歌词
Lesson 25
25
Non-auditory effects of noise
噪声的非听觉效应
What conclusion does the author draw about noise and health in this piece?
在这篇文章中作者做出了关于健康和噪声的怎样的结论？
Many people in industry and the Services,
工业界和服务界的人
who have practical experience of noise,
对于噪声有着切身的感受
regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time;
认为对噪声进行研究是浪费时间
they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people.
他们甚至不承认噪声对人们有影响
On the other hand,
另一方面
those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence
对于那些讨厌噪声的人有时会用不充分的证据
to support their pleas for a quieter society.
来支持他们对于一个更加安静的社会的呼唤
This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause,
这是十分可悲的，因为减少噪声确实是一件好事
and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with bad science.
当这个和科学的不利面联系起来的话这是不可信的
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness.
人们经常宣称噪声引起精神病
A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance,
例如，周报上的一篇文章
was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress,
以用一位处于非常沮丧女士的令人震惊的描述
with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck'.
其标题是“她是另一个受害者，变成一个尖叫的残骸”
On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist
继续看这篇文章，我们可以意识到这位女士是一个打字员
who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more
她发现办公室打字机让她越来越忧郁
until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital.
知道最后她进了精神病院
Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course
在这个笑话中的障碍是显然
that one cannot distinguish cause and effect.
人们不能将原因和后果区分的
Was the noise a cause of the illness,
到底是噪声是病的来源
or were the complaints about noise merely a symptom?
还是对于噪声的抱怨是一种症状
Another patient might equally well complain
另一个病人呢可能
that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her,
关于他的邻居联合起来中伤控告他的同样抱怨的非常多
and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
对于这些抱怨是否值得相信我们要非常小心
What is needed in the case of noise
在这个噪声的案例中
is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions,
值得研究的是处于喧闹环境下的很多的人
to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are.
来发现他们是不是比其他人更容易患精神病
Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance,
例如一段时间以前美国海军
examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers:
对工作在飞行器的大量的人进行研究
the study was known as Project Anehin.
这个研究被称作Anehin工程
It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome;
if you think what it must be like
to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft,
you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise.
But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests
were able to show any effects upon these American sailors.
This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies:
if there is any effect of noise upon mental health,
it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it.
That does not prove that it does not exist; but it does mean
that noise is less dangerous than, say being brought up in an orphanage
-- which really is a mental health hazard.
专辑信息