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.
现在越来越难找到平静，尤其是安静的环境了。只要问一问深入荒野的实地考察人员就能知道，即便是在阿拉斯加最偏僻的地方，头顶飞过的飞机所发出的声音都已经是再寻常不过的事了。
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-burly of the megalopolis that stretches from Boston, through New York City and on to Washington, D.C.
于是，国家公园管理局的科学家们跨越美国研究他们的声音生态。从大盆地沙漠的深处到波士顿、纽约城和华盛顿特区这些特大都市的喧嚣。他们记录了超过一百万小时的声音。
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.
他们发现，如果渴望宁静的你在东海岸，那么可以去缅因州的北部森林，或者纽约州北部的阿迪朗达克山脉。但如果想寻找真正的安静，我们把这个范围界定在少于20分贝，西部是最佳的选择。
The great swath of territory west of the Rockies but east of the western coast includes national parks, wilderness areas and even public lands that are probably as quiet as they were centuries ago. The researchers made that claim while presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on February 16th.
西海岸以东，洛基山以西的狭长地带，包括国家公园，荒野地区，甚至是公共地区，这些地方跟几个世纪前一样宁静。研究人员在2月16日的美国科学促进协会会议上发表了如是说法。
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.
噪声污染对人类没有好处，对一些耳朵更为敏感的动物更是如此，比如蝙蝠。而且这个问题并不只存在于陆地上，在海洋也同样存在噪声污染。在那里，人类制造的噪声会感染多种海洋生物的生活，比如鲸鱼。现如今，在地球上已经很难听不到噪音了。
