【英譯漢】

　　The Environment in Perspective: Is Everything Getting Steadily Worse?

　　Much of the discussion of environmental problems in the popular press leaves the reader with the impression that matters have been growing steadily worse, and that pollution is largely a product of the profit system and modern industrialization. There are environmental problems today that are both enormous and pressing, but in fact pollution is nothing new. Medieval cities were pestholes - the streets and rivers were littered with garbage and the air stank of rotting wastes. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a German traveler reported that to get a view of London from the tower of St. Paul's, one had to get there very early in the morning "before the air was full of coal smoke." Since 1960 there has been progress in solving some pollution problems, much of it the result of concerted efforts to protect the environment. The quality of the air in most Canadian cities has improved. In Toronto, for example, the concentration of suspended particulates, or soot, in the air has fallen dramatically since 1962.To put this figure in perspective, it should be noted that the current health advisory level for the index is 32.At a level of 58, people with chronic respiratory diseases may be affected. At 100, even healthy people may be affected by prolonged conditions, and those with cardiac and respiratory diseases could suffer severe effects Recently in Toronto, the index has exceeded 32 on fewer than half a dozen days annually.

　　Similar improvements have occurred elsewhere in Canada and in other industrialized countries.

　　Even the famous, or rather infamous, "fogs" of London are almost a thing of the past. There have been two high readings of particular note in the British capital in 1959 (when the index rose to 275 and there was a 10 percent increase over the normal number of deaths) and in 1962 (when the index rose to 575 and there was a 20 percent increase in mortality). But more recently, London's, cleaner air has resulted in an astounding 50 percent increase in the number of hours of winter sunshine. In short, pollution problems are not a uniquely modern phenomenon, nor is every part of the environment deteriorating relentlessly.

　　Environmental problems do not occur exclusively in capitalist economies. For example, in the People's Republic of China, coal soot from factory smokestacks in Beijing envelops the city in a thick black haze. Similarly, smoke from brown-coal furnaces pollutes the air almost everywhere in Eastern Europe. It has been estimated that a third of Poland's citizens live in areas of "ecological disaster". The citizens of Leipzig, a major industrial city in what was formerly East Germany, have a life expectancy a full six years shorter than the national average.

　　However, we do not mean to suggest that all is well with the environment in market-oriented economies or that there is nothing more to do. While there have been some improvements, serious problems remain. Our world is now subject to a number of new pollutants, most of which are far more dangerous than those we have reduced, even though they may be less visible and less malodorous. While environmental problems are neither new nor confined only to capitalist, industrialized economics, these facts are not legitimate grounds for complacency. The potential damage that we are inflicting on ourselves and on our surroundings is very real and very substantial.

　　【參考譯文】

　　環(huán)境透視：我們的生存環(huán)境真的每況愈下么?

　　大眾媒體對(duì)環(huán)境問(wèn)題的諸多討論，常常給讀者留下這樣一種印象：?jiǎn)栴}還在日益惡化，污染在很大程度上是利益驅(qū)動(dòng)和現(xiàn)代工業(yè)化的產(chǎn)物。當(dāng)今環(huán)境問(wèn)題確實(shí)非常嚴(yán)重，但是污染問(wèn)題并非始自今日。中世紀(jì)的城市就是疾病的溫床——街道、河面上丟棄著垃圾，空氣中散發(fā)著陣陣腐臭。18世紀(jì)初，曾有一名德國(guó)游客報(bào)道說(shuō)，若想在圣保羅大教堂的塔樓上一覽倫敦風(fēng)光，就必須一大清早乘煤煙還沒在空氣里散漫開來(lái)時(shí)趕到那兒。

　　自1960年起，污染問(wèn)題一直在改善。這是人們同心協(xié)力保護(hù)環(huán)境的結(jié)果。加拿大大部分城市的空氣質(zhì)量都得到了明顯改善。比如多倫多，這座城市的空氣懸浮粒和煙塵的密度自1962年后便大幅度降低。為了更好地看這一問(wèn)題，需要先說(shuō)明一點(diǎn)：目前，空氣健康指數(shù)為32;該指數(shù)為58時(shí)，患有慢性呼吸道疾病的人易受感染;空氣指數(shù)在100，時(shí)間一長(zhǎng)，正常人也會(huì)受到感染，患有心臟病和呼吸道疾病的人則會(huì)嚴(yán)重發(fā)病。

　　近年來(lái)，多倫多一年中空氣指數(shù)超過(guò)32的天數(shù)總計(jì)少于6天。加拿大其他地區(qū)，和其他工業(yè)化國(guó)家的環(huán)境狀況也同樣得到了改善。就連著名的，或日“臭名昭著”的“霧都”

　　倫敦也成了陳年舊事。這個(gè)英國(guó)首都城市曾有過(guò)兩次超高指數(shù)記錄：一次是1959年，當(dāng)時(shí)空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)超過(guò)275，死亡率比正常高出10%;另一次發(fā)生在1962年，指數(shù)直逼575，死亡人數(shù)猛增了20%。近年來(lái)，倫敦的空氣清新了很多，冬季的日照時(shí)間驚人地延長(zhǎng)了50%。

　　簡(jiǎn)言之，空氣污染并非現(xiàn)代社會(huì)獨(dú)有的問(wèn)題，而且也不是所有的環(huán)境問(wèn)題都在惡性發(fā)展。

　　環(huán)境問(wèn)題并不僅僅眷顧資本主義國(guó)家，中國(guó)也不例外。北京的煙囪排出的大量煤灰使整座城市籠罩在厚厚的黑霧之中。同樣，在東歐，黑煤爐排出來(lái)的煙灰，到處污染著空氣。據(jù)有關(guān)方面估計(jì)，三分之一波蘭民眾居住在“災(zāi)難性”的生態(tài)環(huán)境。東德工業(yè)重鎮(zhèn)萊比錫居民的人均壽命比全國(guó)平均壽命整整短了六年。

　　然而，這并不意味著市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)國(guó)家的環(huán)境沒有問(wèn)題，無(wú)須進(jìn)一步改善了。盡管環(huán)境的確在一定程度上得到了改善，但形勢(shì)依然嚴(yán)峻�，F(xiàn)在我們正受到許多新的污染物的侵害，其危險(xiǎn)性遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)我們治理過(guò)的污染物，盡管它們不易為肉眼察覺，氣味也小得多。

　　盡管環(huán)境問(wèn)題不是什么新問(wèn)題，也不局限于資本主義工業(yè)化國(guó)家，但是我們沒有理由心安理得，高枕無(wú)憂。我們還在對(duì)自身和我們的環(huán)境造成潛在的損害，這一點(diǎn)是真真切切，確確實(shí)實(shí)的。