Too high a price

Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn it into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods, but the sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us. Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. The need to produce ever - increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products: beef, pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables. The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high: Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, salmonella in chicken and eggs, and listeria in dairy products. And if you think you'll abandon meat and become a vegetarian, you have the choice of very expensive organically - grown vegetables or a steady diet of pesticides every time you think you're eating fresh salads and vegetables, or just having an innocent glass of water! However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise. Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers - by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed (surprisingly?) that dogs barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike: lawn mowers, transistor radios, motorcycles, etc. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather surprising and possibly amusing old - fashioned source of noise. It seems we are at our noisiest when we are asleep! The rattling noise of the alarm clock at the bedside wakes us up. What an irritating way to start the day! It doesn't have to be this way. There are laws in most cities to stop factories emitting black smoke into the atmosphere, and there are also laws which force people to adopt anti - pollution measures, but these laws are not always rigidly enforced. It is cheaper for companies to break the laws and pay the fines than to buy the expensive equipment that will reduce the pollution. It is also cheaper for people to continue to throw rubbish away than to spend time and money on recycling. Noise pollution is at its worst in cities. It can make people ill, or drive them mad. It is a problem that we cannot afford to ignore.

污染就是我们为这个人口过密，过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。当我们开始考虑垃圾问题时，我们只有4种对付垃圾的方法：倾倒、焚烧、把垃圾变成再生材料或试图少产生一些垃圾。我们一直在试这4种方式，但是，我们在世界范围内仅产生的垃圾的量就有把我们覆盖的危险。然而，垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。日益增长的对廉价食物的需求导致了另一种形式的污染。工业化的农作方式生产出了廉价的肉类制品——牛肉、猪肉和鸡肉。使用杀虫剂和化肥生产出了廉价的谷物和蔬菜。为了廉价食物我们付出的代价已经太高了：牛肉中的疯牛病，鸡肉和鸡蛋中的沙门氏菌，奶制品中的利斯特杆菌。如果你想放弃肉类而变成一位素食者，那么你可以两者择一：或是选用价格昂贵、有机培植的蔬菜，或是当你认为在享用新鲜色拉和新鲜蔬菜或饮用一杯无害的水的时候，实际上每次都不断吃进杀虫剂。但是，还有一种更加隐蔽有害的污染，它专门影响城镇地区，侵袭我们的日常生活，那就是噪音。防盗警报器在白天和黑夜的任何时候都会响起来，它的作用只是骚扰过路行人，而实际上却帮助窃贼入室行窃。在街上，汽车的防盗警报不断对我们吼叫，这是人们极度烦燥的一个原因。最近一个有关噪音的作用的调查（令人吃惊地）指出，夜间连续不断的狗叫声在一个从1级至7级刻度表上应列为最严重的噪音污染。这个调查揭示了我们所不喜欢的大量的噪音的来源：剪草机、收音机、摩托车等等。新技术也为噪音作出了它的贡献。许多人都反对移动式电话，特别是在如饭店，公共交通车等公共场所使用移动电话。用移动电话大声交谈干扰我们的思路，破坏我们和朋友在一起轻声聊天所得到的乐趣。这个有关噪音的污染调查还揭示了一种出人意外而同时可能会引人发笑的老式噪音源。看起来似乎我们在睡觉时是最吵的！床边闹钟的铃铃响声把我们唤醒。多么令人恼怒的开始一天的方式啊！事情不必定要这样。大多数城市都有制止工厂向大气层排放黑烟的法令，也有些法律要求人们采取措施减少污染，但是这些法律并未被严格执行。对公司来说，违犯法律，交点罚金要比购买昂贵的防止污染设备要便宜得多。对人们来说，继续扔掉垃圾要比花时间和金钱去回收垃圾便宜得多。噪音污染在城市中最严重。它可以使人生病，也能使人发疯。对这个问题我们不能漠然不顾。