隨著新冠肺炎疫情在全球蔓延，多個國家出現(xiàn)了衛(wèi)生紙搶購風潮。至于人們?yōu)樯稌谛l(wèi)生紙，目前也沒人能解釋清楚。不過，這倒是激起了我們的好奇心，在沒有衛(wèi)生紙的古代，人們是怎么解決如廁衛(wèi)生問題的呢？

Using the bathroom has come a long way from when ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay for personal hygiene. Toilet paper is one of those things that often gets taken for granted in modern times. This is definitely one of those unavoidable things in life, so through many centuries and in many cultures, everyone had their own method of staying clean.

從古希臘人用石頭和粘土塊作為個人衛(wèi)生用品到今天的洗手間，這中間有很長的發(fā)展歷程。現(xiàn)代人理所當然地認為如廁就應該用衛(wèi)生紙。這絕對是生活中不可缺少的東西之一。許多世紀以來，不同文化的人都有自己保持清潔的方法。

Ancient Romans were a bit more sophisticated than the Greeks when it came to cleansing: They opted for a sponge on the end of a long stick that was shared by everyone in the community. When not in use, that stick stayed in a bucket of heavily salted seawater in the communal bathroom. The public facilities were also equipped with a long marble bench with holes carved out for—well, you know what they were carved out for—and holes at the front for your sponge-on-a-stick to slide through. Romans didn’t have dividing walls, either

古羅馬人在清潔方面比古希臘人更先進一些：他們選擇用綁在長棍末端上的海綿來保持衛(wèi)生，社區(qū)內的所有人都共享這一衛(wèi)生用品。沒人用的時候，就把棍子浸泡在公共洗手間里的一桶濃鹽海水中。公共洗手間里還配備了一把大理石長凳，凳子上挖了一個個洞——你知道這些洞是用來干什么的——前面的洞可以伸進帶海綿的長棍。而且，古羅馬人如廁時沒有分隔墻。

Around 1391, during the Song Dynasty, a Chinese emperor decreed that large 2-foot-by-3-foot paper sheets must be made for his toilet time. Until then, people in China just used random paper products.

大約在1391年，中國的宋代時期，一位中國皇帝下令為其制作寬2英尺長3英尺（60厘米乘90厘米）的大張衛(wèi)生紙。在那以前，中國人如廁用的紙都很隨意。

In colonial America, things weren’t much more advanced. After settlers left Great Britain for the colonies, the best things they could find were corncobs. Ouch. It wasn’t until later that they realized they could use old newspapers and catalogs. In fact, the reason there was a hole through the corner of the Old Farmer’s Almanac was so people would be able to hang it on a hook in their outhouses.

在殖民時期的美國，如廁用品也沒有先進到哪里去。在移民者離開英國前往殖民地后，他們能找到的最好的如廁用品是玉米棒子。用起來一定很疼。直到后來他們才意識到可以用舊報紙和目錄冊。事實上，《老農民年鑒》的邊角上之所以有一個孔其實是為了方便人們將其掛在屋外廁所的掛鉤上。

Even though Queen Elizabeth I’s godson invented one of the first flush toilets in 1596, commercially produced toilet paper didn’t begin circulating until 1857.

盡管伊麗莎白女王一世的教子在1596年就發(fā)明了一種最早的抽水馬桶，商業(yè)化生產(chǎn)的衛(wèi)生紙直到1857年才開始流通。

Quilted Northern, formerly Northern Tissue, advertised as late as 1935 that their toilet paper was “splinter-free.” Since the company is still big in the multi-billion dollar industry today, the marketing plan must have been a success: splinter-free tissue was obviously in very high demand. Toilet paper's appeal is not universal, however. Many in India use the left-hand-and-bucket-of-water method.

衛(wèi)生紙品牌Quilted Northern（原名Northern Tissue）到1935年才開始宣傳自己的衛(wèi)生紙是“沒有木刺”的。因為這家公司在今天這個價值數(shù)十億美元的衛(wèi)生紙行業(yè)中依然做得很大，當初的營銷計劃一定成功了：沒有木刺的衛(wèi)生紙顯然需求量非常高。不過，衛(wèi)生紙的吸引力也不是宇宙無敵的。印度的許多人仍然在用左手加水桶清洗的方法。

Today we can buy luxury bathroom accessories like portable bidets, toilet stools, and toilet rolls specifically for Millennials—so there’s no going back to the brush-on-a-stick days.

今天我們可以買到各種奢侈的洗手間用品，比如便攜式坐浴盆、馬桶墊腳凳、專門為千禧一代設計的卷紙等，所以我們絕對不會再回到那個用海綿長棍的時代了。

英文來源：Mental Floss

翻譯&編輯：丹妮