【卫报】圣城瓦拉纳西的空气质量为“全印度最毒” [英国媒体]

Air quality in the Indian holy city ofVaranasi is “the most toxic in the country” according to research that revealsthe extent of the pollution crisis across northern India.

印度圣城瓦拉纳西的空气质量被评为“全国最毒”，根据一项对北印度污染危机的研究结果显示。

There has been a growing awareness of thedangers of the smog that envelopes Delhi in the winter months, but a reportreleased on Monday by three environmental groups highlights the extent of theproblem across the north Indian plains, where levels of harmful airborneparticles are routinely higher than in the capital.

关于在冬季笼罩德里的雾霾的危害的认识正不断加深，然而周一由三个环保组织发布的报告强调了北印度平原的空气污染程度，那里的日常空气污染颗粒物等级比首都的还要高。

According to 2015 data from theCentral Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Varanasi and Allahabad, bothlocated in India’s largest and most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, did notrecord a single day of “good” air quality in the more than 220 days thatmeasurements were taken.

根据中央污染控制委员会（CPCB）2015年发布的数据，瓦拉纳西和安拉阿巴德这两座位于北方邦——印度面积最大人口最密集的区域——的城市在超过220天的检测中没有一天的空气质量达到“优良”。

“Good” air indicates an Air Quality Indexscore below 50. Anything above 100 – “moderate” – is considered to be dangerousfor children, the elderly and people with respiratory conditions.

“优良”空气质量意味着空气质量指数低于50。高于100——“中等”——意味着空气污染对儿童、老年人和有呼吸道问题的人变得危险。

The report’s lead author, AishwaryaMadineni, said the levels recorded in Varanasi appeared to regularly breach150, when the air is classified as “unhealthy” and begins to affect the generalpopulation.

该报告的主要作者艾什瓦尔雅·马蒂内尼说瓦拉纳西的平均污染记录都超过150，这一数值被归入“不健康”级别，会对主要人口产生影响。

The researchers found that levels ofairborne pollution in Varanasi finer than 2.5 micro-metres – the most harmfulvariety because they can reach deep into the lungs and breach the blood-brainbarrier – were routinely double the safe limit in October and November 2015.

研究显示在2015年10月和11月瓦拉纳西日常空气中直径小于2.5微米的污染物颗粒浓度——这些颗粒危害最大，因为它可以到达肺部深处并突破血脑屏障——都达到了安全极限的两倍。

Levels of coarser particles finer than 10micro-metres were triple the safe limit in 2016 and had increased by more thanone-third since 2010, the research showed.

该研究也显示在2016年空气中直径小于10微米的大颗粒污染物超过了安全极限的三倍，并且比2010年的记录增加了三分之一。

A 2016 World Health Organisation studyfound that half of the world’s 20 most polluted cities were in India, startingwith Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

2016年世界健康组织的一项研究显示20座世界污染最严重城市中有超过一半位于印度，排在第一位的是印度中央邦的瓜廖尔。

Allahabad and Delhi were also listed assuffering from toxic levels of fine pollution in the WHO report but Varanasiwas not measured.

深受空气颗粒物污染毒害的安拉阿巴德和德里也在世界健康组织的名单里，但是瓦拉纳西没有参与检测。

The spiritual capital, which draws hundredsof thousands of Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the Ganges river each year, hadjust one monitoring station capable of measuring the finest pollutionparticles, and even that station had “huge gaps in the data”, Madineni said.

这座每年都吸引数十万印度教徒到恒河岸边朝圣的精神首都只有一座能够检测颗粒污染物的监测站，而且即使这座监测站的数据也“有巨大鸿沟”，马蒂内尼说。

The pollution’s cause in Varanasi is muchthe same as in Delhi: a mix of dust kicked up by traffic and constructionsites, vehicular and industrial emissions, smoke from private diesel generatorsand open fires lit by poorer residents.

瓦拉纳西的污染原因跟德里几乎完全一样：交通和建筑工地扬起的尘土、汽车和工业排放、私人柴油发电机排放和贫穷居民在户外生火冒烟的混合物。

Uttar Pradesh is also home to at least 18coal-fired power stations, the emissions from which can travel hundreds ofkilometres and diminish air quality across the region.

北方邦还有18座火力发电站，排出的废气可以扩散数百公里，污染整个区域的空气。

Among six cities in Uttar Pradeshhighlighted in the report, only two – Kanpur and Agra – had more than 12 “good”air quality days each year. Child specialists cited in the report said therehad been an eight-fold rise in respiratory illnesses in Varanasi and thedegrading air quality seen as the main cause.

在北方邦六座被报告重点强调的城市中，只有两个城市——坎普尔和阿格拉——每年有超过12天的空气质量达到“优良”。儿童专家援引该报告称，瓦拉纳西居民的呼吸道疾病发病率增加了八倍，空气质量的下降被认为是首要原因。

Rates of asthma and patients reportingbreathlessness in the city had also increased by up to 25%, according to RNVajpayee, a pulmonologist and chest physician cited in the study.

该城哮喘发病率以及病人呼吸困难的报告也增加了25%，援引自该报告中注册护士、肺科及胸内科医生瓦杰帕伊提供的资料。

Air quality in Delhi fell to itslowest levels in 17 years in the past three months, leading to emergencyshutdowns of power stations, construction sites and schools. A 2015 study hasshown that about half the capital’s 4.4 million schoolchildren have had theirlung capacity permanently compromised because of the pollution.

在过去的三个月里，德里的空气污染将至其17年最低位，原因为发电站、工地和学校的紧急关停。一项2015年的研究显示印度首都约440万学龄儿童的肺功能因空气污染而永久受损。



Varanasi draws hundreds of thousands ofHindu pilgrims to the banks of the river Ganges each year. Photograph: RajeshKumar Singh/AP

瓦拉纳西每年都吸引着数十万印度朝圣者来到恒河边。图片：Rajesh KumarSingh/AP