Lesson 47

Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over-industrialized planet.
污染是我们为这个人口过剩、过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。
When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn it into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it.
当你仔细想来，你处理垃圾的方式只有四种：丢弃它，焚烧它，把它转化成你可以再次使用的东西，或者尝试减少它的产生。
We keep trying all four methods, but the sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.
我们一直尝试所有四种方法，但我们在全球范围内产生的巨大垃圾量威胁着要将我们淹没。
Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet.
然而，垃圾只是污染我们星球问题的一部分。
The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution.
生产不断增加的廉价食物的需求导致了一种不同的污染。
Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products: beef, pork and chicken.
工业化耕作方法生产廉价的肉类产品：牛肉、猪肉和鸡肉。
The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables.
使用杀虫剂和化肥产出了廉价的谷物和蔬菜。
The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high: Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, salmonella in chicken and eggs, and listeria in dairy products.
我们为廉价食物所付出的代价可能已经太高了：牛群中的疯牛病、鸡肉和鸡蛋中的沙门氏菌，以及乳制品中的李斯特菌。
And if you think you’ll abandon meat and become a vegetarian, you have the choice of very expensive organically-grown vegetables or a steady diet of pesticides every time you think you’re eating fresh salads and vegetables, or just having an innocent glass of water!
如果你认为放弃肉类成为素食者，你只能在昂贵的有机蔬菜和长期的农药饮食之间做出选择，无论是在你吃新鲜沙拉蔬菜时，还是仅仅喝一杯看似无害的水时！
However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise.
然而，有一种甚至更阴险的污染，它特别影响城市地区并侵入我们的日常生活，那就是噪音。
Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle.
在昼夜任何时间响起的防盗警报器仅仅起到骚扰路人的作用，而实际上却在协助窃贼行窃。
Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation.
汽车报警器在街道上不断地对着我们尖叫，是一种深刻烦恼的来源。
A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed (surprisingly?) that dogs barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from 1 to 7.
最近一项关于噪音影响的调查（令人惊讶地？）揭示了，在夜间不停吠叫的狗在1到7级的量表上被评为最高等级的噪音污染。
The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike.
这项调查揭示了大量我们真的很讨厌的噪音来源。
Lawn mowers whining on a summer’s day, late-night parties in apartment blocks, noisy neighbours, vehicles of all kinds, especially large container trucks thundering through quiet villages, planes and helicopters flying overhead, large radios carried round in public places and played at maximum volume.
夏日里嗡嗡作响的割草机、公寓楼里的深夜派对、吵闹的邻居、各种车辆（尤其是轰隆隆穿过安静村庄的大型集装箱卡车）、在头顶飞行的飞机和直升机，以及在公共场所随身携带并以最大音量播放的大型收音机。
New technology has also made its own contribution to noise.
新技术也对噪音做出了贡献。
A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport.
许多人反对使用手机，尤其是当手机在餐厅等公共场所或公共交通工具上被使用时。
Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat.
手机上的大声对话会侵入我们的思绪，或者干扰与朋友见面安静聊天的乐趣。
The noise pollution survey revealed a rather surprising and possibly amusing old-fashioned source of noise.
噪音污染调查揭示了一个相当令人惊讶且可能有趣的老式噪音来源。
It turned out to be snoring!
结果竟然是在打鼾！
Men were found to be the worst offenders.
男人被发现是最严重的违规者。
It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid - thirties snore.
据透露，20%的三十五岁左右的男性打鼾。
This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties.
这个数字在六十多岁的男性中上升到了令人惊愕的60%。
Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly, while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners.
与这些数字相比，研究发现只有5%的女性定期打鼾，而其余的人则经常被他们那鼾声如雷的伴侣吵醒或吵得睡不着。
Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems, has become a golden memory.
无论噪音的来源是什么，有一件事是肯定的：沉默，似乎已经成为了一个金色的回忆。