你到底在怕什么？19种奇怪的恐惧症

A trip to the dentist probably isn’t going to make most people’s ‘top 10 things I love to do’ list, but most of us can put up with it with just a mild feeling of unease. Some people, however, have such a strong reaction that they are unable to attend the dentist even when in dire need. If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of a painful cavity you can get an idea of just how intense this fear can be when a person would rather live with that pain then take a trip to the dentist’s chair.
相信很多人都不是很喜欢看牙医，但即便不舒服，大部分人也还能忍受。但有些人却非常抗拒，宁死也不愿去看牙医。如果你曾经历拔牙的切肤之痛，或许就能理解这种恐惧到底有多深：害怕看牙医的人宁愿一辈子忍受牙痛折磨也不愿送上门去。

17. Telephonophobia – fear of telephones
电话恐惧症——害怕电话

The fear of using the telephone can develop to the point where the sufferer panics even when hearing the sound of a ringtone. This fear of receiving a call can lead to an oversensitivity to noises and auditory hallucinations. And it’s not just the sound – setting the phone to vibrate doesn’t help, and the sufferer will instead imagine their pocket is vibrating even when it’s completely still. This is known as phantom vibration syndrome. It must be very difficult to live with this in an age of mobile phones, where calls can follow you wherever you go.
患有电话恐惧症的人有时候哪怕只是听到电话铃响都会惊慌失措。害怕接电话会引发对声音的过度敏感和幻听。而且问题不在于铃声——就算把手机调成振动，结果也一样无济于事，患症者反而会幻想兜里的手机在振动。这叫做幻想振动综合症。生活在这样一个手机时代，电话随时会在身边响起，有这种恐惧症的人还真不容易。

18. Mysophobia – fear of dirt
污迹恐惧症——害怕污迹

This involves a fear of being contaminated by bacteria and germs which, being invisible to the naked eye, can be felt by the phobic person to be crawling everywhere even in the cleanest-looking environment. Sufferers of this phobia often display the stereotypical OCD behavior of washing their hands over and over, as they never feel like they’re completely clean. This complusive act just serves to make the sufferer more aware of their state of (un)cleanliness, and thus reinforcing the cycle.
患有污迹恐惧症的人害怕细菌或病菌感染，哪怕是看上去很干净的环境，他们都觉得到处都有肉眼看不到的细菌。这类人最典型的特点就是强迫似的反复洗手，总觉得自己怎么也不干净。而这种强迫行为更加剧他们的洁癖意识，然后恶性循环下去。

19. Masklophobia – fear of mascots/costumes
吉祥物恐惧症——害怕吉祥物/演出套具

It’s not the size, or even the bizarreness of the concept that scares people, but rather the expressionless, staring faces of the costumes. Especially for children, who gaze at people’s faces to work out their feelings through their expressions, the blank, unchanging face of the mascot can be especially freaky. (That explains all the crying babies at Disneyland). Such a stone-still face indicates death, and the unfamiliar sight of a huge mascot with a dead face moving around is like the dead have come to life! Yep, the fear of mascots is basically like a fear of zombies, and we can’t really say that’s irrational.
倒不是吉祥物的大小或怪诞使人害怕，而是套具上面无表情又目光灼灼的样子叫人不安。尤其是对孩子而言，他们一向通过观察人们的表情来揣摩情感，但吉祥物的表情空洞呆板，看上去特别吓人。（难怪迪斯尼乐园到处都有嚎哭的小孩！）死板的面部表情让人想起死亡，何况是没有生命力的巨型吉祥物顶着一张死人脸到处走动呢！所以，害怕吉祥物就像害怕僵尸，完全是在情理之中的。