The contents of a woman's handbag have long remained a mystery to men around the world.
全球各地的男性都好奇女生的手提包里裝了些什么。

But the truth is a lot dirtier than one could ever have imagined.
但真相卻比任何人想象的都要“臟”得多。

German research found 10,000 different bacteria are present in just a few square centimetres of handbag, making it dirtier than your average toilet seat.
德國一項研究顯示，手提包里面僅僅幾平方厘米的面積里，就生活著約1萬種不同的細菌，臟的程度甚至超過一般的馬桶座圈。

So how does your bag get so disgustingly filthy?
那么你的包包是如何變得如此骯臟，讓人厭惡的呢？

The Herald Sun spoke with My Bag Spa owner Alex How from Melbourne, who has found food scraps, rubbish and even dog or cat urine in handbags.
《先驅太陽報》采訪了“包包水療”的店主，來自墨爾本的亞歷克斯-豪，他在女性手提包里發現過食品殘渣、垃圾甚至貓狗的尿液。

'Dog and cat pee are the worst and we have to wear gloves and a mask to remove those smells or else our skin starts to itch,' Mr How said.
豪先生說，“貓狗的尿液是最糟糕的情況，我們不得不帶上手套和口罩來清除異味，否則皮膚會開始發癢。”

'Some bag users put rubbish in their bag and totally forget about it.
“一些包包的主人把垃圾放在包里，之后完全忘了這回事?！?/p>

'Wine, all sorts of food scraps and sauces and cigarettes are things that build up over years. It can be quite ugly when the bags come in for service.'
“這些年，我們在手提包里發現的酒漬、各種食物殘渣和醬汁、以及香煙等物品越來越多。這些手提包送來接受服務時實在太難看了。

The bacteria from your hands can also contaminate your bag's lining, with much of the dirt trapped between the lining and the leather exterior.
手上的細菌也會污染手提包的襯里，大部分污物夾在襯里和外皮之間。

The Herald Sun spoke with online cleaning agent Helpling partner manager Roxanna Pelka, who said handbags are dirtier than your average toilet, as toilets are cleaned more regularly.
《先驅太陽報》還采訪了在線家政服務提供商Helpling的商戶經理洛克珊娜-佩爾卡，她說手提包比一般的馬桶要臟，因為人們更經常地清潔馬桶。

She quoted the Science World Report 2013 that revealed handbags have about ten times the amount of microbial activity than a toilet seat.
她引述《2013年科學世界報告》的話說，手提包上的微生物活性大約是馬桶座圈上的10倍。

But not all handbags are rife with bacteria, with a bag's quality mainly dependent on the user.
但并非所有的手提包都遍布細菌，手提包的質量主要取決于主人。

Vocabulary

lining: 襯里，內層
microbial activity：微生物活性

英文來源：每日郵報

翻譯&編審：yaning