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What does the writer describe as an 'amusing old-fashioned source of
noise'?
Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized
planet. 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. We keep trying all four methods, but the sheer
volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.
Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. The
need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different
kind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products:
beef, pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap
grain and vegetables. The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high:
Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, salmonella in chicken and eggs, and wisteria in
dairy products. 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!
However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that
particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise.
Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy
passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly scream
at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. 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 one
to seven. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really
dislike. Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day, late-night parties in apartment
blocks, noisy neighbors, 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. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of
people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places
like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones
invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet
chat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather surprising and possibly
amusing old-fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring! Men were
found to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in their
mid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their
sixties. 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. Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems,
has become a golden memory.
New words and expressions 生词与短语
pollution
n. 污染
overpopulated
adj. 人口多的
over-industrialized
adj. 过度工业化的
sheer
adj. 纯粹的，不掺杂的
worldwide
adv. 在全世界
overwhelm
v. 制服，使不知所措
pollute
v. 污染
pesticide
n. 杀虫剂
fertilizer
n. 肥料
salmonella
n. 沙门氏菌
listeria
n. 利斯特杆菌
vegetarian
n. 吃素的人
organically-grown
adj. 有机培植的(不施化肥和其他化学药品培植)
insidious
adj. 暗中为害的
urban
adj. 城市的
burglar
n. 窃贼
burgle
v. 入室偷窃
scream
v. 尖叫
profound
adj. 极度的
irritation
n. 烦躁
incessantly
adv. 连续不断地
whine
v. 发呜呜声
helicopter
n. 直升飞机
maximum
adj. 最大的
technology
n. 技术
contribution
n. 贡献
mobile
adj. 可移动的
snore
v. 打鼾
offender
v. 冒犯者
staggering
adj. 令人惊愕的
trumpet
v. 吹号
partner
n. 伙伴
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发表于 2016-7-11 23:04:29