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.

　　寻求安宁越来越难，想要安静更难。不信你随便去问一个某一领域深入荒野的专家，即使在阿拉斯加最偏远的地区，头上传来飞机的声音也是件很寻常的事。

　　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.

　　美国国家公园管理局的科学家们纷纷出发前往美国各地研究美国的“音频生态”。从大盆地的沙漠深处到喧嚣杂闹的大都市，从波士顿、穿越纽约市再到华盛顿，他们记录下了超过100万小时的声音。

　　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，如果你在东海岸想寻求安静，那就前往缅因州的北部森林或者去纽约州北部的阿迪朗达克山脉。但若你想要获得真正的安静——比如说低于20分贝的安静——西部是最好的选择。

　　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.

　　落基山脉以西的大片领土、西海岸东部广大地区包括国家公园、自然保护区甚至公有土地可能都像几百年前一样安静。研究人员于2月16日在美国科学促进协会的年度会议上发表了他们的研究结果。

　　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].

　　噪音污染对人类有害，对于像蝙蝠那样听觉灵敏的动物们有害程度更甚。并且噪音污染问题并不仅局限于大陆，它的害处也波及到了海洋。人类制造的噪音同样干扰了包括鲸鱼在内的居住在海洋里的生物。“寂静”在地球上越来越罕见了。