走進靜默區：手機緘默的無網世界

by Elise

There are no physical[有形的] signs youve entered the National Radio Quiet Zone， but the silence of your cellphone is a pretty clear signal.

（to John Poole） How many bars do you have？ John Poole： Zero. Searching.

NPR注1 photographer John Poole and I noticed the silence near the Virginia-West Virginia state line. Almost every radio station disappears…except for Allegheny Mountain Radio， which broadcasts at a low enough frequency[頻率] to avoid being banned. Caleb Diller： Welcome back to Traffic Jam. I am Dr. Diller. Im your DJ this afternoon.

進入美國無線電靜默區并沒有可見的標志，但手機的沉默會給你一個明顯的信號。

（問約翰·普爾）你有幾格信號？約翰·普爾：完全沒有，搜索中。

我與美國全國公共電臺（NPR）的攝影師約翰·普爾都留意到，弗吉尼亞州與西弗吉尼亞州的州際線附近寂靜一片。幾乎所有的電臺都接收不到……除了阿勒格尼山地電臺——該臺沒有被禁的原因是其播放頻率足夠低。

凱萊布·迪勒：歡迎回到《音樂不塞車》。我是主持人迪勒博士，將陪伴你度過這個下午。

DJ Caleb Diller hosts a weekly show. He grew up here in Pocahontas County， West Virginia.

Diller： We didnt realize that the rest of the world was like， getting connected and staying connected constantly[經常地]， you know， via[通過] phones and computers and all that， and so， you know， we were kind of， you know， back in time a little bit. We hadnt， you know， hadnt progressed[進步，發展] to that.

They still havent. With state and federal[聯邦的] laws keeping out cellphone towers and Wi-Fi signals here， residents[居民] of Green Bank， a no-stoplight town， check the Internet over landline[陸上線路] connections or at the local library. Thats where we found Arnie Stewart， who moved here after retirement.

Arnie Stewart： Those people that have lived here all their lives have grown up without a cellphone， so they dont miss it.

Some of them chitchat[聊天] over ham radios[業余無線電]. Pat Schaffner says his ham radio hobby has actually helped in emergencies[緊急情況]. Pat Schaffner： Last year， the big wind storm we had， of course， and we were without power for some days and without a lot of communications[通信]—all the phone lines were down[故障的]. So we had different spots around the county that we could talk from one end of the county to the other， and you know， maybe relay[分程傳遞（消息）] about a store being open or somewhere having ice.

The reason for the low-tech life here is actually because of a sophisticated[精密的] radio telescope注2 at the National Radio Astronomy[天文學] Observatory[天文臺].

Unlike the tube-shaped optical[光學的] telescopes you might be thinking of， a radio telescope looks like a giant satellite dish[圓盤式衛星天線]. The Green Bank Telescope is as tall as the Washington Monument注3， and large enough to fit two acres of land in it. Karen ONeil oversees[看管] the site.

Karen ONeil： Its a huge collecting area， and its what allows us to see these incredibly small energies that were trying to study. The types of energies we look at are less than the energy of a single snowflake falling on the Earth.

Energy from Wi-Fi signals can confuse[使糊涂] or interfere with[妨礙，干擾] the telescopes readings， and it can trip up[使失敗] antennas[天線] at the governments Sugar Grove research facility[設備]， which is also in the zone—so no interference[干擾] is allowed.

ONeil： It is still the quietest place within North America.

Chuck Niday： We still have communications.

I mean， its just older. （laughter） Dial-up telephones—we still have phone booths[電話亭].

Thats observatory engineer Chuck Niday.

Each week， he drives a 20-mile radius[半徑] around the Green Bank Telescope policing[管制] for possible interference.

Niday： Say someone has a Wi-Fi service set up near the observatory thats causing us interference. We can ask them to shut it off， and But keeping the noise down around here is getting harder these days. Karen ONeil.

ONeil： So if you think back to 1956， when this site was first built， there were issues[難題] with radio noise. But most of those issues came about through cars and spark plugs[火花塞] and power lines[輸電線]. And now， were living in a society where everything is wireless.

And constant connectivity has become a consumer[消費者] and cultural demand[需求]. George Murphy is IT director[主管] at the Snowshoe Ski Resort[勝地]. It happens to sit right inside the zone. So Murphy has to get creative to get customers cell service without running afoul of[與……沖突] the astronomers[天文學家].

George Murphy： We have to find a way to communicate that doesnt interfere with them.

This summer， Murphy got a system of shoebox-size antennas installed[安裝] in the resorts retail[零售] village. It brought cellphone service to a pocket of Snowshoe for the first time ever.

Murphy： This was huge. This was huge. From the day I started here， I was working on this project with several different companies.

So change is in the mountain air here in West Virginia. But for most of this area， life remains slower-paced. Instant messaging and texting is still something Chuck Niday， the interference cop， sees on TV or when he travels out of town.

Niday： Its nice to be able to just pull something out of your pocket and send a message to someone， and get a response[回答] within 30 seconds or so. But I dont know that its that necessary. At least， its not around here.

Around here， the people seem content to stay disconnected—at least， for now.

