VOA慢速英语--印度与新冠疫情的斗争可能会使空气质量目标落空

India’s Struggle with Pandemic Could Cost Air Quality Goals

India's continued struggles with the coronavirus pandemic are threatening the country's goals to reduce severe air pollution.

Restrictions¹ related to the pandemic have made it difficult to carry out emergency measures aimed at reducing critical pollution levels.

In the past, India's government has ordered the closure of schools and buildings in populated centers to reduce levels of harmful air. It has also attempted to get more people to use public transportation to reduce vehicle emissions³ and to ride buses that run on cleaner fuels.

But social distancing rules and economic concerns have affected⁴ the progress of such actions. For example, the pandemic has led to limits on the number of passengers permitted on public buses.

Surinder Singh is a bus driver in New Delhi. He told The Associated Press he feels trapped between the country's two public health emergencies: pollution and the pandemic.

Singh sits for hours in heavy traffic, breathing in the city's polluted air. In addition, he says he worries about catching⁵ the coronavirus every time a person gets on his bus.

The 47-year-old father of two says the current economic situation gives him no choice, but to go to work. He carries hand sanitizer and wears a face covering to reduce his chances of becoming infected. But, Singh says, "I drive the bus in constant fear."

Millions of others across India face a similar situation as the country experiences a historic⁶ recession⁷. The economy shrank by 23.9 percent in the April-June quarter, its worst performance in at least 24 years.

The virus continues to spread in India, with over 9.7 million cases and more than 140,000 deaths. In addition to people with COVID-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus - Indian hospitals are also filling up with patients suffering with conditions related to air pollution.

Some of the country's long-term pollution targets have now been delayed by economic recovery plans. India plans to increase coal production to reduce imports. And the recovery plans depend heavily on energy sources that produce carbon emissions.

"This pandemic will define⁸ the pathway of how we move in the future (to control air pollution)," said Sunil Dahiya. He is an expert with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The threats posed⁹ by both the virus and pollution have hit New Delhi extremely hard. This year, the yearly rise in winter pollution has come at the same time as a sharp increase in new virus cases. The city is among the most polluted in India, where an estimated 1.67 million people die each year from bad air.

Dr. Akshay Budhraja is a respiratory doctor at a private hospital in New Delhi. He told the AP the hospital has been flooded with patients with respiratory issues who thought they had COVID-19. "Patients are very, very anxious," he said.

Pollution in New Delhi gets worse in the fall and winter when crop burning in neighboring states combines with cooler temperatures that trap smoke close to the city. Over 76,000 farm fires were spotted¹⁰ by satellites in Punjab state - the most since 2016. And the city's air quality levels in October were worse than past years.

The pandemic also has delayed efforts to clean emissions at coal-fired power plants, which make up about 65 percent of India's electricity. The government had asked plants to add technology that would remove sulfur¹¹ dioxide from their emissions by 2022. But financing¹² issues related to the pandemic made it impossible to import the required equipment, industry officials said.

Words in This Story

pandemic – n. an occurrence¹³ in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world

emission² – n. the act of producing or sending out something such as energy or gas from a source; something sent out or given off

sanitizer – n. a chemical substance designed to kill germs

constant – adj. happening a lot or all of the time

respiratory – adj. relating to breathing

anxious – adj. worried or nervous

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 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。

3 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。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

7 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

8 define   

vt.解释，下定义，阐述，限定，规定

参考例句：

• Please define the words.请解释这些字的意义。
• It's hard to define exactly what has changed.很难解释清楚到底发生了什么变化。

9 posed   

使摆姿势( pose的过去式和过去分词 )； 以…身份出现； 招摇； 炫耀

参考例句：

• The players strutted and posed for the cameras. 运动员昂首阔步，摆好姿势让记者拍照。
• After the wedding we all posed for a photograph. 婚礼之后，我们全体排好拍了一张照片。

10 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

11 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。

12 financing   

n.筹措资金

参考例句：

• The main source of our outside financing is bank loan. 我们向外筹措资金的主要渠道是银行贷款。
• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. 他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。

13 occurrence   

n.发生，出现，事件，发生的事件

参考例句：

• Two things account for its occurrence.发生这件事的原因有两个。
• For a military commander，winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence.胜败乃兵家常事。