【新唐人2011年12月20日訊】【看新聞學英語】

Hard to Breathe in Beijing’s Heavy Smog

令人窒息的北京重霧

By Daniel Chen, David Lee

【新聞關鍵字】

1. Smog [smɑg] n. 煙霧

2. Strain [stren] n. 壓力

3. Outpatient [‘ɑʊtp,eʃənt] n. 門診病人

4. gloomy [ˋglumɪ] adj. 陰暗的

5. hazardous [ˋhæzɚdəs] adj. 危險的

6. righteousness [ˋraɪtʃəsnɪs] n. 公理；正義

7. take the initiative ph. 採取主動

8. factor [ˋfæktɚ] v. 把…作為因素計入

Heavy smog has continued in Beijing for more than a week, and the city’s hospitals are feeling the strain of extra patients with breathing difficulties.

重濃霧持續在北京一個多星期，城市的醫院都感到了更多患者呼吸困難的壓力。

[Beijing Children’s Hospital]:

“There are a large number of patients with breathing problems at our hospital, everyday we have about seven or eight-thousand out-patients, seven or eight-thousand per day. We have over 900 beds and all of them are full.”

北京兒童醫院表示：「我們醫院有大量患者呼吸困難，我們每天有7、8千名門診病人，每天7、8千人。我們有超過900張病床，全部都滿了。」

One resident whose home is less than a mile from the Beijing TV Tower says it’s difficult to leave the house.

一名住在距離北京電視塔不到一英里的居民說，他很難出門。

[Beijing Resident]:

“You go out and you can’t breathe, taking medicine doesn’t help, you’re all blocked up, after walking you’ll be sweating all over. You cannot see the TV tower. It’s all grey. You can’t see anything. The atmosphere is really gloomy.”

該北京居民說：「你一出去就不能呼吸了，吃藥也沒有幫助，你全部堵死了，走路你都會汗流浹背。你看不到電視塔。眼前全都灰的。你什麼都看不到。整個氛圍真的很暗淡。」

Others are also having breathing problems.

其他人也有呼吸困難的問題。

[Mr. Liu, Beijing Resident]:

“Today I went out for probably two hours, when I came back I felt my nose was especially blocked, my body felt really uncomfortable.”

北京居民劉先生說：「今天我出門大概兩個小時，我回來的時候，我覺得我的鼻子特別阻塞，身體感覺非常不舒服。」

Authorities have insisted the smog is just fog and not pollution, but the pollution index broadcast hourly via Twitter from the US Embassy in Beijing says otherwise. The index has frequently shown ‘hazardous’ or ‘unhealthy’ readings all week.

當局堅持表示該濃霧是霧不是污染，但美國駐北京大使館在Twitter上的每時污染指數廣播卻顯示相反。該指數在整週經常呈現「危險」或「不健康」的讀數。

Local authorities are measuring larger particles, so they get a healthier reading.

地方當局測量的是較大的顆粒，使他們得到比較健康的讀數。

[Dr. Zhu]:

“Corruption, environmental pollution, many issues, when they are brought out on to the table and discussed, they say you are arousing fear, influencing the ‘harmonious society,’ going to extremes. People don’t have the ability to sort it out, and what the officials are protecting is not righteousness and knowledge, not the country and the people, but their own benefits.”

朱博士表示：「腐敗、環境污染、許多問題，當他們被帶上檯面討論，他們就說你在製造恐慌、影響「社會和諧」、走極端。人們沒有能力解決這些問題，而官員們保護的不是公理正義和知識，也不是國家和人民，而是他們自己的利益。」

Now many residents are taking the initiative to measure the air quality themselves.

現在很多居民都主動自己測量空氣品質。

The Ministry of Environmental Protection says it will factor smaller particles into its data, but only after 2016.

環保部表示，未來會考慮將更小粒子計入數據，但得在2016年以後。

本則影音新聞出處：新唐人電視台英語新聞

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-12-09/hard-to-breathe-in-beijing-s-heavy-smog.html

本專欄由前衛英語李德良老師主編 www.davidlee.url.tw

【佳句精選】

Many residents are taking the initiative to measure the air quality themselves.

很多居民都主動自己測量空氣品質。

【每日一句】

What these people are protecting is not righteousness but their own benefits.

這些人保護的不是公理正義而是他們自己的利益。