豐田推出神奇新型電動車，發出的噪音能讓植物生長？

As we try to find the answer to climate change, each eco-innovation may spur even more questions about their overall effects.
在我們盡力想找到氣候變化的解決方法之際，每一項生態創新都可能引發更多關於其整體效果的問題。
Could the noise from wind turbines cause cancer? (Science says no.)
風力渦輪機的噪音是否會致癌？（科學否認了這一說法。）
Could the sound from an electric car stimulate plant growth, regenerating the environment we’ve helped destroy? Science says . . . maybe? Or at least, that’s the hope of Ayax Toyota.
電動汽車的聲音能刺激植物生長，重建被我們破壞的環境嗎？科學表明……可能會有效果，或者至少豐田Ayax公司希望如此。
Within the next two years, the U.S. and Europe will require electric cars to emit a noise in order to warn pedestrians of their approach, or else these quiet vehicles can take pedestrians and bikers by surprise.
未來兩年內美國和歐洲將要求電動汽車發出聲音，讓行人能夠聽到有車經過，否則這些靜音車輛會嚇到行人和騎自行車的人。
Instead of just installing a sound that mimics non-electric vehicles, Ayax, an independent, Uruguay-based manufacturer and distributor of Toyota vehicles, has partnered with digital innovation agency The Electric Factory, a sound designer and a “smart cities expert,” to create an audio that they say could go further to benefit the environment.
烏拉圭的豐田汽車獨立製造商和經銷商Ayax和數字創新機構The Electric Factory公司合作，這家公司設計聲音，也是“智能城市專家”。他們不是僅僅安裝模仿非電動汽車的聲音，而是要創造出一種他們認爲能進一步保護環境的聲音。

Called the HY Project (short for “harmony”), the sound is inspired by several amusing studies that have looked into the effects of audio frequencies on plants.
這種聲音被稱爲HY項目（是單詞“harmony和諧”的縮寫），靈感來自幾個有趣的研究，它們研究了音頻頻率對植物的影響。
In one out of India, researchers placed mung bean plants in soundproof chambers, one of which remained silent, another which had ancient chants piped in, and a third which scolded the beans with “discouraging words.”
在印度的一項研究中研究人員把綠豆放在隔音室裏，其中一間保持安靜，另外一間演奏古老的聖歌，還有一間用“令人沮喪的話”責罵豆子。
The chanted-to plants saw the “maximum elongation of the shoot,” showing, the scientists claim, that the mung beans picked up the audio vibrations.
聽聖歌的綠豆“豆芽長得最長”，科學家說這表明綠豆接收了聲音的震動。
In another, South Korea researchers compared different types of plants’ responses to a variety of frequencies and magnitudes, noting reactions like root-tip bending, an increase in the expression of “defense-related genes,” and a higher yield for crops from cotton to rice to tomatoes.
另外一項研究中，韓國研究人員對比了植物對各種頻率和音量的不同反應，他們注意到了一些反應，如根尖彎曲、“與防禦相關的基因”表達增加，以及棉花、水稻和西紅柿等農作物的產量提高。
They concluded though sound may be a “potential new trigger” for plant protection, there are still “some major concerns about the use of sound treatment in plant science,” including the fact that we still don’t know just how plants perceive sound.
他們總結說雖然聲音可能是植物保護的“新的潛在觸發器”，但仍有“一些主要的關於聲音療法在植物科學中使用的擔憂”，比如我們仍然不知道植物是如何感知聲音的。