在印度 防霧霾口罩變成時尚配飾

NEW DELHI — It isn’t just sweaters the kindergartners are wearing as they pour out of their classrooms onto the lawns of the American Embassy School in India’s capital city.

新德里——在印度首都的美國大使館學校，當幼兒園的孩子們涌出教室奔向草坪時，身上不只是穿着毛衣。

They are also wearing face masks.

他們還戴着口罩。

The school does not require students to wear air filtration masks against the polluted air here, the worst in the world, in the estimation of the World Health Organization. But it has created what its director calls “a culture of acceptance” around wearing them.

據世界衛生組織的估計，新德里是世界上空氣污染最嚴重的地區。學校沒有要求學生戴上防污染的空氣過濾式口罩，但該校校長稱學校創造了一種戴口罩的“接受文化”。

It helps that they come in wild prints, made by a San Francisco company, many in fabrics from this year’s spring and summer collections of a top Indian fashion designer, Manish Arora . The Tiger’s Den, the campus store, has sold 800 this school year alone.

口罩上的花哨印花起到了一定推動作用，這些口罩由舊金山的一家公司生產，其中許多使用了印度頂級設計師曼尼什·阿若拉(Manish Arora)今年春夏服裝系列中的面料。校園裏的虎穴商店(Tiger’s Den)這一學年賣出了800只口罩。

With expatriates and health-conscious Indians leading the way, residents of the Delhi metropolitan area of 25 million people are finally taking steps to protect themselves from the health-threatening atmosphere, as people in Beijing and some other heavily polluted Asian cities have already done.

在市區人口達2500萬的新德里，居民們在外籍人士及有健康意識的印度人帶領下終於行動起來，像北京及其他污染嚴重的亞洲城市的人們一樣，保護自己不受威脅健康的空氣的侵害。

New Delhi has long been covered with smog, but concerns escalated in early 2014, when the W.H.O. study ranked New Delhi the worst. Then the American Embassy here began making its air pollution data publicly available. A government pollution board stepped up its efforts to consistently measure and report its findings.

新德里早就被霧霾籠罩，但在2014年初，擔憂開始加劇，當時世界衛生組織的研究將新德里列爲污染最嚴重的城市。後來美國駐新德里大使館開始公佈空氣污染數據。政府污染控制委員會加大努力，不斷測量並彙報相關結果。

“The catalyst was the data becoming available,” says Paul Chmelik, director of the American school.

美國學校校長保羅·赫梅利克(Paul Chmelik)說，“現在可以獲得數據，這是一種催化劑。”

Shri Ram School, an elite private school, canceled sports day this winter because strenuous activity was deemed unsafe in such polluted air. The Delhi High Court asked the government to take action to improve the air, saying that living in New Delhi was like “living in a gas chamber.”

精英私立學校施利拉姆學校 (Shri Ram School)今年冬季取消了運動會，因爲人們認爲在污染嚴重的空氣中進行劇烈運動是不安全的。德里高等法院(The Delhi High Court)要求政府採取行動改善空氣狀況，稱在新德里感覺像是“住在毒氣室”。

In January, the government restricted private cars in New Delhi to alternate days during a two-week test. To general surprise, the city’s famously lawless motorists actually followed the plan. The government plans to repeat the driving rules in April.

1月，政府對新德里私家車隔日出行的限行政策進行了爲期兩週的試驗。令大家感到意外的是，該市一向目無法紀的司機們竟然遵循了這項政策。政府計劃在4月再次實行這套駕車規定。

Air purifiers, from $50 to $1,000, have been flying off the shelves. And an Indian entrepreneur has been selling high-end, designer air masks in Khan Market, among the most expensive retail areas in the world.

空氣淨化器非常暢銷，價格從50美元到1000美元不等。一名印度創業者一直在可汗市場(Khan Market)售賣由設計師設計的高端口罩，可汗市場是世界上價格最貴的零售市場之一。

When the store’s owner, Jai Dhar Gupta , began selling the masks in January 2015, he estimated that he would sell about 10,000 a year. He sold that many in nine days.

商店老闆賈伊·達爾·古普塔(Jai Dhar Gupta)從2015年1月開始出售這種口罩，當時他估計一年可以賣出1萬隻口罩。實際上他九天就賣出了這麼多。

A New Delhi native who used to own a call center company in San Francisco, Mr. Gupta developed a serious respiratory illness while training for a marathon in 2014, and recovered only after he began using an air filtration mask made by Vogmask. He became the company’s Indian distributor a year ago.

古普塔是新德里本地人，曾在舊金山開了一家電話客服中心。2014年進行馬拉松訓練時，古普塔患上嚴重的呼吸道疾病，在開始使用威隔(Vogmask)製造的空氣過濾式口罩後才慢慢恢復。古普塔在一年之前成爲該公司在印度的經銷商。

This winter, he says, he has been selling 500 to 700 masks a day from two retail stores in the New Delhi area as well as the school shop and a website.

他表示，今年冬季，他在新德里開設的兩家零售商店、學校商店及一家網店每天可以賣出500到700只口罩。

The masks, when properly fitted, filter out 99 percent of airborne particles and are certified as personal protective equipment by agencies of the Chinese and South Korean governments, according to the company.

