走进静默区：手机缄默的无网世界

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[频率] to avoid being banned. Caleb Diller： Welcome back to Traffic Jam. I am Dr. Diller. Im your DJ this afternoon.

进入美国无线电静默区并没有可见的标志，但手机的沉默会给你一个明显的信号。

（问约翰·普尔）你有几格信号？约翰·普尔：完全没有，搜索中。

我与美国全国公共电台（NPR）的摄影师约翰·普尔都留意到，弗吉尼亚州与西弗吉尼亚州的州际线附近寂静一片。几乎所有的电台都接收不到……除了阿勒格尼山地电台——该台没有被禁的原因是其播放频率足够低。

凯莱布·迪勒：欢迎回到《音乐不塞车》。我是主持人迪勒博士，将陪伴你度过这个下午。

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[经常地]， you know， via[通过] 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[进步，发展] to that.

They still havent. With state and federal[联邦的] 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[陆上线路] 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[业余无线电]. Pat Schaffner says his ham radio hobby has actually helped in emergencies[紧急情况]. 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[分程传递（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[天文学] Observatory[天文台].

Unlike the tube-shaped optical[光学的] telescopes you might be thinking of， a radio telescope looks like a giant satellite dish[圆盘式卫星天线]. 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[妨碍，干扰] the telescopes readings， and it can trip up[使失败] antennas[天线] at the governments Sugar Grove research facility[设备]， which is also in the zone—so no interference[干扰] 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[电话亭].

Thats observatory engineer Chuck Niday.

Each week， he drives a 20-mile radius[半径] 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[难题] with radio noise. But most of those issues came about through cars and spark plugs[火花塞] and power lines[输电线]. And now， were living in a society where everything is wireless.

And constant connectivity has become a consumer[消费者] and cultural demand[需求]. George Murphy is IT director[主管] at the Snowshoe Ski Resort[胜地]. It happens to sit right inside the zone. So Murphy has to get creative to get customers cell service without running afoul of[与……冲突] the astronomers[天文学家].

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[安装] 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.

主持人凯莱布·迪勒每周主持一个节目。他就在西弗吉尼亚州的波卡洪塔斯县这里长大。

迪勒：我们以前并不知道外面的世界，你知道，通过电话和电脑之类的东西时刻保持联系，所以你瞧，我们有点像生活在过去那样。你知道，我们的生活还没那么先进。

他们（至今）依然没有那么先进。州立法令以及联邦法律禁止在此地设立手机信号塔以及Wi-Fi信号（装置）。在没有交通信号灯的绿堤镇上，居民如果想上网话，就要依靠陆上通信线连接，或者去当地图书馆。我们在图书馆遇到了阿尼·斯图尔特，他在退休之后搬到这里来住。

阿尼·斯图尔特：一辈子生活在这里的人从小到大都没用过手机，所以他们不稀罕这玩意儿。

有些人会利用业余无线电进行交流。帕特·沙夫纳表示，他的这个爱好其实在紧急情况很有用处。

帕特·沙夫纳：去年，我们这儿遇到了大风暴，当然了，好几天没有电，通信也基本没有了——所有电话线路都不管用了。我们整个县都有不少（业余无线电）信号点，我们在县这头可以和县那头的人说话，你知道，也许是接力传递哪家店开门的消息，又或是哪里有冰块之类的。

造成当地这种低技术含量生活的原因其实是美国国家射电天文台的一台精密射电望远镜。你想到的也许是圆筒形的光学望远镜，射电望远镜则不一样，它看起来更像一个巨型的卫星天线。绿堤望远镜与华盛顿纪念碑差不多高，其盘面足可以容纳两英亩地（约8094平方米）。卡伦·奥尼尔负责监管该地。

most of the times they do.卡伦·奥尼尔：这是一个巨大的信息收集区域，让我们得以观察到非常细微的能量，那正是我们试图研究的对象。我们所关注的这种能量甚至比一片雪花落地产生的能量还要少。

Wi-Fi信号所产生的能量会混淆或者干扰望远镜的读数，还会导致位于舒格格罗夫的政府研究机构（同样位于静默区内）的天线失灵——所以一切干扰项都被禁止了。

奥尼尔：这里至今仍是北美地区最安静的地方。查克·尼达伊：我们还是有通讯的，我的意思是，只是通过比较老派的方式。（笑）拨号电话——我们还有电话亭呢。

这位是天文台的工程师查克·尼达伊。他每星期都要开车沿着绿堤望远镜20英里（约32千米）的半径范围转一圈，监管可能出现的干扰。尼达伊：比方说有人在天文台附近搞了个Wi-Fi设备，对我们造成影响，我们就会要求对方把它关闭。大多数时候，人们都很合作。

不过，要让这一带不受杂音影响，如今是越来越难办了。卡伦·奥尼尔如是说——

奥尼尔：你回想一下1956年，那时这个观测站刚建成，无线电杂音也是一个难题，但当年的杂音主要来自汽车、火花塞以及电力线等。而现在，我们生活在一个一切都无线化的世界。

时刻保持连线已经成为消费者的需求，同时也是一种文化需求。乔治·默菲是斯诺肖滑雪胜地的IT主管。这个地方恰好位于静默区以内。所以默菲必须想个法子，让游客的手机照常运作，但又不会妨碍天文学家。

乔治·默菲：我们得找到一个不影响他们的通讯方法。

今年夏天，默菲在度假区的零售商业村安装了一个鞋盒大小的天线系统。这让斯诺肖的一隅有史以来第一次实现手机服务。

默菲：这太了不起了，太了不起了。从我来这里工作的第一天起，我就一直致力于这个项目，先后和好几家公司尝试合作。

在西弗吉尼亚州这里，山地的空气中酝酿着改变的味道。不过在这一带的大部分地区，生活还保持着慢节奏。对“干扰警察”查克·尼达伊来说，即时通讯和发短信都是在电视上或者去外地旅行才会看到的东西。

尼达伊：从口袋里掏出个玩意儿，发条短信给别人，30秒内就收到回复什么的确实挺不错的。但我不觉得这有多打紧，至少在这里不重要。

在这里，人们似乎乐于维持通讯不便的生活——至少，目前来说是这样。

语法小知识

在本文中，我们可以找到几个表达“阻碍、干涉”之意的用法：

1）interfere with（妨碍、扰乱），如：

The sound of the radio upstairs interferes with my work.（楼上收音机的声音妨碍我工作。）

另外，interference为interfere的名词形式。

2）trip up原意为“绊倒”，也可以表达“使犯错误”的意思，如：

This lawyer always tries to trip witnesses up by asking confusing questions.（这个律师总是问一些把人弄糊涂的问题，试图令证人说错话。）

3）run afoul of（和……相撞、冲突），如：

His proposal runs afoul of government plans to curb[控制] expenditure[支出] on education.（他的建议与政府控制教育经费的计划相冲突。）