新概念英語第四冊(cè)（美音版）Non-auditory effects of noise

[00:00.72]Lesson 25 [00:03.39]Non-auditory effects of noise [00:13.04]What conclusion does the author draw about noise and health in this piece? [00:20.97]Many people in industry and the Services, [00:24.92]who have practical experience of noise, [00:28.11]regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; [00:33.52]they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people. [00:39.59]On the other hand, [00:41.14]those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence [00:46.05]to support their pleas for a quieter society. [00:51.24]This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, [00:57.25]and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with bad science. [01:04.03]One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. [01:09.78]A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, [01:14.08]was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, [01:20.72]with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck'. [01:28.22]On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist [01:33.76]who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more [01:37.86]until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. [01:42.71]Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one cannot distinguish cause and effect. [01:50.45]Was the noise a cause of the illness, [01:53.18]or were the complaints about noise merely a symptom? [01:57.48]Another patient might equally well complain [02:00.30]that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, [02:04.92]and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement. [02:09.74]What is needed in the case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, [02:17.17]to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. [02:22.66]Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, [02:26.76]examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: [02:32.00]the study was known as Project Anehin. [02:36.39]It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; [02:41.67]if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, [02:48.60]you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise. [02:54.98]But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests [02:59.61]were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. [03:04.41]This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: [03:09.99]if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, [03:13.90]it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. [03:22.54]That does not prove that it does not exist; but it does mean [03:27.73]that noise is less dangerous than, say being brought up in an orphanage [03:33.72]--which really is a mental health hazard.

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