北京大雪 天降還是人爲?

【英文原文】

Are Beijingers Getting Snowed About Who Makes The Weather?

When Beijing residents were surprised and delighted by rare snowfall earlier this Month, the Beijing Weather Modification Office took credit. But when Beijing was blanketed with more heavy snow this week, causing massive traffic disruptions and flight delays, they denied involvement. Could it be that Beijing's vaunted mastery of the weather is not as complete as it's sometimes cracked up to be?

Despite cold winters, snow is rare in this notoriously dry city - especially in early November. When Beijingers woke up to find massive snow out their windows two Sundays ago, the Beijing Weather Modification Office boasted of its role in bringing it about. 'We won't miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought,' Zhang Qiang, head of the modification office, told _ Xinhua. The office had enhanced what would otherwise have been light snow by firing 186 doses of silver iodide into the clouds to catalyze the precipitation process, she explained.

Then, when heavy snowfall returned this past Monday, the China Daily cited an unnamed official at the Weather Modification Office saying the snow was also artificially induced, but offered no further information _ .

On Thursday, the city was once again hit with snow. Indeed, it has been snowing on and off all week across much of northern China, with some cities seeing the heaviest snow in over 50 years, according to Xinhua. Premier Wen Jiabao spent Thursday traveling the region by train to inspect the damage _cn/news/china/11020307/20091112/ .

We called the Beijing Weather Modification Office to ask if the latest snow was its doing. This time, an official at the office said they hadn't induced snowfall on Monday or on Thursday. They had indeed induced snow two weeks ago, he said, but only to conduct tests in a very small area.

The Weather Modification Office has become a source of much fascination, if little understanding, since it supposedly engineered nice weather during the Beijing Olympics last year. Local residents regularly attribute heavy rain and other weather phenomena to the office's machinations, not least because officials from the office have sometimes been reported by local media taking credit following incidents of odd weather. If skies are especially clear in Beijing, rumors circulate that it is because an important official is in town. This time, the rumor is that the snowfall has something to do with U.S. President Obama's visit next week.

Recent weather in Beijing has indeed been odd. But anywhere else in the world, people just shrug at odd weather. In Beijing they assume the government is manipulating Mother Nature. After this week, perhaps some will view the claims about the Weather Modification Office more skeptically.

【中文譯文】

本月初那場久違的大雪讓北京市民又驚又喜，隨後北京市人工影響天氣辦公室宣佈那是一場人工降雪。但本週，當一場更大的降雪再次籠罩京城、造成大範圍交通擁堵和航班延誤後，該辦公室矢口否認與此有關。是不是北京方面自誇的天氣控制措施沒宣傳中那麼好，反而幫了倒忙了？

兩週前，當北京人從睡夢中醒來發現窗外雪花紛飛時，北京市人工影響天氣辦公室忙不迭地炫耀自己在其中扮演的角色。該部門負責人張薔對新華社表示，由於北京一直處於乾旱少雨的狀態，所以我們不會放過任何一次人工降水的機會。她說爲了給這場本該是小雪的降水過程“加碼”，該部門共向雲中施放了186根碘化銀煙劑。

本週一，當一場更大的大雪再次空降北京時，《中國日報》援引北京市人工影響天氣辦公室一位未具名官員的話報導這又是一場人工降雪；但報導沒有提供更多信息。

週四，北京再次下雪。事實上，中國北方大部分地區本週都在斷斷續續地下雪，據新華社報導，有些城市的降雪量創下了50年多來的最高紀錄。中國總理溫家寶週四坐火車前往受災地區視察損失情況。

本報曾致電北京市人工影響天氣辦公室，詢問最近這場降雪是不是人工降雪。一位辦公室官員說週一和週四的降雪都沒有人爲成分，兩週前確實進行了人工增雪，但只是在極小範圍內進行了試驗。

去年北京奧運會期間的好天氣據說正是北京市人工影響天氣辦公室的手筆，有鑑於此，如果對它完全不瞭解的話，這個名字足以帶有相當的魔幻色彩。北京人經常將大雨等氣候現象歸因於是這個辦公室在“做法”，原因之一就是在一些反常氣候現象發生後，其官員會不時在本地媒體上邀功。如果哪天北京的天格外藍，那麼就會有傳言稱是有重要高官到訪。而據傳，這次降雪與下週美國總統奧巴馬(Obama)訪華有關。

近來北京的天氣確實反常。不過，世界其他地方的人面對反常氣候只是無可奈何地聳聳肩，北京人則懷疑是政府操縱了自然。本週過後，或許會有更多的人以懷疑的態度看待北京市人工影響天氣辦公室的聲明。