2015年CRI China's Air Showing Signs of Improvement

 

While conditions in the capital and other parts of northern China may not reflect it this week, figures are suggesting the air this year in Beijing has improved. 

The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau is reporting that through the first 9-months of this year, all major pollutants¹ being recorded by the city's 35 air-quality monitoring centers have seen declines. 

Yi Bo with the Bureau's air management office says this includes a nearly 20-percent drop in PM2.5 levels, and a 40-percent decline in sulfur² dioxide readings compared with last year. 

"As a responsible government, we need to be constantly pushing to improve the quality of our city's environment. This is a process that will be sustained in the long term. Our aim is to reduce PM2.5 pollution levels by 25-percent in 2017 compared to those of 2012 levels." 

Despite the promises, and the overall reduction of pollution levels, when bad-air days hit Beijing, it becomes an instant topic of conversation. 

"I think things would improve if we had fewer cars, and tightened³ traffic controls. For instance, we could institute a full-time⁴ odd-even system for license⁵ plates to keep cars off the road. Maybe then things will get better." 

"In the winter, because of the heating, the pollution gets worse and the situation often turns bad. Not that long ago, we had many blue-sky days, for instance, during the military parade. So we know that when the city wants to clear out the smog, the results can be amazing." 

To get back to those days of "amazing" weather, the government has been replacing coal-fired boilers⁶ with natural gas-powered power plants, as well as raising exhaust emission⁷ standards and forcing older, more polluting vehicles off the road. 

Authorities have said they expect to shutter⁸ or move around 300 polluting factories out of the region this year. Another measure the Municipal government in Beijing is using to improve air quality is promoting the use of clean energy. 

Wang Qian, vice-director of the Goldwind wind turbine factory in Beijing, says the demand for their products has been on the rise over the past couple of years.

"According to our predictions, next year the demand for our wind turbines is expected to grow significantly. The demand for our equipment this year has already increased over last year's figures." 

But while steps are being taken, pollution is still a major problem in Beijing. 

The average for PM2.5 in the capital this year is 70-micrograms per cubic meter. 

While down 20-percent compared with the same period last year, the figure is still double the Chinese government's standard for clean air, which is 35-micrograms per cubic meter, and 7-times the World Health Organization's standard of 10. 

It's estimated some 1.4-million people in China die every year from issues connected to air pollution. 

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.

1 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

3 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 boilers   

锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

7 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

8 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。