為何外國(guó)人喜歡早上洗澡?

為什么大多數(shù)美國(guó)人早上醒來(lái)之后要去洗個(gè)澡?

I'm Chinese. What I know is that nearly all Chinese people take showers at night. Why do American stake a shower in the morning which drives them to wake up earlier? And I also want to know which countries take a shower in the morning like America, and which countries take a shower at night like China.

我是個(gè)中國(guó)人。據(jù)我所知，幾乎所有的中國(guó)人都是晚上的時(shí)候洗澡。為什么美國(guó)人大早上地洗澡呢?這能讓他們醒得早一點(diǎn)嗎?還有，我想知道哪個(gè)國(guó)家的人像美國(guó)人那樣早上洗澡，哪個(gè)國(guó)家又像中國(guó)人那樣在晚上洗澡。

I'm an American-born Chinese who has lived in China for a total of over 20 years, so this is a question that I get all the time. Among everyday habits and, the shower-in-the-morning vs. shower-in-the-evening is one of the real lines of demarcation between Chinese and westerners, and neither my Chinese-born parents (who never lost the evening shower habit even after 40 years in the US) nor my wife, who's from Beijing, ever get tired of asserting the supremacy of the PM shower. And I've never kicked the AM ablutions habit.

我是個(gè)在美國(guó)出生的中國(guó)人，我住在中國(guó)已經(jīng)20年了，所以這是我一直以來(lái)都有的問(wèn)題。在所有的生活習(xí)慣中，早上洗澡跟晚上洗澡成了中西方人的一個(gè)真正的分界線(xiàn)。還有我中國(guó)出生的父母(雖然呆在美國(guó)40多年了，但他們還是一直在晚上洗澡。)跟我來(lái)自北京的妻子，都從未改變晚上洗澡的習(xí)慣。而我從沒(méi)改掉在早上洗澡的習(xí)慣。

I shower in the morning because it really wakes me up, and provides me with this nice mindless routine during which I can think about my day. It also keeps my hair from looking strange. On warmer days where I've conspicuously sweated during the day I'll take a quick shower and not wash my hair in the evening, but I find that taking a shower right before bed makes it more difficult for me to fall asleep, possibly because I associate showering with wakefulness.

我早上洗澡是因?yàn)檎娴哪茏屛仪逍?，可以讓我認(rèn)真想想這一天當(dāng)中毫無(wú)頭緒的日程。這也能讓我的頭發(fā)看起來(lái)不一樣一點(diǎn)。天氣暖和一點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，白天顯然出汗多，晚上我就快速地沖個(gè)澡然后不洗頭，但是我發(fā)現(xiàn)睡前洗澡讓我更難入睡，可能是因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)將“洗澡”和“清醒”聯(lián)系到一塊去了。

I fully understand the Chinese preference for the evening shower. You're clean and comfy, bedding probably doesn't need to be washed as frequently and so forth. But I just need that morning shower to feel fully awake—kind of like that morning coffee!

我完全理解中國(guó)人晚上洗澡的喜好。你身上會(huì)很干凈還很舒服，那樣你可能就不用頻繁地洗那些床上用品等等。但是我需要早上的沐浴來(lái)讓我完全清醒——就像早上來(lái)杯咖啡一樣。