韓國人的電扇殺人恐懼 小家電可以致人死亡?

Which household gadget do people in South Korea believe can kill you?

在韓國，人們認爲哪種小家電可以致人死亡？

(A) Microwave.

(A)微波爐

(B) Blender.

(B)攪拌器

(C) Electric fan.

(C)電風扇

(D) Portable CD player.

(D)便攜式CD播放器

The correct answer is C.

正確答案是C。

It sounds like the plot of an “X-Files” episode: People are said to have died merely from leaving their electric fans blowing overnight. But across South Korea, many people believe the whirring blades can cause death — and to address those fears, manufacturers equip fans with sleep timers.

這聽起來像是《X檔案》裏的劇情：據說人們就因爲開着電扇吹了一整夜，然後死掉了。不過在韓國各地，許多人都認爲呼呼旋轉的葉片可以致人死亡——因應人們的這種恐懼，製造商給電扇配備了睡眠定時器。

How, exactly, might the electric breeze kill? Theories abound in South Korea, among them that the cold air circulating in a sealed room could cause hypothermia, leading to organ failure. Or maybe they suck out the oxygen, causing suffocation. Some fear that the fan itself converts oxygen molecules into carbon dioxide.

電扇到底如何殺人的呢？這種理論在韓國不一而足。有一種是說在封閉的房間裏流動的冷空氣會導致體溫過低，進而導致器官衰竭。還有的說，風扇可能會抽掉氧氣，引發窒息。有些人則擔心風扇本身將氧氣分子轉化成了二氧化碳。

For the record, none of these theories are true. But that has not stopped the Korean news media from reporting on supposed fan deaths. Even the government has endorsed the lethal-breeze idea. In 2006, the state-funded Korean Consumer Protection Board listed “asphyxiation from electric fans and air-conditioners” as one of the top five recurring summer accidents.

在此聲明，這些理論沒有一個是真的。不過，這不妨礙韓國新聞媒體持續報道所謂的風扇致死事件。就連政府也爲這種風扇致死理論背書。2006年，由政府資助的韓國消費者保護委員會(Korean Consumer Protection Board)將“電扇和空調引發的窒息”列爲夏季最常見的五類事故之一。

The agency warned:

該委員會警告：

If bodies are exposed to electric fans or air-conditioners for too long, it causes bodies to lose water and hypothermia. If directly in contact with a fan, this could lead to death from increase of carbon dioxide saturation concentration and decrease of oxygen concentration. The risks are higher for the elderly and patients with respiratory problems.

過久暴露在風扇和空調吹拂之下，會引起身體脫水和體溫過低。如果身體直接與風扇接觸，則可能因二氧化碳飽和濃度上升、氧氣含量減少而致死亡。對於老年人和患有呼吸疾病的人而言，這種風險更高。

According to the advisory, there were 20 cases of fan asphyxiation between 2003 and 2005. “To prevent asphyxiation,” it said, “timers should be set, wind direction should be rotated and doors should be left open.”

據該機構統計，2003年至2005年共有20起風扇引發窒息死亡事件發生。“爲防止窒息，”它表示，“應該打開計時器定時，選擇旋轉風向模式，並將房門打開。”

Among dubious Koreans and, well, everyone outside Samsung’s homeland, it is widely suspected that “fan death” was a ruse hatched by the country’s former authoritarian government in the 1970s to discourage citizens from using too much electricity. The country has since been transformed into a thriving democracy, but the myth proved to be a match for electric fans: It survived.

對這種理論持懷疑態度的韓國人，當然還有三星公司的祖國之外的所有人普遍猜測，“風扇致死”是韓國前威權政府在1970年代想出來的詭計，目的是防止市民過度用電。之後韓國轉變爲繁榮的民主國家，但結果表明，這種錯誤觀念與電扇是絕配：它也流傳至今。