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| Hundreds of planes were grounded in Beijing on Monday and several freeways temporarily closed because of heavy smog and poor weather conditions, underscoring the growing cost of Beijing's chronic air pollution. | 周一，由于浓重的雾霾和糟糕的天气条件，数百架飞机滞留北京，多条高速公路临时关闭，凸显出北京长期空气污染所造成的成本日益升高。 |
| By Monday evening, nearly 500 flights out of Beijing had been cancelled or delayed due to weather, according to the Beijing International Airport. Monday's weather in Beijing was cloudy with a light snow and pollution readings described as "hazardous" by the US embassy's pollution monitoring system. | 据北京首都国际机场(Beijing International Airport)称，至周一晚间，有近500个离京航班由于天气原因而取消或延迟。北京周一的天气为多云见小雪，美国大使馆的污染监测系统显示的污染级别为"危险"。 |
| Pollution has been a growing concern for China, which is home to 21 of the world's 100 most polluted cities, as environmental degradation inflicts an ever higher economic and social cost. This year has been marked by a series of protests over pollution concerns, the largest of which in Dalian attracted more than 10,000 people. | 随着环境退化造成的经济和社会成本日益上升，污染已经成为越来越受中国关注的问题。全球污染最严重的100个城市中，21个在中国。尤其在今年，针对污染问题，发生了一系列的抗议，其中规模最大的大连抗议吸引了1万多人参加。 |
| Smog is not uncommon in Beijing, however residents have grown increasingly vocal about air pollution in recent months because of a yawning discrepancy between Beijing's official pollution data and the air pollution data published by the US embassy. | 雾霾在北京并不罕见，但在最近几个月，由于北京官方污染数据与美国大使馆公布的空气污染数据存在惊人的差异，居民对空气污染发出了越来越强烈的质疑。 |
| On Sunday, when heavy, acrid smog descended on Beijing, the municipal government described it as "light pollution," although the US embassy's data said it was off the charts. One reason for the difference is that Beijing monitors larger PM10 particles, while the US embassy monitors the small PM2.5 particles that are considered more dangerous to human health. | 周日，北京突然笼罩在浓重、刺鼻的雾霾当中，市政府称之为"轻度污染"，尽管美国大使馆的数据表明污染指数已经"破表"。差异的一个原因是，北京方面监测的是较大的PM10颗粒（即粒径在10微米以下的颗粒物——译者注），而美国大使馆监测的是更小的、被认为对人体健康更加有害的PM2.5颗粒。 |
| Environmentalist Ma Jun says that the public has become increasingly sceptical of the official data. | 环境保护主义者马军表示，公众对官方数据越来越持怀疑态度。 |
| The health costs of China's air pollution are also high. A 2007 study by the World Bank found that in China 350,000 people die prematurely each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, with a further 300,000 premature deaths caused by indoor air pollution. | 中国空气污染的健康成本也非常高。世界银行(World Bank) 2007年的一项研究发现，在中国，每年有35万人由于室外空气污染早亡，还有30万人由于室内空气污染早亡。 |
| As China's environmental problems mount, China's leaders have described pollution as a "threat to growth," but gradual policy changes have yet to have a visible impact on reversing pollution trends. | 随着中国环境问题的加剧，中国领导人已经称污染为一种"对增长的威胁"，但逐步的政策变化对扭转污染趋势尚未起到可见的作用。 |
| China is in the process of revising air pollution monitoring guidelines and, due to increasing public pressure, announced last month that the new rules would require cities to monitor PM 2.5, the smaller, more dangerous particles. | 中国正在修改空气污染监测指引，并且，由于公众压力日益加大，中国在上个月宣布，新规则将要求各城市监测更小、更有害的PM2.5颗粒。 |
| In another nod to the public outcry, Beijing recently opened its air pollution monitoring centre for public visits, albeit only once a week. | 在公众的质疑声中，北京方面还做出了另一项举动：最近向公众开放了空气污染监测中心，接受参观，但每周仅开放一次。 |
| | 译者/何黎 |
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