美式发音 适合泛听
You probably didn’t see this at your local Hallmark store, but today is 1)International Noise Awareness Day. In fact, this week is Noise Action Week. Nowhere is action on noise needed more than in big cities. Cairo, for example, is very big and very noisy. But reporter Daniel Estrin says at least some of the city’s 12 million residents don’t see to mind a bit.
Daniel: They call Cairo the city of a thousand2)minarets. Which means that wherever you are in the city, chances are you’ll be close to a minaret when its loudspeakers blast the call to prayer. Add to that, 24-hour traffic and Cairo drivers who are in love with their car horns.
Everyone else is beeping, why did you beep? Why did you have to add your beep?
Cairo Resident: To go on with the crowds. It adds to the noise.
Daniel: Yeah?
Cairo Resident: That’s the point!
Daniel: Some Egyptian scientists make a different point. A few years ago researchers measured Cairo’s noise levels and came up with alarming results. A bearable noise level, according to the EPA is 55 3)decibels. But in Cairo, the average noise level from seven in the morning ’til ten at night, reaches 90 decibels. And to understand what 90 decibels of noise sounds like, imagine standing 15 feet away from a freight train, or spending all day inside a factory. That’s part of the problem, many people in Cairo do live next to factories. Industrial workshops and residential buildings are often located one next to the other, like this metal smith who works on a mostly residential side street. His 4)band saw lets off red sparks that fly across the street as kids with backpacks walk home from school. But many seem to have made peace with the 5)soundtrack that accompanies life in the city. Accountant Muataz Abd-i-Salam was walking his six-year-old son, Omar, back from school. When I saw them enter their apartment building right next door to the metal smith, I approached them for an interview.
I’m doing a story about noise in Cairo.
Muataz: Excuse me I don’t listen because it’s very noisy outside.
Daniel: But it doesn’t bother you? It doesn’t disturb you?
Muataz: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Daniel: He suggested I check out other parts of Cairo.
Muataz: Downtown is a quiet, very quiet.
Daniel: Downtown is very quiet?
Muataz: Yes of course.
Daniel: Well, here is Ramses Square in downtown Cairo and sorry Mr. Abd-i-Salam, but I must disagree.
Cairo’s leaders haven’t remained silent about the city’s 6)cacophony. Egypt’s Environmental Affairs Ministry set up a noise pollution unit. And a few years ago, the government announced its intention to replace all those individual calls to prayer with one 7)synchronized voice broadcast on the radio. That hasn’t happened yet, but many Cairenes don’t seem willing to part with their city’s unique sound print. Businessman Ashraf Ismail stepped into his office building just off Ramses Square and waxed poetic. As he put it, “The noise of Cairo is Cairo itself.”
你可能在当地的贺卡店不会看到我马上就要讲到的事,今天是国际噪音关注日。而本周是噪音行动周。没有什么地方比在大城市更需要对噪音采取措施的了。比如说,开罗就是一个很大的都市,也非常喧嚣。但记者丹尼尔·埃斯特林说至少1200万的开罗居民似乎对这一点并不太介意。
丹尼尔:开罗被称为“千塔之城”。也就是说,不管你身在开罗的哪个角落,在宣礼塔的喇叭响起,召唤信徒礼拜的时候,离你不远处都会有一个宣礼塔。除此之外,开罗还有24小时不间断的交通噪音,开罗的司机可是对摁喇叭情有独钟。
人人都在摁喇叭,你为什么也摁喇叭呢?干嘛要加上你这一下?
开罗居民:随大流呗。加点声效。
丹尼尔:是吗?
开罗居民:正是为了这个目的。
丹尼尔:有些埃及科学家却有不同的看法。几年前,研究人员测量了开罗的噪音强度,其结果令人担忧。根据美国环保局的标准,人类可以忍受的噪音水平是55分贝。而在开罗,从早上七点到晚上十点,平均噪音强度高达90分贝。如果你想对90分贝的噪音有一个感性的认识,那么想象一下你站的地方离一列载货列车只有15英尺远,或者一整天都呆在工厂里。其实这正是开罗噪音问题的一部分原因,那就是人们就住在工厂的旁边。工场与民居毗邻而处,就像这位金属工匠就在以民居为主的这条小街上工作。就在孩子们背着书包放学回家经过的时候,从他的带锯产生的红色火花飞向街道对面。可许多人似乎跟这个城市里与日常生活相依相伴的噪音相处融洽。会计师马阿塔兹·阿比德-依-萨拉姆正和六岁的儿子奥马尔一起放学回家。我看到他们走进了金属工场旁边的公寓楼,就上前采访。
我正在写一篇关于开罗噪音的文章。
马阿塔兹:对不起,我没听清,外面太吵了。
丹尼尔:这些噪音不干扰你吗?不会让你觉得烦燥?
马阿塔兹:不会,不会,不会,不会,不会,不会,不会。
丹尼尔:他建议我到开罗的其他区去看看。
马阿塔兹:市中心区会安静些,很静。
丹尼尔:市中心很静?
马阿塔兹:对,当然了。
丹尼尔:好了,这里是开罗市中心的拉美西斯广场。很抱歉,阿比德-依-萨拉姆先生,你不能同意你的说法。
开罗的头头们并没有对开罗刺耳的声音保持沉默。埃及的环境事务部设立了一个噪音污染部门。几年前,政府宣布打算通过收音机用一个统一的声音召唤信徒进行礼拜,以代替那些单独的宣礼塔,可至今还没有实施。但许多开罗人似乎并不太愿意放弃这个城市独特的声音。商人阿什沙夫·依斯马尔走进他那在拉美西斯广场旁边的办公大楼,颇有诗意地对此发表意见。正如他说的,“开罗嘈杂的声音正是开罗的一部分。”
翻译:旭文
噪音知多少
● According to WHO[世界卫生组织], the noisiest cities are: Tokyo, Nagasaki, New York, Buenos Aries.
● According to WHO, death from exposure to noise at around 210,000 deaths in Europe
● Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, high blood pressure, high stress levels, tinnitus【耳呜], hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful effects.
● The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is transportation systems, including motor vehicle noise, aircraft noise and rail noise.