On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one merely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement. 当人们急切地看完正文后,便知道这女子是个打字员,办公室打字机的声音使她越来越烦,最终住进了精神病医院。这类奇闻的疑难之处是无法区别因果关系。是噪音引起了(精神)病呢,还是(精神)病的症状之一是对噪音的抱怨?另有一位病人可能同样有理由抱怨说,她的邻居们正在联合起来对她进行诽谤和迫害,不过,人们不会轻信她的抱怨。
What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: 对于噪音问题,需要对大量生活在噪音中的人进行研究,看一看他们是否比其他人更易患精神病。例如,美国海军前些时候调查了许多在航空母航上工作的人,
New words and expressions 生词和短语
snag n. 疑难之处,障碍 anecdote n. 轶闻 slander v. 诽谤 persecute v. 迫害