Non-auditory Effects of Noise

来源：长理培训发布时间：2017-08-09 11:40:23

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

I doubt my adequacy as a father.

Plea n. 要求 make plea for aid/money 要求资助

On the plea of sth. 以…为借口 I am absent on the plea of stomachache. 我以肚痛为由不去上课。

Plea v. plea for sth.

Abatement n. 减少

abate v. 减少(指harm,danger)decrease v./reduce/v./wane/diminish

The danger of the poisonous gas abated. / The wind abated.

Decrease,reduce 用于数量减少 wane vi. 减少，月缺

Wax vi. 月满 crescent 月牙

Diminish 可以指数量也可以指power The illness diminishes my strength/energy.

Discredit vt. 怀疑 credit 相信 suspect/doubt

Suspect （行为不轨）n. 嫌疑犯

doubt 怀疑事物的真实性

allegation n. 断言 =assertion/claim

allegation:sometimes no proof,hypothesis

assertion:My assertion is that he is back tomorrow. 有证据

My allegation is that he is back tomorrow.

allege v. It is alleged that…=It is reported…=It is said…

It is alleged that he is a shop lifter.

distress n. warry<忧伤<sadness<agony

agony column 只发布death,divorce的报纸栏目

matches 结婚dispatches 离别 hatches 生儿育女

caption n.插图说明

screaming a. 发尖叫声的 screak 尖叫 squeal 长声尖叫

snag n. 疑难之处，障碍，树桩 hit a snag 遇到困难 run into snags 碰钉子 hurdle race 跨栏赛跑 stumbling block 绊脚石 a lion in the way 拦路虎

anecdote n. 轶闻 curiosity n. 珍闻（动物）

slander vt. 诽谤 slander sb. 诽谤别人 pour a slander on sb. slanderer 诽谤者 gossip 谣言 gossipmonger 散布谣言者 rumor spreader slanderous remarks 恶语中伤的话 His words are so slanderous. scandal 丑闻 slur 搞模糊 defame 把名声搞臭 backbite 背后中伤 He backbites me. 他背后说我坏话。

persecute vt. 迫害-religious torture 折磨 I am persecuted.

aircraft carrier 航空母舰 HIV carrier

squadron n.中队 squad 班 eleven squad 足球队 detached group 别动队 platoon 排 company 连 battalion 营 battalion commander 营长 regiment 团 a regiment of geese 一群鹅 commando 突击队 brigade 旅 division 师 Marine Corps 海军陆战队 corps 军

diagnosis n. 诊断analysis 分析 hypothesis 假说 thesis 论文

orphanage n. 孤儿院 orphan 孤儿 breakage n. 破碎 leakage 泄露 wreckage n.残骸的状态

survey n. 综论 a survey of American literature

Notes on the text

industry 工业方面，工业界

Services: in America means army;

serviceman: 军人 ex-serviceman 退伍军人 ex-president 前总统 present president 现任总统 ex-wife 前妻 My ex-job is a secretary.

on the one hand.. on the other hand 一方面……，另一方面……

most前不加定冠词相当于very

good cause=good thing

and 在这儿表转折

mental illness 精神病