美国“最佳卫生间”评选正在进行中，组织方将在获胜的卫生间举办新闻发布会，颁发“最佳卫生间”奖牌，并将其收入网络明星卫生间名录。目前，有十个卫生间进入了最后的决赛阶段，网友们将在9月19日之前通过网上投票，决定谁是最后的赢家。进入决赛的卫生间都各有特色，有弗吉尼亚州卫具供应商Don's Johns为奥巴马总统2009年就职典礼特别制作的流动厕所；还有主打“丛林风”的纽约“哈瓦那前哨”餐厅洗手间，这家餐厅的洗手间利用蓄水池收集雨水使用，节约了大量水资源，它的玻璃屋顶和各种植物也让人感觉更加亲近自然。另外还有装配了先进复杂的智能马桶的纽约“忍者”餐厅，顾客只要坐在马桶上按个按钮，就什么都解决了。组织方的宣传人员表示，商家处理各种设施的方式同时也能反应其经营理念。

It's America's competition for best public toilet and decision time is fast approaching.

One will emerge flush with success and nine will go down the drain: It's America's competition for best public toilet and decision time is fast approaching.

Fans have until Sept 19 to cast online votes for the perfect privy in America's Best Restroom contest.

Ten finalists from hundreds of nominees are vying nationwide, organized by workplace supplies company Cintas.

Their charms are various.

A Las Vegas casino urinal incorporates a piece of the Berlin Wall. The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts in Arizona has lighting that fades in and out in different colors to create a soothing atmosphere.

Another contender for throne of thrones is the Don's Johns portable toilet, initially supplied for US President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration - though whether it had served as Restroom One is unknown.

Not to be confused with the stinking versions found at big outdoor events, the Don's John can pull the chain on most other lavatories, boasting a television, granite counters, wood panel doors and hardwood flooring.

For the winner, there's the "coveted America's Best Restroom plaque", according to Cintas, a news conference to be held in the winning facility, and entry to an online restrooms hall of fame.

Sara Jo Rubin, of Rubin Communications, a publicist for Cintas, said toilets of all sorts stand a chance in this annual battle.

"The style could be elaborate. It could be chandeliers. Some have had pool tables ... Sometimes it's quirkiness," Rubin said.

"The way you run your facilities is a reflection of how you run your business," she added.

Two of the finalists are in New York, and between them represent the extremes of the US restroom landscape.

At the Habana Outpost restaurant in Brooklyn, the mood is jungle, with a glass roof, hanging plants and rainwater flushing. The use of rainwater, which is collected in gutters and cisterns, is estimated to save thousands of gallons of city water a week.

Darcy Le Fleming, the manager, said the inspiration was New York's perpetual problem with storm water overflows, which pour raw sewage into the harbor. Habana Outpost's laid-back, eco-friendly toilet takes a small step toward putting that right.

Le Fleming said she hadn't known her restroom was nominated until a call came from Cintas. "That was very exciting," she said.

"If we win, I guess we'll have to have a big bathroom party or toilet-shaped cookies."

At the opposite end of the cubicle spectrum is the entry from Ninja, a Japanese restaurant in Manhattan modeled on an underground, feudal castle.

Here, the needy diner will wind past faux cave walls and mini Ninja dwellings before entering a bamboo-lined restroom.

There, he or she will find the mighty Toto, a Japanese toilet so sophisticated that one has to do nothing - or almost nothing - other than take a seat.

Alongside a seemingly regular commode is a panel with rows of buttons and a digital screen that allows the sitter to operate a seat warmer, an up-from-under water jet - oscillating or pulsating - a deodorizer and even a blow drier.

"The seat is basically heated, not heated up so it's going to burn, but it's warm," said Lillian Buchel, 19, who works at Ninja. "It has cleaning utensils that clean your behind. It also dries you."

Customers tend to burst back into the 15th century Ninja castle laughing.

"They always act surprised, but they definitely like it," Buchel said.

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(Agencies)

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen ）