This topic will be about the science of acoustics, the study of sound, in relation to urban environments such as cities.
In the past, researching urban soundscapes was simple. We measured levels of sound in decibels, so I used to take my sound meter and l measured the noise somewhere, and then I might ask a sample of people to say at what level the sound became annoying.
It’s also known that noise can lead to a rise in levels of stress, due to physical changes in the body affecting the composition of the blood. And there are other problems as well, for instance if schoolchildren don’t have a quiet place to study. their work will suffer.
–[IELTS 剑12 Test8 Section 4]
Noise is one of the biggest pollutants in modern cities but the risk is often overlooked despite being linked to an increased risk of early death, according to research conducted by scientists.
That might seem benign—the sound of the bustle of the big city. But the din of vehicles, along with transit and industrial activity, is making people sick. People forget that noise pollution is still pollution. And noise pollution is everywhere.
这些喧闹的城市音看起来好像没什么大问题，但实际上，随城市转型与工业化而产生的交通噪音也会让人感到不适。人们忽视了噪音污染其实也是污染的一种，而且这一种污染如今非常普遍。Unlike many other injuries, hearing damage is irreparable. It also functions differently. People tend to assume that hearing loss is akin to turning down the volume in one’s head—that everything just sounds quieter. But it’s more complex than that. Sound at certain frequencies just vanishes—birdsong, the gentle rustling of leaves. People can avoid using earbuds excessively. But people do not necessarily have the ability to avoid high levels of environmental noise—it’s in their neighborhoods, near their schools, at their workplaces. That makes noise pollution a matter of bodily autonomy.和其他损伤不一样的是，听力的受损往往是不可逆的，同时它的影响机制是非常不同的。人们通常会觉得听力受损不过是人们接受到的声音音量会变小，就像把调低了大脑接收的音量一样。但实际情况比这个要复杂得多。听力受损可能会导致我们无法接受一定频率范围内的声音—比如鸟鸣声、树叶的沙沙声。人们或许可以通过佩戴耳塞在一定程度上减少一些噪音的影响。但人们却没有办法避开那些产生在学校、工作场合的环境噪音。在这样的情况下，人们是非自主地暴露在这样的噪音环境的。
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资料：Harry 编辑：Harry
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R 1
How can a tourist best enjoy this week-long vacation? The Golden Week holiday is when everyone is off work and can afford the time to travel, but this also means tourist sites are far too crowded to enjoy, let alone fully absorb. It’s hard to be invigorated whilst hiking up a mountain, for instance, when the slowest group of tourists is setting the pace on crowded pathway steps. Taking a nice photo of the beautiful autumn leaves along the Summer Palace lake is also very difficult when numerous other cameras are vying for the same angle and invading your shot.
如果您的邻居吵闹或让您感觉不舒服，请尽可能与他们讨论。如果这不起作用，您可以通过其他方式要求他们停止，例如向理事会报告。告诉您的邻居他们的行为如何影响您以及什么会有所帮助。倾听邻居的意见，看看你们是否可以一起达成妥协。
R 2
What are your ears hearing right now? Maybe the bustling sounds of a busy office, or your partner cooking dinner in the next room. Whatever the texture of the sonic landscape of your life may be, beneath it all is the same omnipresent din: the sound of cars.
你的耳朵现在听到了什么？也许是繁忙办公室的喧闹声，或者你的伴侣在隔壁房间做饭。无论你生活中的声音景观的质地如何，在它下面都是同样无处不在的喧嚣：汽车的声音。
R 3
We can all think of examples of irritating noises we’ve experienced: squeaking chairs, doors, or floorboards, yipping dogs and mewling cats, the next door neighbor hammering boards in his driveway, the copy machine whirring and whining next to your cubicle. All of these instances, and countless more, are sufficiently bothersome to get our blood boiling.我们都可以想到我们经历过的恼人噪音的例子：吱吱作响的椅子、门或地板，吠叫的狗和喵喵叫的猫，隔壁邻居在他的车道上敲打木板，复印机在你的小隔间旁边呼啸而过。所有这些情况，以及无数更多的情况，都足以让我们热血沸腾。
R 4
Noise is a problem largely unrelated to the moral pursuit of silence, the antisocial issue that has obsessed city dwellers for over a century. To combat it, urban residents must understand that noise is first—and worst—produced by those with the most power. That means industry and infrastructure, not individuals. The only way to save our ears is to start talking to our neighbors about noise instead of policing them for it. As citizens, we must work for large-scale changes at the local, state, and national level.
噪音是一个与对沉默的道德追求无关的问题，这个反社会问题已经困扰了城市居民一个多世纪。为了对抗它，城市居民必须明白，噪音首先——也是最糟糕——由最有权势的人制造。这意味着工业和基础设施，而不是个人。拯救我们耳朵的唯一方法是开始与我们的邻居谈论噪音，而不是为噪音监管他们。作为公民，我们必须为地方、州和国家层面的大规模变革而努力。
R 5
With the rapid increase in urbanisation, exposure to noise is increasingly recognised as a common and serious problem worldwide. Many studies have shown that noise is a primary contributor to certain risk factors related to physical and mental health, such as loss of hearing, sleep disorder, and stress . A series of policies and actions have been implemented to reduce the impact of noise. In the European Union (EU), various noise action plans following on the EU Environmental Noise Directive have been introduced, among which legislation regarding complaints is an important part. Noise complaints have been reported to be the single most common type of environment-related complaint; in addition, partly as a result of urbanisation, the role of urban planning in the sound environment of cities is receiving increased research attention across a number of disciplines随着城市化进程的快速推进，噪音暴露越来越被认为是世界范围内普遍存在的严重问题。许多研究表明，噪音是导致某些与身心健康相关的风险因素的主要因素，例如听力丧失、睡眠障碍和压力。已经实施了一系列政策和行动来减少噪音的影响。欧盟（EU）根据欧盟环境噪声指令出台了各种噪声行动计划，其中关于投诉的立法是重要的组成部分。据报道，噪音投诉是最常见的环境相关投诉类型；此外，部分由于城市化，城市规划在城市声音环境中的作用正在受到多个学科的越来越多的研究关注
