【雙語閱讀】1月是不是北京空氣污染最嚴(yán)重月份?.

　　Beijing&aposs Murky Air-Pollution Measures

　　Was January Beijing&aposs worst-ever month for pollution?

　　The question is no doubt on the minds of residents as February brings merely &aposunhealthy&apos levels of dangerous airborne particulate matter in place of a slew of January days officially classified as &aposhazardous&apos--or worse. But the question proves difficult to answer, providing a glimpse into the difficulty of quantifying China&aposs pollution problems.

　　By some measures, January 2013 can claim a title to be at least a recent high. The U.S. embassy in Beijing has since February 2008 tracked dangerous small particles called PM2.5. However, the embassy doesn&apost disclose historical readings.

　　Michael Isvy, a web developer who has tracked the data since 2011 for the foggybeijing.com website, says PM2.5 readings averaged 199 for January, easily the highest in his data set. The next highest is February 2011, with a PM2.5 reading of 158.

　　Mr. Isvy&aposs data consists of tweets from the U.S. embassy&aposs air monitoring station sampled two or three times a day since early 2010. He began to record hourly readings in November 2011.

　　Mr. Isvy doesn&apost claim to be an environmental expert but says he started the website after he couldn&apost tell whether Beijing&aposs air was getting better based on the U.S. embassy Twitter feed. He said he was surprised after analyzing the data to find that both average AQI and PM2.5 levels in Beijing have gradually improved every year since 2010. Beijing&aposs average AQI was 145 in 2012 compared with 151 in 2011 and 160 in 2010.

　　&aposBeijing&aposs air quality was getting slightly better, but because of January, I&aposm not sure if things will follow the same trend as bore [in 2013],&apos he said.

　　However, comparing average AQI levels by month may not be the best way to analyze the trend, says Steven Q. Andrews, a Beijing-based environmental consultant who has studied Beijing&aposs air pollution for six years. Mr. Andrews said a better approach may be to simply tally the number of days in January when pollution levels rose above an AQI of 200 and compare that with previous months.

　　For years Chinese authorities have calculated an air-pollution index, or API, based on particles called PM10, which are larger than PM2.5 particles and therore considered less dangerous. (To be clear, China Real Time prers to breathe neither.) Between 2009 and 2012, Beijing endured between four and six days a year of what it called &apossevere&apos air pollution at API readings of above 200, according to China&aposs Ministry of Environmental Protection.

　　Mr. Andrews says the city in January endured 14 days where average daily index readings were above 200. Both China and the U.S.--whose indexes top out at 500--warn that people with heart or lung disease, along with children and older adults, should avoid going outdoors at those levels.

　　Still, China&aposs data have come under significant criticism in the past from Mr. Andrews and others, for understating the true intensity of China&aposs pollution problems.

　　The surge in days in January past 200 is driven in part by China&aposs move to fix that problem. From Jan. 1, Beijing&aposs municipal government switched to a new index that calculates an air-quality index based on concentration of PM2.5. The move, which appears to be a genuine fort to more directly address China&aposs pollution problem, nonetheless makes historical comparisons difficult.

　　Although Beijing recorded higher AQI levels in January due in part to the stricter PM2.5 measurements, Mr. Andrews said that even by conservative standards, Beijing probably endured nine days of what China considered as &apossevere&apos air pollution based on the older API standard--more than any entire year since 2007.

　　Some at China Real Time still remember the pre-Olympics era of deep haze in the city and wonder whether the current problems match up with those earlier days. But no doubt January can claim shamul status for a country still moving to grapple with its deep environmental woes.

　　Wayne Ma

　　【中文對(duì)照翻譯】

　　今年1月份是不是北京污染最嚴(yán)重的一個(gè)月?

