.

For many people, most of the time , the state of restrooms is something they think about only when they fail, if they are unusable or unavailable, or there simply aren’t any. Yet toilets often fail when you need them the most. And it’s in such moments you realise that these invisible parts of our cities are fundamental. So, why are restrooms typically tucked away at the back of establishments, hidden both literally and metaphorically ? We all must keep in mind that the use of public bathrooms is inevitable, and that making them accessible and appropriate is a matter of human dignity.

The toilet problem has two differentiable branches. The first is the global sanitation crisis in developing countries and in extreme situations such as refugee camps , which provokes disease and death. The second branch pertains to the problems in developed countries, causing issues in daily life and negatively impacting quality of life. Lack of access to toilets is a silent global burden: people die as disease spreads due to the lack of sanitation.

Worldwide, the World Bank highlights three critical facts: a quarter of the world’s population lacks access to decent toilets, only 39 per cent of human waste is safely managed worldwide, and the global cost of inadequate sanitation reaches $260 billion annually. These facts emphasise the severe health, economic and environmental impacts of inadequate sanitation. Lack of access to toilets is a silent global burden: people die as disease spreads due to the lack of sanitation.