重霾再襲中國東北 瀋陽PM2.5破千

When it comes to PM2.5 pollution — tiny, grungy particles discharged into the air by factories, boilers and motor vehicles, which damage respiration — the Chinese government says 35 micrograms per cubic meter is a healthy maximum.

PM2.5是工廠、鍋爐、汽車排放到空氣中的微小骯髒的顆粒，對呼吸系統有損害。中國政府表示，每立方米35微克PM2.5是不損害健康的上限值。

But over the weekend, Shenyang, an industrial city in northeastern China, endured PM2.5 readings that exceeded 1,000, even 1,400 micrograms, per cubic meter, at some measuring stations, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. Even for a country where chronic smog has inspired superlatives like “airpocalypse” and “crazy bad,” the numbers from Shenyang prompted a kind of awed revulsion.

但是據官方通訊社新華社的報道，上週末，中國東北工業城市瀋陽的PM2.5超過了每立方米1000微克，某些測量站甚至測得1400的讀數。在中國，頑固的霧霾已經引發了像“末日空氣”(airpocalypse)和“糟糕透頂”(crazy bad)這樣誇張的說法，但即使在這樣一個國家，瀋陽的PM2.5數字也不免令人驚懼。

Pictures from the city showed hardy residents plowing on bicycles through a gray atmospheric soup that cut visibility to just a few dozen feet. Ailing people crammed respiratory sections of hospitals. And even Xinhua scolded the city government, accusing it of failing to enforce emergency measures to cut smog and to warn citizens to stay indoors.

你可以在一些照片中看到，頑強的瀋陽居民騎着自行車，穿過能見度只有幾米的濃稠的灰色霧霾。病人擠滿了醫院的呼吸門診。就連新華社也批評瀋陽市政府未能實施緊急措施來減少霧霾，並且勸告市民留在室內。

“Some people have raised questions: In the face of this gross smog and pollution, why was the government’s emergency response plan ‘obstructed?’ ” Xinhua wrote.

“有人提出質疑，面對如此重度霧霾污染，政府應急預案爲何‘梗阻’？”新華社寫道。

“A plan seems to have covered every angle, but in practice how workable is it?” asked Bi Deli, an environmental researcher in Shenyang, according to Xinhua. “Channels of communication are blocked, and instructions aren’t really implemented.”

在新華社的報道中，瀋陽的環境專家畢德利指出，“一份預案看起來面面俱到，實際上可操作性怎樣？溝通渠道不暢通，各項指令不能真正落實。”

The smog enveloped much of northeastern China, perhaps puzzling at a time when a slowing economy has reduced industrial production across the region. But the burst of pollution has coincided with the onset of winter, when boilers fire up to heat buildings, and a similar pall of smog arrived at about the same time last year and the year before.

霧霾籠罩了中國東北的大部分地區，有些令人不解的是，隨着經濟放緩，該地區的工業生產也在減少，霧霾卻出現在這個時候。但目前正值冬季來臨，各城市開始燒鍋爐爲樓宇供暖，去年和前年的大約同一時間，也出現過類似的霧霾。

But Qiao Xu, the director of the information office of the Shenyang environmental protection bureau, said in a telephone interview that the most likely culprit for the smog was farmers burning off stalks and stubble left after they harvested their crops.

但瀋陽市環保局信息公開處處長喬旭在接受電話採訪時表示，這次霧霾的罪魁禍首，很可能是農民在收穫莊稼之後焚燒秸稈和殘茬的做法。

Further chemical tests of the smog would give investigators clues to what caused it, but it did not show heavy concentrations of sulfur dioxide, which usually accompanies smog from coal burning, she said.

對霧霾進一步開展化學分析後，就可以找到線索瞭解其成因，但燃煤形成的霧霾通常會伴隨有高濃度的二氧化硫，而當前的數據並沒有發現這種情況，她說。

“This pollution was not restricted to Shenyang. The entire northeast has been affected,” Ms. Qiao said. “That shows that Shenyang’s local pollution has not played a decisive role.”

“這次的污染不僅侷限在瀋陽，整個東北都受到了影響，”喬旭說。“這說明瀋陽的本地污染源不是決定作用。”

But wherever the pollution comes from, Chinese people appear increasingly impatient with these bouts of toxic air. Leaders have repeatedly promised to reduce pollution, and citizens have become much more aware of the threat to health from smog. Heavy masks, once a novelty favored by expatriates, are now common. And on the Internet, people lamented the latest air crisis.

但不管污染是從哪裏來的，中國人似乎越來越無法容忍頻繁爆發的有毒空氣了。領導人多次承諾要減少污染，民衆也越來越多地認識到了霧霾對健康的威脅。笨重的口罩曾讓人覺得新奇，是外籍人士喜歡用的，現在卻變得很普遍。在網上，人們對最近這一輪空氣質量危機也發出了抱怨。

“What have you been doing about it?” one commenter wrote on the microblog of the Sheyang Bureau of Environmental Protection. “You just send out a microblog and that’s it? Wait for the wind to blow it away?”

“你的舉措在哪裏？”有人在瀋陽市環保局的微博上寫道。“發個微博就完事了？等風把它們吹走？要你們何用？”

“When the smog is off the charts, you, the environmental authorities, can only tell residents to protect themselves,” another wrote. “Incompetent, shameless, useless.”

“作爲環保部門在霧霾爆表的情況下也只能要求市民出門做好防護，”另一個人寫道，“無能，無恥，無爲。”

Ms. Qiao, the environment official, in turn, criticized Xinhua for its report on Shenyang, but she did not deny that the pollution measure had surpassed 1,400.

前述環保官員喬旭反過來批評了新華社對瀋陽的報道，但她並未否認污染指數超過了1400。

“The Xinhua reporter had the contact information for the Bureau of Environmental Protection, my office and me personally,” she said, adding that she had not been contacted by the reporter. “I will not offer comment on their report.”

“新華記者有我們環保局，辦公室以及我個人的聯繫方式，”她說，但她表示該記者並未聯繫她求證。“我對他們的文章不予置評。”

By Monday, measures of PM2.5 in Shenyang had dropped to below 300, before rising again in the evening, and the city government downgraded its warning to residents.

到了週一，瀋陽的PM2.5指數降到了300以下，但到傍晚再次升高。該市政府調低了對民衆的警告。

The United States Consulate in Shenyang also issues its own index of air quality there, as do American diplomatic posts in four additional Chinese cities. Over the previous 24 hours, the Shenyang consulate’s index said on Monday morning, pollution was “Beyond Index.”

和美國在其他四個中國城市的外交機構一樣，美國駐瀋陽總領事館也發佈了自己的空氣質量指數。週一上午，瀋陽領事館稱在之前24小時裏，污染指數“爆表”。