科学美国人60秒 香港如何看待隐形尾气排放并排除污染

How Hong Kong 'Sees' Invisible Tailpipe Emissions¹ and Pulls Polluters Off the Road

香港如何看待隐形尾气排放并排除污染

Christopher Intagliata: Air pollution causes millions of premature² deaths around the world every year, according to an estimate by the World Health Organization. And one of the most significant drivers of air pollution in cities is exhaust that comes out of tailpipes from cars, trucks and buses.

In an effort to tame its air pollution, the city of Hong Kong has deployed³ a system that can sense when a high polluting vehicle drives by.

克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔：根据世界卫生组织的估计，空气污染每年在世界各地造成数百万人过早死亡。城市空气污染最重要的驱动因素之一是汽车、卡车和公共汽车排气管排出的废气。

为了缓解空气污染，香港市已经部署了一种系统，当高污染的车辆行驶时，该系统可以感知。

John Zhou: There are more than 150 sites for monitoring of vehicle emissions in Hong Kong, so that high-emitting vehicles can be identified quickly and enforced for repair.

John Zhou：香港有超过150个监测车辆排放的场所，因此可以快速识别并强制执行高排放车辆。

Intagliata: John Zhou is an environmental engineer at the University of Technology Sydney. He's co-author on a new analysis of the program, in the journal Science Advances. [Yuhan Huang et al., Rapid detection of high-emitting vehicles by on-road remote sensing technology improves urban air quality.]

Intagliata:John Zhou是悉尼科技大学的环境工程师。他是《科学进步》杂志上一篇关于该项目的新分析的合著者。[Yuhan Huang等人，通过道路遥感技术快速检测高排放车辆，改善城市空气质量。]

He says the system works like this. Sensors⁴ at road level shoot beams of light across the road, to a reflector. The sensors measure how much light is absorbed by pollutants⁵, and roughly calculate emissions from passing vehicles. The system simultaneously⁶ reads license⁷ plates, and sends notices to big polluters.

他说系统是这样工作的。路平面上的传感器将光束穿过道路射向反射器。这些传感器测量污染物吸收了多少光，并粗略计算过往车辆的排放量。该系统同时读取车牌，并向大型污染源发送通知。

Enforcement began in 2014. In the following four years, the program pulled 16,000 vehicles off the road—mostly taxis, but also private cars and buses. Government subsidies⁸ helped fix up 96 percent of those vehicles, and ensured they passed smog tests.

执法始于2014年。在接下来的四年里，该项目将16000辆汽车从道路上撤出，其中大部分是出租车，但也包括私家车和公交车。政府补贴帮助修复了其中96%的车辆，并确保它们通过了雾霾测试。

Zhou: You know hopefully from the publication of this research we can raise awareness⁹ about the effectiveness of getting the heavy polluting vehicles off the road.

周：你知道，希望通过这项研究的发表，我们可以提高人们对让重污染车辆远离道路的有效性的认识。

Intagliata: The repairs cut pollutants like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from the city's air. And that spared people from breathing them in. But the repairs had another effect too.

Intagliata:：修复工作减少了城市空气中的一氧化碳和氮氧化物等污染物。这样就避免了人们吸入它们。但修复也产生了另一个影响。

Zhou: By reducing pollution from the tailpipe, we're also simultaneously increasing the performance of fuel combustion¹⁰ in vehicles. So it's indirectly¹¹ contributing to the reduction of fuel. And therefore, the reduction of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

周：通过减少排气管的污染，我们同时也提高了汽车燃料燃烧的性能。所以它间接地促进了燃料的减少。因此，减少二氧化碳等温室气体。

Intagliata: By cleaning up its air, Zhou says Hong Kong has cut carbon emissions too. That's a win-win for people in the city—and beyond.

周说，通过净化空气，香港也减少了碳排放量。这对城市内外的人们来说都是双赢的。

1 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。

2 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

5 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

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 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。

8 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

10 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

11 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。