CNN 2010-08-23

AZUZ: Well, that sense may be getting worse, especially for you all. And as somebody who played the drums in middle and high school. I sympathize with you. There's a new study out about 12 to 19 year old. It found that the number of teens who suffer from early signs of hearing loss is going up dramatically. We want you to look at these statisticses, they're pretty surprising.

 

Back in 1994, around 1 in every 20 teens had some kind of hearing loss. By 2006, that number was up to 1 in every 5. That means about 6.5 million teens experienced hearing loss. So, the next question is why? What is causing this increase?

 

Researchers are saying that that's what they need to focus on in the futre. One of the authors of this study, though, was asked if technology might be part of the reason.

 

DR. JOSEF SHARGORODSKY, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL:

Is it the iPod? Um, it's, from our study is specific, it's actually we can not say, what causes is of this increase from our data. Of course, world around us is getting louder. You can stand in a busy intersection¹ in New York, for example, and get sound levels that are dangerous high if you're exposed to it for a prolong period of time, and you can also get it from driving a convertible² on the highway. And so, of course, teenages are using headphones, are using portable music devices now that they have not been using previously³. And so, that's certainly one possibility.

1 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

2 convertible   

adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车

参考例句：

• The convertible sofa means that the apartment can sleep four.有了这张折叠沙发，公寓里可以睡下4个人。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。