雅思阅读之空气污染篇

　　近日的塘沽爆炸让大家心有余悸，空气污染的危机始终在头顶盘旋。天气预报也一直徘徊在雷阵雨将来未来之间，雅思小编为大家带来雅思阅读精选：北京空气污染——最黑暗的一天，后附参考译文。

　　Blackest day

　　ON January 12th of last year, in an article in the print edition of TheEconomist, we reported that the public outcry over Beijing’s atrocious airquality was putting pressure on officials to release more data about more kindsof pollutants. We also noted that Chinese authorities had already embarked on awide range of strategies to improve air quality, and that they probably deservemore credit than either foreign or domestic critics tend to give them. But weconcluded with the sad reality that such work takes decades, and that “Beijingresidents will need to wait before seeing improvements.”

　　On January 12th of this year, Beijing residents got an acrid taste of whatthat wait might be like, as they suffered a day of astonishingly bad air.Pollution readings went, quite literally, off the charts. Saturday evening saw areading of 755 on the Air Quality Index (AQI). That index is based on therecently revised standards of the American Environmental Protection Agency (theEPA), which nominally maxes out at 500. For more perspective, consider that anyreading above 100 is deemed “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and that anythingabove 400 is rated “hazardous” for all.

　　Like many Beijing residents, your correspondent has mobile-phone apps thatkeep up with the pollution readings. At an otherwise pleasant Saturday-eveningmeal with friends, he joined his companions in compulsively checking forupdates.