　　Reuters1月14日，霧霾中的中央電視臺(tái)大樓。隨著2月份剛開始的時(shí)候危險(xiǎn)粉塵只達(dá)到“不健康”水平、而不再像1月份那樣一連幾天都達(dá)到官方劃定的“有害”或更嚴(yán)重水平，北京居民無疑會(huì)思考上面這個(gè)問題。但事實(shí)證明這個(gè)問題很難回答，由此可見中國(guó)污染問題的量化是多么困難。

　　從某些指標(biāo)來看，2013年1月份的污染程度至少可以說是近期最高。美國(guó)駐華大使館從2008年2月開始跟蹤名叫“PM2.5”的危險(xiǎn)小顆粒，但它并不披露歷史數(shù)據(jù)。

　　網(wǎng)站開發(fā)人員伊斯維(Michael Isvy)從2011年開始為foggybeijing.com網(wǎng)站跟蹤這些數(shù)據(jù)。他說，1月份PM2.5平均讀數(shù)為199，在他搜集的數(shù)據(jù)當(dāng)中輕松摘得第一。第二高是2011年2月，那個(gè)月的PM2.5讀數(shù)是158。

　　伊斯維的數(shù)據(jù)包括美國(guó)駐華大使館空氣監(jiān)測(cè)站2010年年初開始每天取樣兩到三次時(shí)發(fā)布的推特(Twitter)信息。該使館從2011年11月開始記錄每小時(shí)讀數(shù)。

　　伊斯維并未自稱環(huán)境專家，但他說，由于無法從美國(guó)大使館推特信息得知北京空氣質(zhì)量有沒有變好，他便成立了這個(gè)網(wǎng)站。伊斯維說，他在分析數(shù)據(jù)之后吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)，從2010年以來，北京的空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)和PM2.5水平實(shí)際上每年都在逐步改善。2012年北京平均空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)是145，2011年和2010年分別為151和160。

　　他說，北京空氣質(zhì)量略有好轉(zhuǎn)，但因?yàn)榻衲?月份的緣故，我不敢肯定2013年會(huì)不會(huì)延續(xù)之前的趨勢(shì)。

　　但北京環(huán)境咨詢師、研究北京空氣污染問題已達(dá)六年的安雪峰(Steven Q. Andrews)說，逐月比較平均空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)并不是分析趨勢(shì)的最佳辦法。他說，更好的辦法或許是將1月份空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)超過200的天數(shù)簡(jiǎn)單相加，然后跟之前的月份作比較。

　　中國(guó)政府多年來一直是根據(jù)名為“PM10”的顆粒物編制空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)。這種顆粒物比PM2.5更大，其危險(xiǎn)程度也更低。(需要說明的是，“中國(guó)實(shí)時(shí)報(bào)”欄目更希望兩者都不要吸入。)據(jù)中國(guó)環(huán)境保護(hù)部的數(shù)據(jù)，從2009年到2012年，北京一年有四到六天的空氣污染為“重度”，即空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)超過200。

　　安雪峰說，北京1月份有14天的平均空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)超過200。中國(guó)和美國(guó)(美方指數(shù)最高為500)都警告說，心肺疾病患者、兒童和老年人應(yīng)當(dāng)避免在這種時(shí)候出門。

　　不過中國(guó)的數(shù)據(jù)曾受安雪峰和其他人的強(qiáng)烈批評(píng)，說它低估了中國(guó)污染問題的真實(shí)嚴(yán)重程度。

　　1月份空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)超過200的天數(shù)之所以大大增加，部分原因就在于中國(guó)為解決這個(gè)問題采取的措施。從1月1日起，北京市政府改用一個(gè)基于PM2.5密度計(jì)算的新的空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)。此舉似乎是為了更直接解決中國(guó)污染問題采取的實(shí)際措施，不過這樣一來就很難做歷史比較了。

　　安雪峰說，雖然北京1月份空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)更高的部分原因是采用了更加嚴(yán)格的PM2.5指標(biāo)，但即使按保守標(biāo)準(zhǔn)衡量，以原來的空氣質(zhì)量指數(shù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)計(jì)算，北京空氣污染程度達(dá)到“嚴(yán)重”水平的時(shí)候恐怕也有九天，超過2007年以來任何一年的全年天數(shù)。

