世
博会结束后，上海空气质量就急剧下降，从"优"跌到了"污染"，而现在空气中的悬浮颗粒浓度高于政府规定安全水平的三倍──简直太可怕了。
European Pressphoto Agency
上海：糟糕
据25日《中国日报》报道，上海空气污染指数本月已连续八天超过100点，最高曾达到370点，是10年来最差的指数。
毫无疑问，这个数字让人害怕。但与上周的北京相比也许就是小巫见大巫了，美国驻华大使馆监测站显示北京空气污染指数超过了500点，这个数字太高了，以至于大使馆自动发布北京空气污染指数的Twitter账户将其描述为"令人发疯的糟糕"，通常对北京空气质量的评级都是从"良好"到"危险"。
根据英国《卫报》（Guardian）沃茨（Jonathan Watts）上周的调查报告，"令人发疯的糟糕"这一说法是大使馆监测软件因指数太高超出常规而闹的笑话。大使馆立即撤掉这一说法，用更官方的"超出指数范围"代之。
沃茨援引美国大使馆发言人包日强（Richard Buangan）的话说，这是无意中闹出的笑话。包日强接着很高兴地说，原本以为会因这次错误受到责罚，结果似乎歪打正着地让大使馆的工作人员成了"英雄"。
不管是有意还是无意，这个新的说法让人们注意到了中国首都空气质量严重到了何种程度。"令人发疯的糟糕"到底有多糟糕？用美国国家环境保护局（U.S. Environmental Protection Agency）规定的可接受颗粒物浓度标准乘以15就知道了。
Associated Press
北京：令人发疯的糟糕。
北京和上海这些恐怖的污染指数让专家和市民纷纷争相解释空气污染为何突然加剧。昨天北京有一篇用英语写的博文，其中具体分析了空气质量"糟糕得令人发疯"的原因，最后得出一个出人意料的寻常答案：是天气捣的鬼。博文指出，某种类型的大风可以捕捉北京城外山区的污染物，致使污染物水平很快升高。
有关当局解释说，上海空气污染突然加剧差不多也是这种方式，原因在于沙尘暴增加和冬天冷空气南下，后者将内陆各省受污染的空气带至上海。
但季节性的天气变化并不是全部原因。近年来，中国的空气质量整体上一直呈下降趋势，这主要是由于汽车数量激增以及后金融危机时代在经济刺激作用下重工业的大量增加。据中国环保总局一份中文报告显示，中国今年上半年空气污染程度是2005年以来最糟糕的。
美国宇航局今年初公布了一份地图，其中用一种特艺彩色的鸟瞰方式对比了中国与世界其它各地的空气质量。另外，美国亚洲协会(Asia Society)一份名为《让空气变透明》(Clearing the Air)的摄影日记用令人不安的细节记录了北京市民所感受到的每日能见度的变化。
虽然中国为经济降温的努力可能最终会成为缓解一定程度的工业污染，但中国人购买汽车的热情几乎没有冷却的迹象。
对于那些出于种种无奈、只能生活在北京、上海或中国任何一个城市、忍受空气中高浓度悬浮颗粒的人们来说，一个可值得安慰的事情是，至少现在有了通用的术语可以描述这种情况了。
Josh Chin
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
http://www.cn.wsj.com/gb/20101126/ren101212.asp?source=UpFeature
But even as the smog thickens, the question remains whether Shanghai can match a new standard of Sino-smokiness recently set by Beijingâ 'a standard that (as one U.S. authority recently suggested) stretches the bounds of sanity.
According to a report in today's China Daily, Shanghai's air pollution index has broken 100 on eight days so far this month, at one point reaching 370â 'the worst reading in 10 years.
Scary stuff, no doubt. But compare that to last week in Beijing, when air pollution readings from a monitoring station at the U.S. Embassy soared past 500â 'a level so astonishing it prompted the embassy's automated air pollution Twitter feed(which usually rates Beijing's air quality on a scale from 'Good' to 'Hazardous') to add a completely new rating: 'Crazy Bad.'
According to an investigationlast week by the Guardian's Jonathan Watts, the 'Crazy Bad' designation -- which was quickly taken down and replaced with the more bureaucratic 'Beyond Index' -- was a joke written into the embassy's monitoring software that had been triggered by the off-the-charts reading .
'It was an inadvertent humorous moment,' Watts quoted U.S. embassy spokesman Richard Buangan as saying. Buangan then went on to express pleasure that, far from being excoriated for the blunder, the 'Crazy Bad' miscue had seemed to make 'heroes' out of the embassy staff.
Inadvertent or not, the new designation helped focus attention on just how awful the Chinese capital's air had become. How bad is crazy bad? Try 15 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard for acceptable concentrations of particulate matter.
By China's less stringent standards, the cutoff for 'polluted' is an index reading of 100. At 300, or 'heavily polluted'--roughly one-half the highest reading in Beijing last week--even healthy people suffer 'strong irritations and other symptoms,' according to China Daily.
The horrifying numbers out of Beijing and Shanghai have sent experts and residents alike scrambling to explain the sudden surges in pollution. In a detailed analysisof the 'crazy bad' phenomenon posted yesterday, the English-language blog livefrombeijing settles on a surprisingly mundane answer: the weather. Certain types of wind, the post notes, can trap pollution against the mountains outside Beijing, causing it to build up quickly.
Authorities explain Shanghai's pollution surge in much the same way, blaming an increase in sandstorms and winter cold waves that carry polluted air in from inland provinces.
But seasonal weather isn't the whole story. Air quality has been declining nationwidein recent years, thanks largely to a car boom and a surge in heavy industry tied to the country's post-financial crisis stimulus efforts. According to a report ( in Chinese) from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, pollution in China in the first half of this year was the worst it's been since 2005.
A map released by NASA earlier this year provides a Technicolor bird's-eye viewof how China's air quality compares to the rest of the world. Closer to the ground, a photo diary from the Asia Society called ' Clearing the Air' documents in disturbing detail the daily fluctuations in visibility experienced by residents of Beijing.
While China's efforts to cool the economy may end up tamping down some of the industrial pollution, the country's automobile craze shows few signs of slowing down.
One consolation for those stuck living in Beijing, Shanghai or any other Chinese city with chewable air? At least now there's a common term to describe it
Josh Chin
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