英闻天下——386 A Greener Beijing

 　　Today, March 12, is the 33rd Arbor¹ Day in China, when the whole nation is involved in the planting campaign.

 

　　Official statistics show that more than 189 million trees have been planted voluntarily by residents of Beijing over the past 30 years, making great contributions to the capital's environment.

 

　　The local government also plans to cover more of downtown with greenery in 2013. This way residents can enjoy green leaves wherever they go.

 

　　Wang Xiao has more.

 

　　More than half of Beijing is considered to be green. That's an increase of some 10 per cent from ten years ago thanks to previous planting programs.

 

　　Tong Yonghong, a senior official with the Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry², says that there have been many achievements in afforestation in Beijing over the past few years.

 

　　"Forest covers a little under 40% of Beijing. That's 15.5 square meters per person. In 2013,we plan to plant 58 thousand acres of trees in Beijing."

 

　　The municipal government plans to turn more than 23,000 hectares of barren and uncultivated land into green fields this year. They also want to convert around 70,000 hectares of wasteland into a green belt by the end of 2016.

 

　　However, the distribution of green space is unbalanced. While large areas of forests can be found in the city's mountainous areas, many residents complain that the severely³ crowded downtown area lacks a sufficient number of trees.

 

　　"I'm not satisfied with the urban greening. I admit that Beijing has lots of trees, but most of them are planted in parks on the outskirts⁴ of Beijing. There are few trees in downtown areas. For example, there are 40 buildings in my community, but only a few trees have been planted. We can't even see the green. I remember there used to be a green belt in front of the gate of my college. But the trees have been pulled out in order to widen the road."

 

　　"It's easy to see trees in Beijing, but the problem is the trees are too small while the road is too wide. I remember when I was in Hangzhou, the branches of the trees on the two sides of the roads intertwine. It feels cool and comfortable in summer days when you walk on these roads. It's hard to find a road like this in Beijing."

 

　　Yang Zhihua is the Director of the Urban Greening Office at the Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry. He promises more green space will open to the public this year.

 

　　"The local government is trying to ensure that the residents can find a green area or a small park within 500 meters of their community. By the end of 2015, the coverage⁵ of those green areas around communities will reach 80%, so that the residents can easily enjoy a green surrounding."

 

　　Yang Zhihua admits that it's very hard to plant a large amount of trees in the downtown area due to a lack of land, but he says that the local government has started comprehensive greening projects to enlarge green space.

 

　　"Comprehensive planting projects include roof greening and vertical⁶ greening. Vertical greening means to plant vegetables on the facades⁷ of building, overpasses⁸, and along railing. It can help to enlarge the green space in the capital's downtown area."

 

　　Yang says that more green areas and leisure parks have been built in Dongcheng and Xicheng districts, the most densely⁹ populated areas in Beijing. He believes that residents will have a greener Beijing in the near future.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.

1 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

2 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

7 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

8 overpasses   

n.立交桥，天桥，高架道路( overpass的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Is that why they're constructing so many underpasses, overpasses and highways? 那就是他们建这么多天桥、地下通道和公路的原因吗？ 来自辞典例句
• I also find more overpasses and elevated highways have been built. 我也发现建造了更多人行天桥和高架道路。 来自互联网

9 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。