Study Links Polluted Air in China to 1.6 Million Deaths a Year
DAN LEVIN August 14, 2015
研究稱中國每年有160萬人死於空氣污染
DAN LEVIN 2015年8月14日
BEIJING — Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day, according to a newly released scientific paper .
北京——最近發表的一份科學論文顯示，在中國，室外空氣污染每年導致大約160萬人死亡，相當於每天4400人。
The paper maps the geographic sources of China's toxic air and concludes that much of the smog that routinely shrouds Beijing comes from emissions in a distant industrial zone, a finding that may complicate the government's efforts to clean up the capital city's air in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
該論文繪製了展示中國有毒空氣來源的地圖，斷定經常遮蔽北京的霧霾，很多來自一座遙遠工業區的排放物，這項發現可能會使政府在2022年冬奧會前淨化空氣的舉措變得複雜。
The authors are members of Berkeley Earth , a research organization based in Berkeley, Calif., that uses statistical techniques to analyze environmental issues. The paper has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS One, according to the organization.
論文的作者是總部位於加利福尼亞州伯克利的“伯克利地球”( Berkeley Earth )的成員，該組織利用統計手段分析環境問題。據該組織透露，這篇論文已被同行評審的科學期刊PLOS One接受發表。
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
本月，一名女性和她的孩子在路邊等待從北京到河北的公路重新開通。當天霧霾嚴重，這條道路因為能見度低而被封路。
According to the data presented in the paper, about three-eighths of the Chinese population breathe air that would be rated “unhealthy” by United States standards. The most dangerous of the pollutants studied were fine airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can find their way deep into human lungs, be absorbed into the bloodstream and cause a host of health problems, including asthma, strokes, lung cancer and heart attacks.
根據論文提供的數據，按照美國的標準，中國人呼吸的空氣中大約有八分之三會被列為“不健康”級別。研究涉及的最危險的污染物是直徑小於2.5微米的細微顆粒，這種顆粒能夠進入人類肺部，被血液吸收，導致很多健康問題，比如哮喘、中風、肺癌及心肌梗死。
The organization is well known for a study that reviewed the concerns of people who reject established climate science and found that the rise in global average temperatures has been caused “almost entirely” by human activity.
該組織因為一項研究而聞名。那項研究審視了否認氣候科學成熟論斷的人所懷有的擔憂，發現全球平均氣溫的上升“幾乎完全”是由人類活動導致的。
The researchers used similar statistical methods to assess Chinese air pollution. They analyzed four months' worth of hourly readings taken at 1,500 ground stations in mainland China, Taiwan and other places in the region, including South Korea. The group said it was publishing the raw data so other researchers could use it to perform their own studies.
研究人員利用類似的統計方法評估了中國的空氣污染。他們從中國內地、台灣，以及周邊地區其他地方，如韓國，蒐集了1500座地面監測站四個月來每個小時的數據。研究小組表示，他們公佈了原始數據，從而讓其他研究人員用來做研究。
Berkeley Earth's analysis is consistent with earlier indications that China has not been able to successfully tackle its air pollution problems.
伯克利地球組織的分析符合之前的跡象，即中國沒能成功解決空氣污染問題。
Greenpeace East Asia found in April that, of 360 cities in China, more than 90 percent failed to meet national air quality standards in the first three months of 2015.
綠色和平東亞分部(Greenpeace East Asia)今年4月發現，360個中國城市中有逾90％的城市，在2015年的頭三個月裡未能達到國家空氣質量標準。
The Berkeley Earth paper's findings present data saying that air pollution contributes to 17 percent of all deaths in the nation each year. The group says its mortality estimates are based on a World Health Organization framework for projecting death rates from five diseases known to be associated with exposure to various levels of fine-particulate pollution. The authors calculate that the annual toll is 95 percent likely to fall between 700,000 and 2.2 million deaths, and their estimate of 1.6 million a year is the midpoint of that range.
伯克利地球的研究結果提供的數據顯示，中國每年17%的死亡案例中，空氣污染是原因之一。該組織表示，他們的死亡率估算是根據世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)推算五種相關疾病的死亡率的框架做出的，這些疾病與暴露在各種水平的細顆粒物污染有關。論文作者估計，中國每年死於空氣污染相關疾病的人數可能在70萬至220萬之間。他們的估算每年160萬人，是這一範圍的中點。
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