Lesson 31 Non-auditory Effects of Noise 噪音的非聽(tīng)覺(jué)效應(yīng)

Many people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause. and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with bad
science.
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck '. On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in
this sort of anecdote is of course that one cannot distinguish cause and effect. Was the noise a cause of the illness, or were the complaints about noise merely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
What is needed in the case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. The United States Navy, for instance, recently examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin. 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 orphanages--which really is a mental health hazard.

New words and expressions 生詞短語(yǔ)
likely=possibly
deposited=saved=piled up 堆積
mud (from the seashore)
the man and the like: 就他那樣的人（否定意義）
cover over: 全部覆蓋

第一段：強(qiáng)調(diào)句
1. 加原因狀語(yǔ)
2. 加地點(diǎn)狀語(yǔ)
favourable=good=ideal
small fraction 小部分
that die 已死的或?qū)⒁�死�?br>feed on: 靠……為生 I feed on rice./I feed rice. (F) I feed the baby.
live by: 通過(guò) live by the hands 自力更生 live by the mountains
live on=feed on
dead or alive 連綴形容詞要做后置定語(yǔ)
ecological chain: 生物鏈 the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest
chance=accidental 偶爾 chance meeting 邂逅 chance company 萍水相逢
on land 陸路
seldom=hardly
innumerable=numerous
see sb doing sth.
fly about: 四外飛翔 go about: 轉(zhuǎn)一轉(zhuǎn)
not to mention: 更不用說(shuō) = let alone= not to speak of
it is very rarely…(強(qiáng)調(diào)句，強(qiáng)調(diào)狀語(yǔ))
come across=run into
帶 other，一般用單數(shù)詞，any(some)other: 任何一個(gè)
traces=remains
as…as…
when: 時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)（接 by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse…）
refrigerator: refrige
preserved: 做主語(yǔ)的賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)
in good condition: 完好狀態(tài)
tar pits: 焦油坑
collected=assembled 匯集
the carnivores: 肉食動(dòng)物
Notes on the text 課文注釋
industry 工業(yè)方面，工業(yè)界
Services: in America means army;
serviceman: 軍人 ex-serviceman 退伍軍人
總統(tǒng)
ex-wife 前妻 My ex-job is a secretary.
ex-president 前總統(tǒng)
present president 現(xiàn)任
on the one hand.. on the other hand 一方面……，另一方面……
most 前不加定冠詞相當(dāng)于 very
good cause=good thing
and 在這兒表轉(zhuǎn)折
mental illness 精神病
weekly newspaper 周刊報(bào)紙
head with 頭版頭條 carry the news on the front page
considerable 極度的
reduce（在這）＝made (reduce to tears; reduce to laughter; reduce to a skeleton)
text 文字說(shuō)明；turning to 轉(zhuǎn)向；on: as soon as
anecdote 軼聞（大多數(shù)情況下 unreal）
might well 或許可以
symptom=sign
cautious=careful
statement 這樁事
equally 同樣地
might well/may well＝have reason to do sth. or be reasonable
She may well be proud of her son. 她有理由為她的兒子驕傲。
You may well refuse him. 你有理由拒絕他。
the United States Navy 美國(guó)海軍
aerodrome 機(jī)場(chǎng) motordrome 賽車(chē)道 parking lot 停車(chē)場(chǎng)
share with 與……共住，與……一起
psychiatric interviews 精神病的采訪(fǎng)
objective test 問(wèn)卷調(diào)查，客觀(guān)題
say=for example
hazard=danger
本文是一個(gè) sophistry(詭辨術(shù)) critical eye; eagle eye 辨析力
aero- 航空 drome 場(chǎng)所