Headphones are helpful. Many kids use them to listen to music or watch a cartoon. But headphones can be harmful, too. They can cause hearing loss if the volume is too loud. Surveys show that one out of every ten kids in the US has some hearing loss. The cause is loud noise, like listening to a band at a noisy concert.
耳机很有用。许多孩子用它来听音乐或看动画片。但耳机也可能有害。如果音量太大，可能会导致听力损伤。调查显示，美国每十个孩子中就有一个存在一定程度的听力损伤。原因是噪音太大，比如在嘈杂的音乐会上听乐队演奏。
Do you know how we hear? There are cells inside the ears that can't be seen with our eyes. "We call them hair cells," said Jackie Clark, a scientist studying noises and ears. Sound can make the hair cells move back and forward. Think of the wind in the leaves or a waving flag.
你知道我们是如何听到声音的吗？我们的耳朵里有眼睛看不到的细胞。研究噪音和耳朵的科学家杰基·克拉克说：“我们称它们为毛细胞。”声音可以让毛细胞前后摆动。想象一下风吹树叶或飘动的旗帜。
Once the cells are damaged by loud noises, they don't grow back. Sometimes there's tinnitus. It's like someone is playing a note on the flute for a long time. It shows we're losing hearing and in the worst case, becoming deaf. It makes us feel uneasy or even suffer an ear ache. It's necessary to protect our ears so that we don't end up in hospital.
一旦毛细胞因噪音过大而受损，它们就不会再生。有时还会出现耳鸣症状，就像有人一直在吹笛子一样。这表明我们的听力正在下降，最坏的情况下会变聋。耳鸣会让我们感到不适，甚至要遭受耳痛。我们需要保护自己的耳朵，以免到头来不得不住院治疗。
Let's follow some strict rules to protect our ears! Keep the volume low and seldom use headphones for more than one hour at a time. Unless it's necessary, don't use headphones in noisy places like a railway station, because you will need to turn up the volume to hear clearly. "If I can hear what you're listening to when you're wearing your headphones," Ms Clark said, "It's too loud." Although there are so many beautiful pieces of music, none should be listened to too loudly.
让我们遵守一些严格的规则来保护我们的耳朵吧！把音量调低，每次使用耳机尽量不超过一小时。除非必要情况，否则不要在火车站等嘈杂的地方使用耳机，因为你需要调高音量才能听清楚。克拉克女士说：“如果你戴着耳机时，我能听到你在听什么，那就是太大声了。”虽然世上有那么多美妙的音乐，但都不应该用太高的音量去听。