伦敦：推出空气质量警报系统

When a thick cloud of air pollution settled in over London last week, experts warned those with health problems to avoid strenuous¹ exercise. The advice to Londoners essentially² boiled down to this: breathe less.

上周，当伦敦笼罩在污染严重的空气中时，专家警告存在健康问题的人应避免剧烈运动。伦敦人得到的忠告基本上可归结为：少呼吸。

Last week, London mayor Sadiq Khan rolled out a new system of air quality alerts at bus stops, Tube stations and roadsides, warning those who experience symptoms from air pollution to reduce strenuous activity. The mayor also announced a doubling of funding for reducing pollution.

上周，伦敦市市长萨迪克•汗推出了新的空气质量警报系统，该系统可在公交车站、地铁站和道路旁警告因空气污染出现病症的人们减少剧烈运动。他还宣布将用于减少污染的资金增加一倍。

But he does not have the legal authority to institute a ban, and has demanded the government take urgent action, including a diesel³ scrappage scheme.

但他没有制定一项禁令的法律权力，他已经要求政府采取紧急行动，其中包括柴油车报废计划。

Cities around the world are confronting problems similar to London's. Some have been more aggressive than others, but overall, their experience shows that concerted steps to improve air quality do work, and they save lives.

世界各地的城市都面临着与伦敦类似的问题。有些城市表现的比其他地区更激进，但总体而言，他们的经验表明，改善空气质量的联合措施有所见效，拯救了生命。

巴黎：公交免费，车辆单双号限行

Meanwhile, as Paris suffered a similar pollution episode - its worst in a decade - officials swung into action, waiving⁴ charges for public transport and restricting the number of cars allowed on roads, alternately barring those with odd and even license⁵ plates.

与此同时，巴黎也遭遇了近十年来最严重的类似空气污染，政府立即采取行动，取消了公共交通收费，采取单双号限行制度限制在道路上通行的车辆数量。

At the same time Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo joined officials from Madrid, Athens and Mexico City in announcing plans to get all diesel vehicles off the roads by 2025.

同时，巴黎市市长安娜-伊达尔戈与马德里、雅典以及墨西哥城的官员共同宣布，计划在2025年前禁止所有柴油车上路。

Diesel is highly polluting, emitting far greater amounts of dangerous nitrogen dioxide and tiny pollution particles than petrol, and can cause cancer to heart attacks.

柴油污染十分严重，其有害二氧化氮及细微污染颗粒的排放量比汽油更大，并可能导致癌症、心脏病。

Despite the health damage it wreaks⁶, governments across Europe, including Britain's, have offered motorists tax incentives⁷ that effectively encourage the use of diesel, on the assumption – now being questioned - that it produces less planet-warming carbon dioxide than petrol.

尽管燃烧柴油会损害健康，但是基于柴油产生的温室气体二氧化碳比汽油更少这一假设，欧洲各国政府，包括英国，还是向司机提供税收优惠政策，以有效鼓励他们使用柴油。如今，这一假设遭到了质疑。

柏林：部分车辆安装污染过滤装置

Berlin is a notable exception to the story of the diesel disaster gripping much of western Europe. It has cleaned up its own fleet, installing pollution filters on buses and garbage trucks, and imposed tough rules on heavy goods vehicles. A strict emission⁸ zone bars older diesel vehicles, and rates of car use, which are already among the lowest in Germany, have dropped even further in recent years. Public transport is efficient and easy to use, with a two-hour pass costing just €2.70 (£2.25).

大部分西欧国家都受到了柴油灾难的影响，而柏林却是它们之中明显的例外。柏林已经整顿了该市的车辆，在公交车和垃圾车上安装了污染过滤装置，并对重型货车实施严格的规定。该市有一个限制老式柴油车和汽车使用率的限制排放区，这里已经是德国汽车使用率最低的地区之一，近年来使用率还在进一步降低。公共交通高效且便利，两个小时的通行成本只要2.7欧元。

As a result, levels of the tiniest, most dangerous particles, known as ultrafines, fell 70% in just three years, says Axel Friedrich, former head of transport and noise at the federal environmental agency, and an adviser⁹ to government and advocacy groups.

联邦环境局交通及噪声部前负责人兼政府和游说组织顾问阿克赛尔•弗莱德里奇表示，在短短三年内，超微粒子的水平因此下降了70%，这是一种最细小最危险的污染粒子。

波兰克拉科夫：推进燃煤取暖禁令

Kraków has the worst air in Poland - one of Europe's most polluted countries.