主持人凱萊布·迪勒每周主持一個節目。他就在西弗吉尼亞州的波卡洪塔斯縣這里長大。

迪勒：我們以前并不知道外面的世界，你知道，通過電話和電腦之類的東西時刻保持聯系，所以你瞧，我們有點像生活在過去那樣。你知道，我們的生活還沒那么先進。

他們（至今）依然沒有那么先進。州立法令以及聯邦法律禁止在此地設立手機信號塔以及Wi-Fi信號（裝置）。在沒有交通信號燈的綠堤鎮上，居民如果想上網話，就要依靠陸上通信線連接，或者去當地圖書館。我們在圖書館遇到了阿尼·斯圖爾特，他在退休之后搬到這里來住。

阿尼·斯圖爾特：一輩子生活在這里的人從小到大都沒用過手機，所以他們不稀罕這玩意兒。

有些人會利用業余無線電進行交流。帕特·沙夫納表示，他的這個愛好其實在緊急情況很有用處。

帕特·沙夫納：去年，我們這兒遇到了大風暴，當然了，好幾天沒有電，通信也基本沒有了——所有電話線路都不管用了。我們整個縣都有不少（業余無線電）信號點，我們在縣這頭可以和縣那頭的人說話，你知道，也許是接力傳遞哪家店開門的消息，又或是哪里有冰塊之類的。

造成當地這種低技術含量生活的原因其實是美國國家射電天文臺的一臺精密射電望遠鏡。你想到的也許是圓筒形的光學望遠鏡，射電望遠鏡則不一樣，它看起來更像一個巨型的衛星天線。綠堤望遠鏡與華盛頓紀念碑差不多高，其盤面足可以容納兩英畝地（約8094平方米）?？▊悺W尼爾負責監管該地。

most of the times they do.卡倫·奧尼爾：這是一個巨大的信息收集區域，讓我們得以觀察到非常細微的能量，那正是我們試圖研究的對象。我們所關注的這種能量甚至比一片雪花落地產生的能量還要少。

Wi-Fi信號所產生的能量會混淆或者干擾望遠鏡的讀數，還會導致位于舒格格羅夫的政府研究機構（同樣位于靜默區內）的天線失靈——所以一切干擾項都被禁止了。

奧尼爾：這里至今仍是北美地區最安靜的地方。查克·尼達伊：我們還是有通訊的，我的意思是，只是通過比較老派的方式。（笑）撥號電話——我們還有電話亭呢。

這位是天文臺的工程師查克·尼達伊。他每星期都要開車沿著綠堤望遠鏡20英里（約32千米）的半徑范圍轉一圈，監管可能出現的干擾。尼達伊：比方說有人在天文臺附近搞了個Wi-Fi設備，對我們造成影響，我們就會要求對方把它關閉。大多數時候，人們都很合作。

不過，要讓這一帶不受雜音影響，如今是越來越難辦了?？▊悺W尼爾如是說——

奧尼爾：你回想一下1956年，那時這個觀測站剛建成，無線電雜音也是一個難題，但當年的雜音主要來自汽車、火花塞以及電力線等。而現在，我們生活在一個一切都無線化的世界。

時刻保持連線已經成為消費者的需求，同時也是一種文化需求。喬治·默菲是斯諾肖滑雪勝地的IT主管。這個地方恰好位于靜默區以內。所以默菲必須想個法子，讓游客的手機照常運作，但又不會妨礙天文學家。

喬治·默菲：我們得找到一個不影響他們的通訊方法。

今年夏天，默菲在度假區的零售商業村安裝了一個鞋盒大小的天線系統。這讓斯諾肖的一隅有史以來第一次實現手機服務。

默菲：這太了不起了，太了不起了。從我來這里工作的第一天起，我就一直致力于這個項目，先后和好幾家公司嘗試合作。

在西弗吉尼亞州這里，山地的空氣中醞釀著改變的味道。不過在這一帶的大部分地區，生活還保持著慢節奏。對“干擾警察”查克·尼達伊來說，即時通訊和發短信都是在電視上或者去外地旅行才會看到的東西。

尼達伊：從口袋里掏出個玩意兒，發條短信給別人，30秒內就收到回復什么的確實挺不錯的。但我不覺得這有多打緊，至少在這里不重要。

在這里，人們似乎樂于維持通訊不便的生活——至少，目前來說是這樣。

語法小知識

在本文中，我們可以找到幾個表達“阻礙、干涉”之意的用法：

1）interfere with（妨礙、擾亂），如：

The sound of the radio upstairs interferes with my work.（樓上收音機的聲音妨礙我工作。）

另外，interference為interfere的名詞形式。

2）trip up原意為“絆倒”，也可以表達“使犯錯誤”的意思，如：

This lawyer always tries to trip witnesses up by asking confusing questions.（這個律師總是問一些把人弄糊涂的問題，試圖令證人說錯話。）

3）run afoul of（和……相撞、沖突），如：

His proposal runs afoul of government plans to curb[控制] expenditure[支出] on education.（他的建議與政府控制教育經費的計劃相沖突。）