Development discussions should include serious potty talk 谈发展不应排除如厕问题

Bill Gates lifted up a vile of human feces before a crowd in Beijing recently.
近日，比尔?盖茨在北京一大群人面前举起了一罐令人恶心的人体排泄物。
“A decade ago, I didn’t think I would be able to tell you so much about poop,” he said.
他说：“十年前，我从未想过自己会讲述这么多跟粪便有关的东西。”
Indeed, any serious discussion about development must include potty talk.
其实，任何有关发展的严肃讨论都不该把如厕问题拒之门外。
One of Earth’s wealthiest people held up a glass container of waste partly to point out how the fact that — despite its planetary significance — the taboo surrounding discussions about toilets has contributed to the reality that more than half of humans still lack sanitation access.
这位世界财富榜上的名人手握一罐粪便，他在一定程度上指出了以下事实：尽管对于厕所的讨论对于地球大有裨益，但人们始终忌讳谈论这些，从而导致了世界上一半以上的人没有清洁卫生的厕所可用。
This not only costs an estimated $223 billion in lost productivity and wages a year globally, as he pointed out. It contributes to the deaths of over a half a million children under age 5 every year, and mass malnutrition.
正如比尔?盖茨所说，这不仅造成每年全球2230亿美元的生产力和工资损失，而且还会导致每年50多万5岁以下孩童死亡，也造成大量孩子营养不良。
Gates pointed out the sample he held up at the Reinvented Toilet Expo hosted about 200 trillion rota virus particles, 20 billion shigella bacteria and 100,000 parasitic worm eggs, among other pathogens.
比尔?盖茨指出，他在新世代厕所博览会中所持的样本有200万亿轮状病毒粒子，200亿志贺式杆菌和10万种场内寄生虫卵，以及其致病菌。
Urbanization and water scarcity mean the disease problem is likely to accelerate, he believes.
他认为，城市化和水荒意味着疾病问题很可能加速发展。
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had put up $200 million to fund innovators to develop omni processors that kill pathogens and break waste into clean water, electricity and fertilizer on-site. Their innovations were displayed at the expo. Gates pledged another $200 million for the coming years.
比尔及梅琳达盖茨基金会已经提供了2亿美元资助发明家研发万能处理设备，这种设备可以即时消灭致病菌，现场把废物分解成干净的水、电力和肥料。他们的创新设备也在本次博览会中展出。比尔?盖茨承诺，接下来的几年他还会提供2亿美元的资助。
China proved an ideal host for the event, especially since it launched its “toilet revolution” in 2015.
中国是举办这次博览会最理想的东道主，尤其是2015年中国发起了“厕所革命”之后。
“In recent decades, China has made great progress improving health and sanitation for millions of people,” Gates said at the event, about two weeks before World Toilet Day on Nov 19.
这次博览会在11月19日世界厕所日的前两周左右举办，盖茨在博览会中称：“近几十年，中国在提高千万百姓健康水平、升级卫生设备方面取得了巨大进步。”
“President Xi’s ‘toilet revolution’ underscores China’s commitment to accelerating progress on safe sanitation. And China has an opportunity to help launch a new category of innovative non-sewer sanitation solutions that will benefit millions of people worldwide.”
“习主席的‘厕所革命’强调了中国加速发展安全卫生设备的承诺。而且，中国有机会加快推出一种创新型的非下水道卫生解决方案，这将惠及全球数百万人。
I’ve seen much progress in sanitary toilets during my 12 years in China, during which I’ve covered poverty.
在中国的12年间，我见证了中国在厕所卫生方面取得的巨大进步，这种进步也能在贫困地区看到。
I’ve often had to relieve myself in the open on these trips. I’ve used hundreds of latrines without running water.
去这些地方的时候，我经常得在户外解决生理问题。我用过数百个公共厕所，这些厕所都没有水冲。
Perhaps the most memorable “toilet” was a tire on a frame of four boards stuck in the crotch of a tree suspended just over the edge of a cliff in Guizhou province. I had to overcome my fear of heights.
最令人难忘的“厕所”可能是在贵州那次，一个轮胎架在四块板子上，板子嵌在树杈上，这棵树就在悬崖边。上厕所的同时我还得克服恐高心理。
Yege township’s primary school in Qinghai province’s Yushu got its first latrine about two years after I started a volunteer initiative there in 2011.
2011年，我在青海省玉树耶格镇的一所小学发起志愿项目，大概两年后，该小学建起了第一间厕所。
It’s a roofed, brick structure on stilts with concrete troughs that empty into the ground below.
这个踩着高跷的厕所有屋顶，由砖砌成，下方是混凝土槽通往地下。
A problem was that townspeople also used it as a garbage dump. The disposal of kitchen waste and the leftovers of slaughters— it’s a nomadic herding community — brought feral mastiffs and wild bears.
问题是镇上的人把这个厕所当垃圾场用了。这里是游牧群落，厨余垃圾、屠宰残余会引来凶猛的敖和野熊。
Children weren’t allowed to use the facilities after sundown for fear of animal attacks.But herders now dispose of their waste properly, alleviating the wildlife conflict.
唯恐遭到这些野兽的袭击，孩子们禁止在太阳落山后使用厕所。但现在牧人合理地处理垃圾，缓和了居民与野生动物之间的冲突。
The feral dogs, wild animals and livestock mean there’s also an abundance of nonhuman feces in these communities.
镇上有野狗、野生生物以及家畜，意味着在这些社区中还有大量的动物排泄物。
This summer, I joined them to harvest yak dung used for heating and cooking. Washing my hands afterward was difficult, not only because of the absence of running water, but also because of the fresh excrement’s consistency. It was like glue plastered to my fingers and palms, no matter how ferociously I scrubbed. (That’s without the benefit of soap, I might add.)
今年夏天我与游牧人一起收集牛粪，牛粪可用于供暖、煮饭。之后洗手却成了件难事，不仅因为没有自来水，而且还因为新鲜牛粪粘度很强。不管我怎么用力地擦拭，它就好像胶水一样沾满了我的手指以及整个手掌。（多说一句，那时可没有肥皂可用）
Fevers have claimed the lives of several of the children with whom we worked in the nomadic communities over the years.
在游牧社群劳动的那几年，有几个和我们一起干活的孩子死于高烧。
I can’t say with certainty these fevers were the direct result of a lack of sanitary toilets. But it doesn’t seem unlikely.
我不能说卫生厕所的缺乏直接引起孩子发高烧。但也不是不可能。
So, yes, it’s time for the world to engage in potty talk.
因而，现在是时候让整个世界参与到关于如厕问题的大讨论中来了。