And sometimes you can find yourself responding to some pretty odd job postings.

有時，你可能會應徵一些超奇怪的工作。

Millions of people every day show up at laboratories and medical facilities around the world to be guinea pigs for dangerous drug trials or to test new gadgets and devices.

每天在世界各地，有成千上萬的人會到實驗室或醫療設施報到，來當白老鼠試驗一些危險藥品或裝置設備。

While these jobs can be risky, and probably more than a little weird, what are some of the worst jobs in the world that have ever existed?!

這種工作有風險，而且還有點怪異，那歷史上還有哪些最糟的工作？

One of the worst jobs in history certainly had to be that of Punka wallah, a royal fan bearer in ancient India.

歷史上最糟的工作之一就是 Punka wallah，在古印度時為皇室搖扇的搖扇者。

With temperatures reaching a whopping 122 degrees and humidity as high as 80-100%, it's a wonder that people survived before the invention of air conditioning!

在華氏 122 度 (攝氏 50 度) 的高溫下，加上濕度高達 80-100%，人類之前竟然能在沒冷氣的狀況下存活，真是個奇蹟。

But survive they did, and while the common man was forced to endure the heat best they could, Indian rulers, or Maharajas, enlisted fan bearers to constantly fan them all day long.

但人類的確存活下來了，在一般人被迫忍受此般高溫時，印度統治者，或大邦主，會雇用搖扇者來幫他們整天扇風。

Being so close to the Maharaja, deaf servants or slaves were preferred for the role, as they wouldn't be able to overhear any secret conversations.

因為離邦主很近，所以他們通常會雇用聾的僕人或奴隸，如此才不會聽到什麼秘密談話內容。

Eventually ceiling fans were invented, but without electricity, guess who had the job of pedaling the complex system of pulleys all day long to keep the fans rotating?

最後，吊扇被發明出來了，但在沒有電力的時候，猜猜是誰得要用盡力氣踩動複雜的裝置，讓風扇能夠持續運行？

All that labor works up a lot of sweat, so it's a good thing getting clean is just one shower and a soap bar away.

這些勞力工作都會讓人汗水淋漓，幸運地，只需要用肥皂沖個澡，就能變乾淨了。

But for centuries, the process of making soap was dirty, disgusting, and more than a bit dangerous.

但有好幾個世紀做肥皂的方法都很髒、噁心，甚至有些危險。

Up until the industrial revolution, most soaps were made by combining animal fats, various oils, and harsh chemicals such as lye.

一直到工業革命前，肥皂都是混合動物脂肪、各種油與各種刺鼻化學物質，如鹼液所製成的。

First, animal fat was slowly melted and then strained to remove any meaty bits. Then, mixed with water and brought to a boil.

首先，先融化動物脂肪，去除有肉的部分，然後加水之後煮滾。

The mixture was left to harden overnight, and the next day lye would be slowly stirred into cold water.

要把這混合物放過夜來硬化，隔天再將鹼液混入冷水中。

Because of its volatility, adding too much lye to water—or the reverse, adding water directly to lye—could create an explosion!

因為活性很高，若加太多鹼液到水裡，或相反，把水加到鹼液裡時，就會導致爆炸！

Even if the mixture didn't explode though, it would heat rapidly due to lye's exothermic reaction with water.

就算沒有爆炸，鹼液加水的放熱反應，也會讓溫度急速上升。

And without any protective equipment, any lye that got on the worker's skin would leave horrible burns.

若沒有保護裝備，一旦碰到鹼液的皮膚就會留下嚴重的灼傷。

The fat mixture would then be added to the lye/water mixture and blended for hours.

脂肪混和物之後會再被加入鹼液與水的混合物中攪拌數小時。

Soap may leave you feeling fresh and clean, but it was definitely a smelly and dangerous affair to make for thousands of years!

肥皂或許可以讓你全身清新又乾淨，但在曾經地數千年，肥皂製程都很難聞且危險。

Melted animal fat can be kind of gross, but nothing tops the gross level of the next worst job in history.

融化的動物脂肪或許很噁心，但它的噁心程度，絕對贏不過以下這個歷史上最糟的工作。

Medieval Europe is remembered mostly for epic stories about brave knights.

中世紀的歐洲最著名的就是關於騎士的傳奇故事。

But one thing it's not remembered for is its indoor plumbing, which did not exist in most Medieval castles and villages.

但有一件事沒被記載，那就是室內管線系統，一個不存在於中世紀城堡與村莊的東西。

But people still had to use the bathroom, and all that waste definitely had to go somewhere.

但人們還是得上廁所，那些穢物也都得找地方放。

Enter the gong farmer, a polite term created for the peasants whose job it was to clean latrines, outhouses, and royal privies.

這時就輪到 gong farmer（貢農）出場了，這詞是用來委婉形容那些清穢物的人，他們工作包含了公共廁所、室外廁所，甚至是皇家私人廁所。

Forced to empty cesspools full of human waste with nothing more than buckets, gong farmers were responsible for digging, emptying, and then disposing of the waste of entire villages.

貢農得清理充滿人類穢物的糞坑，工具只有桶子，他們還得挖穢物、清空糞坑，處理掉全村莊的穢物。

While sometimes it could be used as fertilizer, often the gong farmer had to burn all of that waste in giant bonfires, creating thick, choking, and very smelly smoke.

有時候糞便可以當作肥料，但貢農常常得用巨大的篝火燒掉這些穢物，而如此會造成氣味濃厚、嗆鼻的濃煙。

Exposed to all manner of diseases and parasites, gong farmers were the absolute lowest of the lowest social classes and often died of terrible infections.

暴露在各種病菌與寄生蟲中，貢農是社會中最低、最低的階級，且常常死於可怕的感染。

Even though our own jobs can often be stressful or difficult, let's at least be grateful that most jobs today aren't as disgusting or dangerous as those in the past.

雖然現在的工作可能壓力很大、很困難，但至少現在大部分的工作都沒有像以前一樣危險又噁心。

And that when works get to be a little too much, we can always take a quick vacation for some much needed R&R.

而且，當有點承受不住工作時，我們隨時都可以來場旅行放鬆身心。

But for Fuzzy and Nutz, their adventure exploring the past has just started, so make sure you tune in next time to see where they're off to next!

但對 Fuzzy 與 Nutz 而言，他們探索過去的冒險才剛開始，所以記得回來看看他們下一站要去哪！