2018年经济学人 空气污染:吹走它(1)

 

Science and technology: Air pollution: Blown away

科技：空气污染：吹走它

Retired¹ jet engines could help clear the smog that smothered² big cities.

退役喷射发动机可以用来驱逐笼罩大城市的雾霾。

To land at Indira Gandhi Airport is to descend³ from clear skies to brown ones.

飞机在英迪拉甘地机场着陆的过程中，天空会由明朗转为棕黄。

Delhi’s air is toxic⁴.

德里的空气是有毒的。

According to the World Health Organisation⁵, India’s capital has the most polluted atmosphere of all the world’s big cities.

据世界卫生组织报道，印度首都是全世界空气污染最严重的大城市。

The government is trying to introduce rules that will curb⁶ emissions⁷—allowing private cars to be driven only on alternate days, for example, and enforcing better emissions standards for all vehicles.

政府正努力制定控制排放的条例，比如：私家车单双数出行、强制提高所有车辆的排放标准。

But implementing⁸ these ideas, even if that can be done successfully, will change things only slowly.

但即使这些方法都能顺利实施，情况也不会立刻好转。

A quick fix would help.

速效对策将有所帮助。

And Moshe Alamaro, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks he has one.

麻省理工学院的一名研究员Moshe Alamaro有一个速效对策。

His idea is to take a jet engine, put it next to one of India’s dirty coal-fired power plants, point its exhaust nozzle at the sky and then switch it on.

他的想法是在印度肮脏的燃煤发电厂的旁边放置一个喷气发动机，将其排气喷嘴对准天空然后开启。

His hope is that the jet’s exhaust will disrupt a meteorological phenomenon known as “inversion⁹”, in which a layer of warm air settles over cooler air, trapping it, and that the rising stream of exhaust will carry off the tiny particles of matter that smog is composed of.

他希望喷气机的排气能破坏“逆温”这一气象现象（逆温层里暖空气位于冷空气之上，困住冷空气），上升的排气能带走形成雾霾的细小颗粒物质。

Inversion exacerbates¹⁰ air pollution in Delhi and in many other cities, from Los Angeles to Tehran.

逆温加剧了德里市和许多其他城市的空气污染，这些城市从洛杉矶一路到德黑兰。

A particularly intense example caused the Great Smog of London in 1952, when four days of air pollution contributed to 12,000 deaths.

最严重的便是1952年伦敦烟雾事件——持续四天的空气污染导致了12000人死亡。

Dr Alamaro thinks a jet engine could punch through the inversion layer to create a “virtual chimney” which would carry the trapped pollution above it, so that it could be dispersed¹¹ in the wider atmosphere.

Alamaro博士认为，喷射发动机可以打破逆温层，制造一个“虚拟烟囱”，将被困住的污染物带到逆温层之上，这样污染物便可以分散到更广阔的大气层中了。

He calculates that all the emissions from a gigawatt coal-fired power plant could be lifted away using a single engine with a nozzle speed of 460 metres a second.

根据他的计算，用一个喷气速度为460米/秒的喷射发动机就可以带走一个千兆瓦燃煤电厂的全部排放量。

However, he has not calculated whether a jet engine could disrupt the inversion layer and allow the pollution to escape the city—so he is now going to test that hypothesis.

然而他还没有算出一个喷气发动机是否足以穿透逆温层并把污染物带出城市，所以他现在要验证这一假设。

Within eight months, Dr Alamaro plans to put one of his updrafters next to a coal-fired power plant and monitor what happens using a fleet of drones.

在接下来的八个月内，Alamaro博士计划将气流上升装置放在燃煤发电厂旁边并用一队无人机进行监控。

He is in discussions with Tata Group, a conglomerate¹² with an electricity-generating arm, to run it next to one of the firm’s power stations.

他正在与塔塔集团（拥有一家发电厂）进行商议，准备在该公司的一家发电站旁进行实验。

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。

3 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

6 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

7 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

8 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

9 inversion   

n.反向，倒转，倒置

参考例句：

• But sometimes there is an unusual weather condition called a temperature inversion.但有时会有一种被称作“温度逆增”的不平常的天气状态。
• And finally,we made a discussion on the problems in the cooperative inversion.最后，对联合反演中存在的问题进行了讨论。

10 exacerbates   

n.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的名词复数 )v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Stripping the land in these ways allows faster surface runoff and exacerbates flooding. 这些做法终将使土地裸露、地表径流加快，从而加重了洪水的威胁。 来自辞典例句
• This policy exacerbates the gap between rich and poor. 这项政策加剧了贫富差距。 来自互联网

11 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

12 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。