Lesson 47 Too high a price

Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet.

然而，垃圾只是我們這個星球的污染問題的一個方面。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution.

日益增長的對廉價食物的需求導致了另一種形式的污染。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products: beef, pork and chicken.

工業化的農作方式生產出廉價的肉類制品——牛肉、豬肉和雞肉。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables.

使用殺蟲劑和化肥生產出廉價的谷物和蔬菜。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

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.

牛肉中的瘋牛病，雞肉和雞蛋中的沙門氏菌，奶制品中的利斯特桿菌。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

And if you think you'll abandon meat and become a vegetarian,

如果你想放棄肉類而變成一位素食者，

Lesson 47 Too high a price

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!

或是選用價格昂貴、有機培植的蔬菜，或是當你認為在享用新鮮色拉和新鮮蔬菜或飲用一杯無害的水的時候，實際上每次都不斷吃進殺蟲劑。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise.

但是，還有一種更加隱蔽有害的污染，它專門影響城鎮地區，侵襲我們的日常生活，那就是噪音。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle.

防盜警報器在白天和黑夜的任何時候都會響起來，它的作用只是騷擾過路行人，而實際上卻幫助竊賊入室行竊。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation.

在街上，汽車的防盜警報不斷對我們吼叫，這是人們極度煩燥的一個原因，

Lesson 47 Too high a price

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 1 to 7.

最近一個有關噪音的作用的調查（令人吃驚地）指出，夜間連續不斷的狗叫聲，在一個從1級至7級刻度表上應列為最嚴重的噪間污染。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike.

這個調查顯示出很大數目我們不喜歡的噪音源：

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day, late-night parties in apartment blocks, noisy neighbors, vehicles of al kinds, especially large container trucks thundering through quiet village, planes and helicopters flying overhead, large radios carried round in

夏天嗚嗚作響的割草機，公寓樓里深夜聚會的喧嘩聲，大聲吵鬧的鄰居，各式各樣的車輛，特別是穿越寂靜的村莊的集裝箱卡車，從頭頂飛過的飛機和直升機，被帶到公共場所、音量開到最大的大功率收音機。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

New technology has also made its own contribution to noise.

新技術也為噪音作了它的貢獻。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport.

許多人都反對移動式電話，特別是在如飯店，公共交通車等公共場所使用移動電話。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat.

用移動電話大聲交談干擾我們的思路，破壞我們和朋友在一起輕聲聊天所得到的樂趣。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

The noise pollution survey revealed a rather spurring and possibly amusing old fashioned source of noise.

這個有關噪音的污染調查還揭示了一種出人意外而同時可能會引人意外而同時可能會引人發笑的老式噪音源。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

It turned out to be snoring! Men were found to be the worst offenders.

它竟然是鼾聲。人類是這方面的罪魁禍首。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid-thirties snore.

調查指出，20%的35歲左右的男人打鼾；

Lesson 47 Too high a price

This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties.

而到60歲這個年齡段，這個數字上升到令人驚愕的60%。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly,

與這些數字相比，只有5% 的女性經常打鼾；

Lesson 47 Too high a price

while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners.

而其余則經常被與她們同睡、像吹號似地打著呼嚕的男人吵醒或弄得睡不著。

Lesson 47 Too high a price

Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems, has become a golden memory.

看來寂靜已變成一種珍貴的回憶。

Lesson 48 The silent village

In this much-travelled world, there are still thousands of places which are inaccessible to tourists.

在這個旅游頻繁的世界上，仍有成千上萬個游人足跡未至的地方。

Lesson 48 The silent village

We always assume that villagers in remote places are friendly and hospitable.

人們總是以為偏僻的地方的村民們熱情好客。

Lesson 48 The silent village

But people who are cut off not only from foreign tourists, but even from their own countrymen can be hostile to travellers.

但是，那些不但與外國旅游者隔絕，而且與本國同胞隔絕的人們有可能對游客抱有敵意。

Lesson 48 The silent village

Visits to really remote villages are seldom enjoyable --

到真正偏僻的村莊去旅游并不是一件愉快的事情。

Lesson 48 The silent village

as my wife and I discovered during a tour through the Balkans.

我與妻子在一次周游巴爾干半島時對此深有體會。

Lesson 48 The silent village

We had spent several days in a small town and visited a number of old churches in the vicinity.

我們在一座小鎮上逗留了幾天，參觀了附近的許多古老的教堂。

Lesson 48 The silent village

These attracted many visitors, for they were not only of great architectural interest, but contained a large number of beautifully preserved frescoes as well.

這些教堂吸引大量游客，不僅是因為建筑風格奇特，而且還有大量保存完好的壁畫。