双语有声阅读:The Killer Smogs 历次重大的烟雾杀人

On the night of December 1, 1930, a dense¹ fog moved over the Meuse Valley, in Belgium. Many factories in the valley poured smoke and fumes² into the foggy air. This created a dark smog of smoke and fog combined. People in the valley began to cough and train for breath. The smog remained for four days. During that time, thousands of people became ill. The hospitals were filled with patients. Sixty people died. Most of them were older persons with heart and lung problems. Finally, a heavy rain washed away the smog. Scientists studied the causes of the disaster. They concluded that the illnesses and deaths were caused by chemicals in the smog.

The first reported event of this kind in the United States happened in Donora, a factory town in a valley near Pittsburgh. In 1948, a killer³ smog made half of the population sick, there were 17 deaths. Again, older people with lung or heart diseases were hit hardest.

London, England, has always been known for its "black fogs." In the winter of 1952, a milky⁴ white fog rolled into the city. It soon turned into black smog as the smoke of the city poured into the air. It was so hard to see that people had to walk in front of the buses to guide them. In this way, the most serious air pollution disaster in history began. When it was over, more than 4,000 people had been killed by the thick black smog.

New York City has had several London-type smogs since 1950. Each time, there were from 100 to 400 deaths caused by the smog. Although these smogs were not as deadly as London's, New York City has the worst air pollution problem in the United States.

In all the killer smogs, factories and homes poured smoke and fumes into the air from the furnaces. The chemical fumes combined with the water droplets⁵ in the fog to form harmful substances. These substances caused the illness of those who breathed the polluted air.

Usually, such harmful fumes rise into the upper air and are blown away by the wind. But sometimes there is an unusual weather condition called a temperature inversion⁶. A layer of cold air remains⁷ near the ground as smoke and fumes pour into it. This is covered by an upper layer of warm air that acts like a lid. It prevents the polluted cooler air from rising. The harmful fumes pile up and make people ill. The smog may be so thick that airports are closed and chains of collisions occur on the highways.

Another type of smog occurs in Los Angeles. Here the weather may be clear and sunny. But stinging eyes and dry coughs show that harmful chemicals fill the air. The smog is due to invisible gases, mostly from automobile⁸ exhaust. Because these chemicals are changed by the sun high up in the air, Los Angeles smog is called photochemical smog. It contains automobile exhaust fumes and nitrogen oxides changed by the sun's rays. Added to these are sulfur⁹ dioxide and other fumes from factories and oil refineries¹⁰. Photochemical smog is found in many large cities all over the world.

Killer smogs don't happen very often, fortunately. But in many large cities, a combination of automobile exhaust fumes, home furnace smoke, and factory waste gases pours into the air. This may also happen in the suburbs, or out in the country, where large factories have been built. A number of harmful substances have been found in the air there. When these substances are breathed in day after day, the health of the population is affected¹¹.

在1930年12月1日夜，一场浓雾漂移到了比利时的默兹山谷地区。在这山谷中的许多工厂都把烟尘和各种有害的微粒排放到这一场大雾当中了，于是就形成了烟与雾结合在一起的一大片浓黑的烟雾。这一山谷里的人们开始咳嗽，呼吸紧张。这场烟雾在这山谷里足足延续了四天，在这四天里成千上万的人病倒了。各家医院里都挤满了病人。结果60人死亡。死者中绝大多数都是患有心脏病和肺病的老人。最后，是一场大雨把这场烟雾冲洗掉了。科学家倦研究了这场灾难之后得出结论说，这场烟雾中的有害化学物质导致了人伞兵生病和死亡。

据报导，在美国的第一起这类事件发生在靠近匹兹堡的多诺拉。多诺拉是一个城镇，那里全是工厂。在1948年，一场烟雾导致了该镇有壮大数人口生了病，17人死亡。这里也还是患有肺病或心脏病的老年人受害最重。

英国伦敦一向以其"黑雾"称著于世。在1952年冬季，一厚层奶白色的雾滚滚漂进伦敦的空气当中。这场雾浓得令人什么也看不见，以致人们不得不步行在公共汽车的前头引导着司机慢慢开车前进。就这样，开始了历史上最严重的一场空气污染所造成的灾难。灾难结束时有四千多人被这场浓黑的烟雾夺去了生命。

自从1950年以来，美国纽约市发生了数起类似伦敦型的烟雾杀人事件。每次都因为有毒烟雾导致了一百到四百人的死亡。虽然这些烟雾令人致死的程度没有伦敦烟雾那样厉害，但是纽约市的空气污染问题在全美国是最坏的，最严重的。

在所有这一切烟雾杀人的事件当中，都是由于各大小工厂和各个家庭把他们炉火中的烟尘和微粒排放到空气中所造成的。这些化学微粒同雾中的极微小的水珠结合起来就形成了各种有害的物质，这些有害物质是那些呼吸这些被污染了的空气的人致病的原因。

一般情况下，这些有害的微粒漂浮到空气的上层以后，会被风吹走。但有时会有一种被称作"温度逆增"的不平常的天气状态。当烟尘和微粒拜谢到空气中以后，有一层冷空气仍然在贴近地面。这层冷空气就阻挡了这些被污染的冷空气，使之不能上升的高空中。这些有害的微粒越聚越多，于是就使人生病了。这些烟专利号有时很浓以致各个机场被迫关闭，公路上发生了一串一串的汽车相撞的事件。

在美国洛杉矶出现过另一种烟雾。这里天气晴朗阳光灿烂，但是人们感到眼睛刺痛，出现干咳嗽。这些症状表明空气中充满了有害的化学物质。这种烟雾是由看不见的无色气体所组成，这种气体主要是汽车尾气中的微粒和被阳光照射后起了化学变化的氮氧化物，此外还有从工厂和炼油厂排放出来的二氧化碳和其他的悬浮微粒。在全世界很多大城市中都发现有光化学烟雾。

幸好，这种烟雾杀人事件并不是经常发生的。但在许多大城市中，都把汽车尾气中的微粒、家庭火炉冒出来的烟尘及工厂的废气汇合在一起排放到空气中去了。这种做法也会出现在郊区或城市外围的农村，因为这些地方都盖起了大型的各类工厂。在这些的空气中发现有很多的有害化学物质，人们日复一日地呼吸了这些有害物质，身体健康就会大受影响
 

1 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

2 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

3 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

4 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

5 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

6 inversion   

n.反向，倒转，倒置

参考例句：

• But sometimes there is an unusual weather condition called a temperature inversion.但有时会有一种被称作“温度逆增”的不平常的天气状态。
• And finally,we made a discussion on the problems in the cooperative inversion.最后，对联合反演中存在的问题进行了讨论。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

9 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

10 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。