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(2011·安徽) George Prochnik would like the world to_put_a_sock_in_it. He makes his case in a new book, Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise. Here he explains himself (using his indoor voice)： “We’ve become so accustomed to noise, there’s almost a deep prejudice against the idea that silence might be beneficial. If you tell someone to be quiet, you sound like an old man. But it’s never been more important to find continuing quiet. Silence focuses us, improves our health, and is a key to lasting peace and satisfaction.” “We need to excite people about the sounds you start to hear if you merely quiet things down a little. During a Japanese tea ceremony, the smallest sounds become a kind of art—the spoons making a light ringing sound on a bowl, the edges of a kimono(和服)brushing against the floor.” “Deaf people are very attentive(专注的)in almost every aspect of life. If two deaf people are walking together, using sign language, they constantly watch out for each other and protect each other by paying steady attention to the other. They are connected yet also fully aware of their surroundings. Even deaf teenagers! We in the hearing world can learn from them. If we remove the powerful blasts(一阵阵)of noise, we become aware of an extraordinarily rich world around us—of little soft sounds and the sound of footsteps, of bird songs and ice cracking(开裂声). It’s astonishing how beautiful things sound when you can really listen. ” | 