　　“中國(guó)實(shí)時(shí)報(bào)”的一些記者至今猶記2008年奧運(yùn)會(huì)之前北京煙霧繚繞的日子，不知道當(dāng)前的污染跟那些時(shí)候比起來孰高孰低。但在這個(gè)仍在應(yīng)對(duì)深層環(huán)境危機(jī)的國(guó)度，今年1月份無疑會(huì)獲得一個(gè)不太體面的位置。

　　Wayne Ma

　　Beijing&aposs Murky Air-Pollution Measures

　　Was January Beijing&aposs worst-ever month for pollution?

　　The question is no doubt on the minds of residents as February brings merely &aposunhealthy&apos levels of dangerous airborne particulate matter in place of a slew of January days officially classified as &aposhazardous&apos--or worse. But the question proves difficult to answer, providing a glimpse into the difficulty of quantifying China&aposs pollution problems.

　　By some measures, January 2013 can claim a title to be at least a recent high. The U.S. embassy in Beijing has since February 2008 tracked dangerous small particles called PM2.5. However, the embassy doesn&apost disclose historical readings.

　　Michael Isvy, a web developer who has tracked the data since 2011 for the foggybeijing.com website, says PM2.5 readings averaged 199 for January, easily the highest in his data set. The next highest is February 2011, with a PM2.5 reading of 158.

　　Mr. Isvy&aposs data consists of tweets from the U.S. embassy&aposs air monitoring station sampled two or three times a day since early 2010. He began to record hourly readings in November 2011.

　　Mr. Isvy doesn&apost claim to be an environmental expert but says he started the website after he couldn&apost tell whether Beijing&aposs air was getting better based on the U.S. embassy Twitter feed. He said he was surprised after analyzing the data to find that both average AQI and PM2.5 levels in Beijing have gradually improved every year since 2010. Beijing&aposs average AQI was 145 in 2012 compared with 151 in 2011 and 160 in 2010.

　　&aposBeijing&aposs air quality was getting slightly better, but because of January, I&aposm not sure if things will follow the same trend as bore [in 2013],&apos he said.

　　However, comparing average AQI levels by month may not be the best way to analyze the trend, says Steven Q. Andrews, a Beijing-based environmental consultant who has studied Beijing&aposs air pollution for six years. Mr. Andrews said a better approach may be to simply tally the number of days in January when pollution levels rose above an AQI of 200 and compare that with previous months.

　　For years Chinese authorities have calculated an air-pollution index, or API, based on particles called PM10, which are larger than PM2.5 particles and therore considered less dangerous. (To be clear, China Real Time prers to breathe neither.) Between 2009 and 2012, Beijing endured between four and six days a year of what it called &apossevere&apos air pollution at API readings of above 200, according to China&aposs Ministry of Environmental Protection.

　　Mr. Andrews says the city in January endured 14 days where average daily index readings were above 200. Both China and the U.S.--whose indexes top out at 500--warn that people with heart or lung disease, along with children and older adults, should avoid going outdoors at those levels.

　　Still, China&aposs data have come under significant criticism in the past from Mr. Andrews and others, for understating the true intensity of China&aposs pollution problems.

　　The surge in days in January past 200 is driven in part by China&aposs move to fix that problem. From Jan. 1, Beijing&aposs municipal government switched to a new index that calculates an air-quality index based on concentration of PM2.5. The move, which appears to be a genuine fort to more directly address China&aposs pollution problem, nonetheless makes historical comparisons difficult.

　　Although Beijing recorded higher AQI levels in January due in part to the stricter PM2.5 measurements, Mr. Andrews said that even by conservative standards, Beijing probably endured nine days of what China considered as &apossevere&apos air pollution based on the older API standard--more than any entire year since 2007.

　　Some at China Real Time still remember the pre-Olympics era of deep haze in the city and wonder whether the current problems match up with those earlier days. But no doubt January can claim shamul status for a country still moving to grapple with its deep environmental woes.

　　Wayne Ma

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