中文導讀
席捲全球的新冠疫情帶來了巨大災難和經濟損失，但對環境改善來說是好事一樁。疫情期間，人們減少外出，工廠關閉，空氣汙染顯著下降，進而還拯救了不少患者的生命。可惜好景不長，隨著疫情得到控制、經濟逐步恢復正常，空氣汙染捲土重來。
Air pollution fell precipitously after cities locked down, but has since rebounded
COVID-19 IS NOT all bad, as any city-dweller who stepped outside this year will have seen. The virus has killed hundreds of thousands of people and decimated economies around the world. But as GDP has fallen so has air pollution. This spring marked the first time in decades that residents of Jalandhar in northern India were able to see the snow-capped Himalayan mountains, 160km (100 miles) away.
One particularly common pollutant is nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The World Health Organisation (WHO) reckons that NO2 levels above 40 micrograms in every cubic metre of air (40µg/m3) are harmful to people. In Delhi, one of the world's most polluted big cities, NO2 fell sharply after the city imposed its lockdown, from 46µg/m3 in March to 17µg/m3 in early April. Similarly, NO2 levels in London fell from 36µg/m3 in March to 24µg/m3 two weeks later. NO2 levels fell by about 27% ten days after governments issued stay-at-home orders, compared with the same period in 2017-19. Levels of particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres wide (PM2.5), which are also harmful to health, declined by an average of about 5% in a group of 12 big cities in which data are readily available.
The health benefits of cleaner air are profound. The WHO reckons that about 90% of the world’s population live in places where air quality falls short of its standards. They estimate that 4.2m people died prematurely from diseases related to air pollution, such as respiratory-tract infections and lung cancer, in 2016 alone, including 290,000 children. Millions more suffer from chronic health problems.
The CREA estimates that improved air quality since the covid-19 pandemic began has saved about 15,000 lives in 12 big cities. In Delhi, around 4,600 people have escaped death due to air pollution—roughly as many as are known to have died from covid-19, although the disease’s true tally is probably higher and still rising.
As people return from summer holidays in the northern hemisphere and economies begin to recover, air pollution is nearing pre-pandemic levels. Although people are still wary of using public transport, they appear to have fewer reservations about driving cars themselves—data from TomTom, a location-tech firm, show that congestion in big cities has just about returned to pre-covid levels. This increase in pollution will be deadly, especially to those who suffer from severe asthma, who are also vulnerable to covid-19. ■
*Sources: Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air; TomTom;The Economist
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Sep 5th 2020 • Graphic detail • 457 words
文章第六段第二句話「...—data from TomTom, a location-tech firm, show that congestion in big cities has just about returned to pre-covid levels."中的 just about 作何解釋？
注意這裡用到了 just about 這一習語一個不太常見的釋義，表示「幾乎，差不多」，英文釋義為 almost, 看一個例句：The plums are just about ripe now.眼下李子都快熟了。文中這句話就是在說，大城市的擁堵狀況差不多恢復到疫情之前的水平。(查看更多講解，歡迎掃碼加入經濟學人•閱讀訓練營，踏踏實實提升閱讀理解能力，詞彙量過八千方可參加，詞彙量低於八千請移步不背單詞•詞彙訓練營)
聲明：
本文全文摘選自The Economist/《經濟學人》(Sep 5th, 2020)，僅供個人學習交流使用。歡迎轉發至朋友圈。商業轉載請在正文前註明「本文來自新英文雜誌公眾號」。
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