TED演讲：为什么健康的生活方式几乎把我害死(5)

 　　The World Health Organization just did a big study that they published this year. 世界卫生组织做了一个大型研究，并于今年出版。

　　And it was done in Europe.  研究在欧洲进行。

　　And they estimated that 1.6 million years of healthy living are lost every year in Europe because of noise pollution. 他们预计，人类过去160万年形成的健康生活方式在欧洲逐年减少，这正是由于噪音污染。

　　So they think it's actually very deadly. 他们认为噪音污染的确是非常致命的。

　　And by the way, it's also terrible for your brain.  同时，它还对人的大脑非常有害。

　　It really impairs¹ cognition. And our Founding Fathers knew about this.  噪音污染会损害认知能力。我们的建国先父们认识到了这些。

　　When they wrote the Constitution, they put dirt all over the cobblestones outside the hall so that they could concentrate. 他们制定宪法的时候，把泥土涂满白宫外面的鹅卵石，这样他们就可以集中精力。

　　So without noise reduction technology, our country would not exist.  因此没有消除噪音技术，我们的国家就不会存在。

　　So as a patriot², I felt it was important to -- I wear all the earplugs and the earphones,  作为一名爱国者，我觉得这非常重要，我戴着耳塞和耳机，

　　and it's really improved my life in a surprising and unexpected way. 这对我的生活确实很有帮助，出乎我的意料，超出了我的期望。

1 impairs   

v.损害，削弱( impair的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Smoking impairs our health. 吸烟会损害我们的健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Almost anything that impairs liver function can cause hepatitis. 任何有损于肝功能的因素，几乎都会引起肝炎。 来自辞典例句

2 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。