What does the writer describe as an 'amusing old-fashioned source ofnoise'?

Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrializedplanet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can dealwith 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 sheervolume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.

Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. Theneed to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a differentkind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products:beef, pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheapgrain 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 indairy 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 steadydiet of pesticides every time you think you're eating fresh salads andvegetables, or just having an innocent glass of water!

However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution thatparticularly 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 annoypassers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly screamat us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. A recent survey ofthe effects of noise revealed (surprisingly?) that dogs barking incessantly inthe night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from oneto seven. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we reallydislike. Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day, late-night parties in apartmentblocks, noisy neighbors, vehicles of all kinds, especially large containertrucks thundering through quiet villages, planes and helicopters flyingoverhead, large radios carried round in public places and played at maximumvolume. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot ofpeople object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public placeslike restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phonesinvade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quietchat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather surprising and possiblyamusing old-fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring! Men werefound to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in theirmid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in theirsixties. Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snoreregularly, while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpetingpartners. 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新概念3听力下载

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

本文参考译文

污染就是我们为这个人口过密，过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。当我们开始考虑垃圾问题时，我们只有4种对付垃圾的方法：倾倒、焚烧、把垃圾变成再生材料或试图少产生一些垃圾。我们一直在试这4种方式，但是，我们在世界范围内仅产生的垃圾的量就有把我们覆盖的危险。

然而，垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。日益增长的对廉价食物的需求导致了另一种形式的污染。工业化的农作方式生产出廉价的肉类制品——牛肉、猪肉和鸡肉。使用杀虫剂和化肥生产出廉价的谷物和蔬菜。为了廉价食物我们付出代价已经太高了：牛肉中的疯牛病，鸡肉和鸡蛋中的沙门氏菌，奶制品中的利斯特杆菌。如果你想放弃肉类而变成一位素食者，那么你可以两者择一：或是选用价格昂贵、有机培植的蔬菜，或是当你认为在享用新鲜色拉和新鲜蔬菜或饮用一杯无害的水的时候，实际上每次都不断吃进杀虫剂。

但是，还有一种更加隐蔽有害的污染，它专门影响城镇地区，侵袭我们的日常生活，那就是噪音。防盗警报器在白天和黑夜的任何时候都会响起来，它的作用只是骚扰过路行人，而实际上却帮助窃贼入室行窃。在街上，汽车的防盗警报不断对我们吼叫，这是人们极度烦燥的一个原因，最近一个有关噪音的作用的调查(令人吃惊地)指出，夜间连续不断的狗叫声，在一个从1级至7级刻度表上应列为最严重的噪间污染。这个调查揭示了我们所不喜欢的大量的噪间的来源：夏天呜呜作响的割草机，公寓楼里深夜聚会的喧哗声，大声吵闹的邻居，各式各样的车辆，特别是穿越寂静的村庄的集装箱卡车，从头顶飞过的飞机和直升机，被带到公共场所、音量开到最大的大功率收音机。新技术也为噪音作了它的贡献。许多人都反对移动式电话，特别是在如饭店，公共交通车等公共场所使用移动电话。用移动电话大声交谈干扰我们的思路，破坏我们和朋友在一起轻声聊天所得到的乐趣。这个有关噪音的污染调查还揭示了一种出人意外而同时可能会引人意外而同时可能会引人发笑的老式噪音源。它竟然是鼾声。人类是这方面的罪魁祸首。调查指出，20%的35岁左右的男人打鼾;而到60岁这个年龄段，这个数字上升到令人惊愕的60%。与这些数字相比，只有5%的女性经常打鼾;而其余则经常被与她们同睡、像吹号似地打着呼噜的男人吵醒或弄得睡不着。不管噪声来自何方，有一点是肯定的：看来寂静已变成一种珍贵的回忆。

(兼职编辑：张博)