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New Map Knows Noise 新地圖知道哪裡有噪音

National Park Service researchers recorded ambient sound from all over the country to find out where there’s still stillness.

美國國家公園管理局研究人員從全國各處錄下環境聲音，以找出哪裡還保有寂靜。

It’s harder and harder to find peace and, especially, quiet. Just ask a field researcher deep in the wilderness. Even in the most remote parts of Alaska the sound of a jet crossing overhead is all too common.

現在越來越難找到寧靜，尤其是寂靜。去問個在荒野深處從事田野研究的人員吧。即使是在阿拉斯加最遙遠的地方，噴射機在頭頂上呼嘯而過也很平常。

So scientists with the National Park Service set off across the U.S. to study our audio ecology. They recorded more than a million hours of sound from the depths of the Great Basin’s deserts to the hurly burley of the megalopolis that stretches from Boston, through New York City and on to Washington, D.C.

所以科學家們與美國國家公園管理局動身探訪全美，研究我們的聲音生態學。他們錄下超過100萬小時的聲音，從大盆地國家公園荒野深處到喧鬧的大都會區——從波士頓延伸，貫穿紐約市，直到華盛頓特區。

They found that if you’re craving quiet on the east coast head to the north woods of Maine or the Adirondacks in upstate New York. But for real quiet—defined as less than 20 decibels—the West is best.

他們發現，如果你渴望在東岸尋得安靜，得往緬因州北方森林去，或者前往紐約州北部的阿第倫達克山脈。但如果想找到真正的寂靜——噪音低於20分貝——西部將是最佳選擇。

Noise pollution is not good for people and it’s even worse for animals with more sensitive ears, like bats. And the problem is not confined to land but echoes across the seas as well, where human-produced noise interferes with the lives of various ocean dwellers, including whales. These days on Earth it’s rare to hear [silence].

噪音污染對人們不好，對有敏感耳朵的動物更糟糕，像是蝙蝠。而噪音的問題是，它不僅限於陸地，回音也穿過海洋，人類在陸地製造的噪音，干擾海洋中的各種生物，包括鯨魚。如今在地球上很難聽得到「寂靜」。

宏浩翻譯    引用自  http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=871478&day=2015-04-14