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It's a public health menace that has become a fact of life for city-dwelling Chinese – but should smog be considered a natural disaster? The Beijing government seems to think so, but environmental science experts disagree.
作为城市居民，它已成为了公共健康的梦魇，但雾霾真的算是自然灾害吗？北京市政府认为如此，但环保专家不这么认为。
In late May, the standing committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress met to discuss a draft ordinance that would categorize smog as a natural disaster. Both the city of Tianjin and the province of Hebei have already done so. The ordinance also outlines emergency procedures for dealing with severe air quality conditions.
五月末，北京市人大常委会将讨论防治草案，准备将雾霾列为自然气象灾害。天津市和河北省已经开始实施。条例草案还对处理严重空气污染时的应急措施进行了说明。
On July 13, three environmental scientists took to the China Environmental News to express their disagreements. Bao Cunkuan and Zheng Xinlu, both professors at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that the ordinance fails to account for the role of human activity, and places too much emphasis on “adaptive,” rather than preventative, measures.
7月13日，三名环境学教授在《中国环境报》上表达了不同意见。上海复旦大学教授包存宽和郑新璐表示，此条例没有把人为因素考虑进去，并过于强调“适应”而非“防治”。
The adaptive approach, which consists of measures like advising the elderly to stay indoors on poor air quality days, is aimed at protecting vulnerable populations from smog's health risks.
这些适应性措施包括，建议老人在恶劣天气呆在室内，此举旨在保护易受影响人群远离雾霾。
Instead, the scientists said, China should recognize that while smog can be exacerbated by weather conditions, it is fundamentally a manmade disaster rather than a natural one. They said that the government should focus on cutting emissions and ensuring that companies and localities follow the rules. Co-contributor Feng Yinchang, a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin, said that adaptive measures only treat the symptoms of air pollution, while preventative measures treat the disease itself.
环境学家称人们应该意识到，雾霾会因天气情况而加重，它的成因基本为认为原因，而非自然灾害。称政府应着重减排，确保企业和当地遵守法规。天津南开大学教授冯银厂表示，适应性措施只能解决气候污染之标，防治措施才能治本。
Clear skies do seem to be on the horizon for some of China’s cities, as the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced this Sunday that Beijing’s PM 2.5 levels have fallen by nearly 18 percent in the last year. But pollutant levels in Beijing are still six times the World Health Organization’s baseline. A recent report from the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that Beijing will have to take “extraordinary measures” to meet the air quality goals it hopes to achieve by next year.
本周日，中国环境保护部表示，北京去年的PM2.5下降了近18%，我们即将迎来晴朗天空。但北京的污染物水平仍超出世卫组织基线的六倍。据中国工程院近期报告显示，北京若想明年达标还需加大整治力度。
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