克拉科夫是波兰空气最差的地方，而波兰是欧洲污染最严重的国家之一。

After a long legal fight, the city is now moving forward with a ban on burning coal for home heating, to take effect in September 2019.

经过长时间的法律斗争，该市目前正在推进燃煤取暖禁令，将于2019年9月生效。

纽约：改进供热系统

New York has also targeted heating systems. After an analysis found that 1% of buildings burning the dirtiest kinds of fuel oil, were producing more soot¹⁰ than all the city's traffic, officials made plans to gradually ban their use and to help landlords convert.

纽约也瞄准了供热系统。一项分析发现，有1%的建筑燃烧的是最不清洁的燃油，其产生的烟尘比全市的交通系统更多。纽约市官员们计划逐步禁止使用这种燃油，并帮助房主改建取暖系统。

The changeover is already credited with saving hundreds of lives each year. It's just one piece of New York's air quality strategy, which also aims at slashing¹¹ greenhouse gas emissions¹² 80% from 2005 levels by 2050, says Mark Chambers¹³, director of the mayor's Office of Sustainability.

这种转变每年已经挽救了数百人的生命。市长环保办公室主任马克•钱伯斯称，这只是纽约空气质量战略的一个部分，该市的战略目标是与2005年相比，2050年前将温室气体排放水平削减80%。

洛杉矶：终于可以看到洛杉矶的山脉了！

Los Angeles, the city where American car culture reached its zenith, has also pushed hard to clean up its air.

洛杉矶是美国汽车文化最发达的城市，该市也在努力净化空气。

"We've made incredible progress, we can see the mountains in Los Angeles, when those of us who grew up here never could when we were young," says Joe Lyou, president of California's Coalition¹⁴ for Clean Air.

加利福尼亚清洁空气联盟主席Joe Lyou称，“我们已经取得了惊人的进步，我们可以看到洛杉矶的山脉，对于在洛杉矶长大的我们来说，在我们小时候这是绝对不可能的。”

The dramatic improvement is the result of the most stringent¹⁵ air quality regulation in America. A statewide crackdown on dirty diesel lorries and a push to expand use of zero-emission vehicles are also a big part of the story.

这一巨大的改进是美国最严空气质量监管带来的结果。另外一个重要原因是在全国范围内强制取缔不清洁的柴油卡车以及扩大零排放车辆的使用。

In addition to the decades of regulation that have made American cars 99% cleaner than they were 40 years ago, cities like New York and LA have benefitted from American motorists' distaste for diesel, which accounts for only about 2% of cars in the US.

数十年的监管让美国的车辆比40年前清洁程度提升了99%，此外，纽约、洛杉矶等城市还因为机动车驾驶者不喜欢柴油而受益，使用柴油的机动车的数量大约只占美国车辆的2%。

北京：车辆限行，投资可再生能源

Beijing has used license plate restrictions¹⁶ to limit the number of cars and set out plans to keep the oldest and most polluting vehicles off roads when air is especially bad. More importantly, the government has harnessed public anger over pollution to plough billions of dollars into wind and solar power, becoming the world's biggest investor¹⁷ in renewable energy. Officials have even begun cancelling plans for new coal-fired power stations - a move with repercussions¹⁸ for the health of those living in Chinese cities, and for the planet.

北京通过车牌限制来限定汽车数量，并在空气特别糟糕的时候制定计划限制最古老和污染最严重的车辆上路。更重要的是，由于公众对污染的愤怒，中国政府已经将数十亿美元用于风能和太阳能建设，成为世界上最大的可再生能源投资国。政府官员甚至开始取消新建燃煤电站的计划，这会对中国和世界人民的健康带来影响。

德里：学校停课，关闭电厂

Last month, Delhi's 20 million people suffered through the worst smog episode in 17 years, according to the Centre for Science and Environment. Officials temporarily shuttered a coal-fired power plant, halted all construction and demolition¹⁹ work and shut down many diesel power generators²⁰.

根据科学与环境中心的数据，上个月，德里市的2000万居民经历了17年来最严重的雾霾事件。政府官员暂时关闭了一家燃煤电厂，停止所有建设和拆除工作，并关掉了许多柴油发电机。

In a sign that Delhi has begun to acknowledge the problem, officials also closed 1,800 schools for three days, as particulate²¹ levels soared to 28 times the recommended maximums.

德里已经开始认识到空气污染问题的迹象是，因为颗粒物质的水平飙升至推荐最大值的28倍，政府还让1800所学校关闭三天。