為什么雪讓世界這么安靜?

為什么雪讓世界這么安靜?

Hush. It's snowing outside.

噓。外面下雪了。

At least, doesn't it feel like that when snowflakes make their grand entrance, pirouetting from the sky like tiny, twirling ballerinas?

至少，當雪花隆重登場時，從空中自旋而下，就像旋轉的小芭蕾舞演員，你不覺得是這樣嗎?

Every now and then, a fresh snowfall may be just the interlude the world needs. (Photo: Mirelle/Shutterstock)

Snowflakes look good. They even taste good. But they sound like … nothing.

雪花看起來不錯。它們甚至很好吃。但聽起來…什么都沒有。

So what gives? Does a good snowfall really take the whole world's breath away?

雪帶來了什么?一場好雪真的能讓整個世界都屏住呼吸嗎?

Snow is one of nature's most effective forms of insulation. (Photo: Maja Marjanovic/Shutterstock)

The question was recently posed on Reddit, where opinions varied from the very sensible — "birds go inside where they have central heating and blankets" — to the very romantic — "snow falls slowly, creating relaxing, peaceful thoughts."

這個問題最近在Reddit上被提了出來，大家的觀點各不相同，從最理智的——“鳥兒進到有中央供暖系統(tǒng)和毯子的房間里”——到最浪漫的——“雪下得很慢，讓人產生放松、平靜的想法。”

Of course, the real reason for snow's muting effect is grounded in physics — the shape and composition of the flakes themselves.

當然，雪的靜音效應的真正原因是基于物理——雪花本身的形狀和組成。

"Snow is going to be porous, and typically porous materials such as fibers and foams, and things of that sort, absorb sound pretty well," David Herrin, a professor at the University of Kentucky's College of Engineering, tells Accuweather.com.

肯塔基大學工程學院的教授大衛(wèi)·赫林在接受Accuweather.com網站的采訪時說:“雪是多孔的，典型的多孔材料，如纖維和泡沫等，能很好地吸收聲音。”

Think of snow like egg cartons in a sound studio. As it falls, it lines the streets and sidewalks, covering cars and houses in a noise-muffling embrace.

把雪想象成聲音工作室里的蛋盒。當它落下的時候，它在街道和人行道上排成一排，覆蓋著汽車和房屋，發(fā)出一種消聲的擁抱。

Sound absorption, Herrin explains is is gauged on a scale from 0 to 1. Based on previous measurements, sound absorption for snow is in between 0.5 to 0.9, Herrin said.

赫林解釋說，吸聲是按0到1的刻度來測量的。Herrin說，根據(jù)之前的測量，雪的吸聲在0.5到0.9之間。

"That implies that a good amount of sound is going to be absorbed," he explains.

“這意味著大量的聲音將被吸收，”他解釋道。

Even cars must take a necessary pause after a fresh snowfall. (Photo: Andrew Angelov/Shutterstock)

But what about the snow that hasn't quite covered the ground yet? There's no mistaking the icy interlude of a snow shower in progress. The thing is, falling flakes, like drops of rain, do make sound. But, as The Washington Post reports, the pitch is too high to be detected by the human ear. For animals that can hear snowfall, like wolves and bats and birds, it's no symphony. They often retreat to shelter.

但是還沒有完全覆蓋地面的雪怎么辦呢?毫無疑問，這是一場正在進行的陣雨。問題是，飄落的雪花，就像雨滴，會發(fā)出聲音。但是，正如《華盛頓郵報》所報道的，這種音調太高，人耳無法察覺。對于能聽到下雪聲音的動物，比如狼、蝙蝠和鳥類，這不是交響樂。他們經常躲到隱蔽處。

And for fish, as Lawrence Chum explains in the Post, snowfall sounds like a "freight train" as those tiny air-filled flakes smack into the water.

而對于魚類來說，正如勞倫斯·楚姆在帖子中解釋的那樣，當那些微小的充滿空氣的雪花撲通一聲落入水中時，降雪聲聽起來就像一列“貨運火車”。

But in cities, after snowflakes cease to fall, winter returns to its usual regularly scheduled programming: The sound of cars mashing through gravelly slush, shovels unsheathed to gnaw noisily at pavement and the thump-thump-thump of tired boots on uncertain sidewalks.

但在城市里，當雪花不再飄落，冬天又回到了它通常的日程安排:汽車在砂礫的爛泥中碾過的聲音，鏟子開鑿路面的聲音，以及疲憊不堪的靴子在不確定的人行道上的砰砰聲。

"After a snow has gotten hard or icy, then a lot of the sound is going to bounce back or be reflected at that point," Herring explains to Accuweather.

“在一場雪變硬或結冰后，很多聲音會反彈或在那一點上反射，”赫林向Accuweather解釋說。

"It doesn't seem as quiet outside in that case."

“在那種情況下，外面似乎不那么安靜。”

No, just the usual soundtrack of winter misery.

沒有，只有冬日苦難的聲音。

Here comes the snow.

雪來了。

"As sound travels, sounds are muffled," wrote one Redditor. "So the snow makes the world sounds a lot less like it's kerfuffled."

一位紅迪網用戶寫道:“當聲音傳播時，聲音就會減弱。”“所以雪讓世界聽起來不那么混亂。”