外刊出题源|第1期：Quiet Carriage：Shhhh!（安静车厢，嘘！）

2016-08-03 Yoyo老师 奇喵校园 

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作者：奇喵学院

Yoyo 老师

文章导读：你是否设想过在这样的火车上开展一段旅程：没有语笑喧哗，没有“熊孩子”的哭喊，只有偶然间传来的低声交谈，或是亮起供阅读的柔和灯光，每个人都自觉地将电子设备调成静音，如同在图书馆一般。这就是本期文章所描绘的“安静车厢”，让我们一起来学习这篇文章吧！

Why quiet carriages don’t work, and how they might be made to?

(QUIET carriages on trains are a nice idea: travelers voluntarily switch phones to silent, turn stereos off and keep chatter to a minimum.)（①此处常设细节题，考查对“quiet carriage”的定义，要通过这些描述性的语言掌握“quiet carriage”的本质。） In reality, there is usually at least one inane babbler to break the silence.

(A couple of problems prevent peaceful trips. First, there is a sorting problem: some passengers end up in the quiet carriage by accident and are not aware of the rules. Second, there is a commitment problem: noise is sometimes made by travelers who choose the quiet carriage but find an important call hard to ignore.)（②此处常设细节题，考查“安静车厢计划无法顺利实施”的原因，选项中常常会有一些“无中生有”的干扰，也会将原文内容进行“拆分”或“改述”，需要注意重点单词被“替换”的可能性。）

(The train operators are trying to find answers. Trains in Queensland Australia, are having permanent  signs added to show exactly what is expected; a British operator has invested in signal-jamming technology to prevent phone calls. Microeconomics suggests another approach: putting a price on noise.)

（③此处常设细节题，考查文章提出的两种确保“安静车厢”计划顺利施行的措施：

一是“permanent signs”（常设标识）；

二是“putting price”（与金钱挂钩）。

需要注意的是，下一段介绍了第二种方案的具体实施内容，包括“fining”（开罚单）、“price separation”（价格区分）、“a ratings system”（打分系统）等。出题时，容易将所有的内容糅杂在一起进行干扰。）

Fining people for making a din would surely dissuade the polluter and is a neat solution in theory, but it requires costly monitoring and enforcement. Another tack would be to use prices to separate quiet and noisy passengers—in effect, creating a market for silence. A simple idea would be to sell access to the quiet carriage as an optional extra when the ticket is bought. Making the quiet coach both an active choice and acostly one would dissuade many of those who do not value a peaceful ride.

Charging may also solve the commitment problem. This is particularly tricky, as attitudes to noise can change during the journey. Some passengers would pay the quiet premium but still chatter away when some vital news arrives. Schemes that reward thesilent—a ratings system among fellow passengers, for example—could help. The idea is that losing your hard-won reputation offsets the short-term gain from using the phone. But such a system also fails the simplicity test.

A 2010 book by George Akerlofand Rachel Kranton argues that “norms”—feelings about how everyone should behave—also play a role in decision-making. Charging a price, even if just a token amount, means the quiet carriage becomes a service that fellow passengers have bought, not just a preference they have expressed. Perhaps different norms would come into play, encouraging calm. (If not, a personal bubble is always an option: noise-cancelling headphones start at around $50.)（④此处常设态度题，通过这句话考查作者对于“安静列车”施行状况的个人态度，选项可以是：乐观的；消极的；冷漠的；客观的。）

------【词汇表达】------

permanent    

a. 永久（性）的; 稳定的; 常设的

例：They had no permanent address. 

他们没有固定居所。

signal-jamming    

信号干扰

例：The plane is used for signal-jamming and radar detection.

 这架飞机用于进行信号干扰和雷达探测。

a ratings system   

评级系统

例：He argued that mainland film-makers need a ratings system.

他说大陆的电影人需要一个电影分级系统。

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