Plumbing – the plumbing diagram symbol for a water hammer arrestor

Pretty much, no. To reduce the noise you need to secure the pipes properly within the walls, and add pressure-relief tubes to the pipes that hold air in them beyond and above each fixture.

You cannot affect the pressure within the closed system of the plumbing by changing something on the outside of the system... so at a minimum you have to at least open the walls - something the landlord will frown on...

In the US you can almost always (almost... there's certainly exceptions) rely on hot being on the left and cold being on the right. This will be the case for washing machine hookups, bath tubs and faucets. I'm not sure if that is a code requirement anywhere, but it is almost universally used. Switching sides would have safety implications because someone would assume the right handle was cold and could be scalded when it ends up being hot.

So...

1. This is the hot.
2. This is the cold.
3. These little levers are where you turn the water on or off.

Also, note that in different regions and even from house to house the valve types can vary quite a bit. The values you have pictured are very modern and sleek and have built in water-hammer arresters. Some houses would just have two gate valves like you would use for an outside water hose with red and blue handles. Sometimes the two valves are linked and only have one handle that turns them both on or off. This Google Image Search shows the wide variety of types out there.