We used to have a kettle. A kind of fancy thing that could not only boil water, but also keep it at various nominated temperatures for hours. Trouble was the blessed thing would beep incessantly and loudly every time it had accomplished one of its arduous tasks.
我们以前有一个水壶。 一种花哨的东西，不仅可以烧开水，还可以将水保持在各种指定温度下几个小时。 麻烦是，每次完成一项艰巨的任务时，受祝福的东西都会不停地发出响亮的哔哔声。
Then we recently opted for a yet-more high tech solution, essentially a tap capable of boiling water, and the silence that descended on our house the following morning was positively golden.
然后，我们最近选择了一种更高科技的解决方案，本质上是一个能够烧开水的水龙头，第二天早上降临到我们家的寂静是金黄色的。
I once took a Chinese person to my home in the north of Scotland. On the way, we stopped the car in the middle of nowhere. It was the dead of night. I wanted her to experience something completely new.
我曾经带一个中国人去我在苏格兰北部的家。 在路上，我们在荒郊野外停下了车。 那是夜深人深。 我想让她体验一些全新的事物。
Or many things. Above, our galaxy, the Milky Way, can be seen with a clarity that is virtually impossible anywhere else, without inordinate amounts of travel-induced hassle.
或者很多东西。 上面，我们的银河系，银河系，可以以其他地方几乎不可能的清晰度看到，而不需要旅行引起的大量麻烦。
The freshness of the AQI0-air hit hard as we had come from a mid-90s polluted Shanghai. Then there was the absolute silence. There was likely not another human for 30 or 40 kilometres.
AQI0-空氣的新鮮度受到重創，因為我們來自90年代中期被汙染的上海。 然后是绝对的沉默。 30或40公里内可能没有其他人。
It terrified her.
这吓坏了她。
And she said, “I want to get back in the car right now”.
她说：“我现在想回到车里。”
Returning to 21st Century Nanjing, another beep has shattered the peace I’d been enjoying to concentrate for the last minute or so on this last-minute, down-to-the-deadline article. It’s the beep telling me the washing machine need be emptied. And if I don’t stop typing and do it right now, the beep will be back. On repeat.
回到21世纪的南京，又一聲哔哔聲打破了我在最後一分鐘左右一直享受的和平，一直專注於這篇最後一分鐘的截止日期文章。 哔哔声告诉我洗衣机需要清空。 如果我不停止打字，现在就做，蜂鸣声就会回来。 重复。
What’s that old adage; “Just because something can beep, that doesn’t mean it has to”?
那句老话是什么；“仅仅因为某物可以哔哔声，并不意味着它必须哔哔声”？
Machine emptied, it’s time for another sonic assault. In other countries, a simple and quiet alert, only audible in the immediate vicinity, is sufficient. But in China, a vehicle in the act of reversing need command an announcement which can be heard several blocks away.
机器清空了，是时候进行另一次声波攻击了。 在其他国家，一个简单而安静的警报就足够了，只有在附近才能听到。 但在中国，一辆正在倒车的车辆需要命令一个可以在几个街区外听到的公告。
请注意倒车
Take care; vehicle reversing
请注意倒车小心；车辆倒车
For noise, by way of intrusion is simply nigh-on unavoidable living in China. Former staffer for The Nanjinger, Laura Helen Schmitt, put up with her fair share of noise pollution during her tenure in Nanjing. She found it pays to start out on the right foot when deciding where to live, dispensing this valuable advice:
对于噪音来说，在中国，侵入简直是不可避免的。 《南京人》的前工作人员劳拉·海伦·施密特（Laura Helen Schmitt）在南京任职期间忍受了她公平的噪音污染。 她发现，在决定住在哪里时，从正确的脚开始是值得的，并给出了以下宝贵的建议：
“Don’t move into entirely new buildings, don’t move into non-secure compounds, don’t live next to a big crossing, don’t live next to a large square or park, don’t live next to a car park, consider a flat layout, live high up, live less central and don’t EVER open your windows at night.”
“不要搬进全新的建筑，不要搬进不安全的大院，不要住在大十字路口旁边，不要住在大广场或公园旁边，不要住在停车场旁边，考虑平坦的布局，住在高处，住在不那么中心，晚上永远不要打开窗户。”
That takes care of the big fish; the honking, the dancing, the selling, the building. Mostly. But Schmitt’s advice was proffered back in 2015 and since then we have seen significant success in silencing the Great Outdoors of China.
那照顾大鱼；按喇叭、跳舞、卖东西、建筑。 大部分。 但施密特的建议早在2015年就提出了，从那时起，我们在使中国户外活动沉默方面取得了重大成功。
Nevertheless, it is only in the last few weeks that my local pedestrian zone, one of the busiest in Nanjing, has become bereft of that announcement selling stinky doufu with which alerts readers may be familiar. It’s the one that grabs your attention thus; “Hi handsome boys and beautiful girls (帅哥美女大家好)…”.
然而，直到最近几周，我当地的步行区，南京最繁忙的步行区之一，才开始没有那个卖臭豆腐的公告，读者可能熟悉的警报。 正是这个吸引你注意力的人；“嗨，帅哥美女大家好……”。
In fact, almost all of the loudspeaker-toting vendors in the vicinity have fallen strangely quiet of late. Of course, it may be something to do with the new law on noise control which recently came into force. Read more about that in this month’s edition of The Gavel.
事实上，附近几乎所有的扬声器小贩最近都变得异常安静。 当然，这可能与最近生效的新噪音控制法有关。 在本月的《锤子报》中阅读更多内容。
Today though, noise pollution has upped its game and brought the battlefield into our own homes. And short of being a qualified electrician, there is little we can do to escape the audio pollutants that are a gift of technology.
然而，今天，噪音污染已经提升了游戏，并将战场带入了我们自己的家。 如果不是合格的电工，我们几乎无法摆脱作为技术礼物的音频污染物。
The tap has beeped again, to tell me the water temperature has reached 100 degrees.
水龙头又發出哔哔声，告诉我水温已经达到了100度。
Terrific. But while Chinese shall deem that safe, I merely remain satisfied that those beeps are but almost, just almost, indiscernible. Until we change the damned kettle again.
太棒了。 但是，虽然中国人会认为这是安全的，但我仍然对那些哔哔声几乎无法辨认。 直到我们再次更换该死的水壶。
