降低過敏和氣喘風險
The very word “mud” might make many parents’ skin crawl.
光是看到「泥巴」兩個字可能就會讓許多家長起雞皮疙瘩。
make sb’s skin crawl 使人起雞皮疙瘩,毛骨悚然
Mud and dirt harbor bacteria, so naturally they would want their kids to stay away from such things.
由於泥巴和泥土內有許多細菌，他們自然不想讓孩子接觸。
harbor (n.)港口,港灣(v.)攜帶(病菌或疾病)bacteria (n.)細菌(複數)；bacterium (單數)stay away from sth. 遠離……
However, now more and more studies have begun to reveal the “dirty secrets” of mud and have suggested that mud play might be beneficial to children.
然而，現在有愈來愈多研究開始揭露泥巴不為人知的益處，並指出玩泥巴對孩子是有幫助的。
beneficial (adj.)有益處的；benefit (n.)益處
Researchers now recommend playing in dirt as a way to boost the immune system.
研究人員現在建議以玩泥巴的方式增強免疫力。
dirt (n.)泥土boost (v.)增強,提高,改善
They have found that digging in the mud or even eating a little bit of it actually helps lower a child’s risk of allergies and asthma.
他們發現挖泥巴，或甚至吃進些微的泥巴，其實可以幫助降低孩子過敏和氣喘的風險。
lower (v.)降低risk (n.)危險,風險；the risk of investment 投資的風險
The idea is that by limiting a child’s play to primarily indoors, parents are in fact limiting their exposure to natural organisms that contribute to a healthy and strong immune system.
原因是如果限制孩子只能在室內玩耍的話，家長事實上是限制了他們接觸自然微生物的機會，而這些微生物可促進健康且強壯的免疫系統。
limit (n.)(v.)限制exposure (n.)暴露；expose (v.)暴露organism (n.)生物體,有機體,微生物contribute (v.)貢獻
In addition to playing in mud, studies have shown that playing outdoors in general is much healthier than staying indoors in the company of technology.
除了玩泥巴之外，研究顯示只要是在戶外玩耍都比在室內與科技相伴來得健康。
in addition to 除……之外company (n.)陪伴
In fact, a recent study revealed that children who spend the better part of their day inside the house have a greater chance of obesity, depression and vitamin D deficiency.
事實上，一項近期研究發現，大部分時間都待在室內的孩子有較大的機會罹患肥胖症、憂鬱症和維他命D不足。
the better(best) part of =the most of 大部分deficiency (n.)缺乏,不足=a lack of something；iron deficiency 鐵質的缺乏