該公司聲稱，這種口罩如果佩戴恰當可以濾除99%的空氣顆粒物，而且它被中國及韓國政府機構認證爲個人防護用品。

Vogmask has been manufacturing the masks in South Korea since 2012, and plans to begin making them in India this year. Reusable and made from a patented fabric, they retail for about $35, a price that is out of reach for the majority of Indians.

威隔從2012年開始在韓國生產口罩，並計劃今年開始在印度生產。這種由專利面料製作的口罩可重複使用，零售價爲35美元，這超出了大多數印度人的承受範圍。

Foreign companies and nonprofits were among the early adopters. The Red Cross office in New Delhi bought masks for all of its employees this winter. Abid Malik, who works there, wears his mask while jogging.

外國公司及非營利機構是最早的使用者之一。新德里紅十字會辦公室今年冬季爲所有員工購買了這種口罩。其工作人員阿比德·馬利克(Abid Malik)會戴着口罩慢跑。

“Before using it, I used to cough all the time,” he said. “Now I feel better.”

“在使用這種口罩之前，我一直咳嗽，”他說。“我現在感覺好多了。”

Surendra Singh, 49, got an air filtration mask when his nonprofit company distributed them to all 30 employees this winter. “We were all really panicked about the air,” he said.

今年，49歲的蘇倫德拉·辛格(Surendra Singh)獲得一隻空氣過濾式口罩，他所在的非營利公司今年冬季向全部30名員工分發了口罩。他說，“我們都對空氣污染感到恐慌。”

He asked for the black mask with two air filters, which was advertised as the best design for active people, and wears it during his commute on three buses.

他要了一種帶有兩個空氣過濾閥的黑色口罩，並在需要換乘三輛公交車的通勤期間佩戴。廣告宣稱這種口罩是針對活躍人士的最佳設計。

On a rainy morning last month, he was the only one on the bus with his nose and mouth covered. This made him the subject of intense curiosity and concern among commuters who still widely regard the masks with suspicion.

上月一個下雨的早晨，他是公交車上唯一一個遮住口鼻的乘客。他引起了周邊上班人士的強烈好奇和關注，他們普遍對這種口罩持懷疑態度。

Asked why they were staring at him, most people said they were worried that he was sick, perhaps with tuberculosis. Others said they suspected he was mentally ill.

被問到爲什麼盯着他看時，大多數人表示，他們擔心他生病了，或許是得了結核病。還有人則表示他們懷疑他有精神病。

“Is he mad to wear that mask?” asked a 24-year-old hairdresser, Sonu Kumar.

“他戴着這種口罩，他是瘋了嗎？”24歲的美髮師索努·庫馬爾(Sonu Kumar)問道。

As Mr. Singh got off the bus and began walking in the morning drizzle across a pedestrian footbridge toward his office, a 21-year-old student named Liaqat Ali was huddled with dozens of passengers under the bus shelter, continuing to stare.

當辛格下車，開始在濛濛細雨中穿過行人天橋朝着辦公室走時，與幾十名乘客擠在候車亭的21歲學生裏阿卡特·阿里(Liaqat Ali)仍在盯着他看。

“I think maybe he is so sick that he will die if he does not wear that mask,” Mr. Ali said.

阿里說，“我覺得他可能病得很嚴重，可能不戴口罩就會死。”

That attitude has restricted sales in India, Vogmask’s co-founder Wendover Brown says. Her sales in China are four times as high.

威隔的聯合創始人溫德沃·布朗(Wendover Brown)表示，這種態度限制了口罩在印度的銷售。這種口罩在中國的銷售量是印度的四倍。

At the American school, the administration held forums to discuss the pollution, created a committee to develop an action plan and asked the campus store to stock the masks.

在這所美國學校，管理部門舉行論壇討論污染問題，成立委員會制定行動計劃，並要求學校商店儲備口罩。

A year ago, mask wearers were in the minority at school, but now most students wear them, says a parent, Aurelia Driver.

學生家長奧裏莉亞·德里弗(Aurelia Driver)表示，一年前，學校裏戴口罩的學生屬於少數，如今大多數學生都戴上了口罩。

She sends her children to school with masks on their faces, attached by elastic bands so the masks can hang around their necks when indoors.

她送孩子們上學時一直戴着口罩，口罩上有鬆緊帶，在室內的時候可以掛在脖子上。

What began as a grim necessity has for many children become something of a fashion accessory, she said. “Having something fun and cool makes it something the kids want to wear,” she said. Another mother said she had bought them for her daughters after they pleaded for them, arguing that all the other kids had them.

她表示，起初對很多孩子來說是必需品的東西變成了一種時尚配件。她說，“這些口罩有趣，夠酷，孩子們都想戴。”另一位母親表示，女兒們想要口罩，說是別的孩子都有，所以她就給她們買了。

The school has instituted a policy against students doing aerobic activity without wearing protective masks when the particulate levels reach the hazardous range.

該學校制定了政策，當顆粒物水平達到危險範圍時，禁止學生在沒有戴上防護口罩的情況下做有氧運動。

That led the girls’ varsity soccer team to put in an order this month for masks for the entire team.

這促使學校的女子足球隊本月爲全隊訂購了口罩。