北京的雾霾（haze）和空气污染是大家都知道的了，但是从各种新闻里我们也知道北京的空气污染好像已经改进了很多。今日经济学人首页也有相关报道，按惯例贴上两段，地道表达学起来。
原文链接：https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2018/01/economist-explains-19
原文&注释“I’VE never seen Beijing like this,” said Emmanuel Macron(法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙), the French president, beneath an unaccustomed（不寻常的）cerulean（蔚蓝的） sky at the end of a recent visit. The next day Greenpeace East Asia, an NGO, showed that his impression was accurate.
It found that concentrations of PM 2.5（细颗粒度是2.5）—the smallest polluting particles（最小大污染颗粒）, which pose the greatest health risks—were 54% lower in the Chinese capital during the fourth quarter of 2017 than during the same period of 2016（这个pm值在2017年的第四季度时比2016年的第四季度时低了54%）. Concentrations of PM 2.5 in 26 cities across northern China, the province-sized metropoles of Beijing and Tianjin, were one third lower. China genuinely （真正的）has reduced its notorious（众人皆知的） air pollution. How has it done it and at what cost（代价是什么）?
The country has had draconian（严苛的） anti-pollution measures（对抗污染的措施） since 2013, when it introduced a set of（一套的a set of） prohibitions(禁令) called the national action plan on air pollution. This （指前述的禁令）imposed （强制实行）a nationwide cap（国家级的上限） on coal use（指煤炭使用的上限）, divided up among provinces, so that Beijing (for instance) had to reduce its coal consumption by 50% between 2013 and 2018. The plan banned（禁止） new coal-burning capacity (though plants already in the works were allowed) and sped up the use of（加速使用） filters and scrubbers（洗涤塔）. These measures cut PM-2.5 levels in Beijing by more than a quarter between 2012-13, the time of the city’s notorious “airpocalypse（空气末日）”, and 2016. The measures were notable for （值得关注的是）being outright （绝对的）bans on polluting activities, rather than incentives（而不是一些优惠措施） to clean up production, such as prices or taxes (though China has those, too, including what will be the world’s largest carbon market, when it opens this year).
图片选自经济学人官网
