紧迫的环境污染问题（上）
Urgency: Environmental Pollution (I)
林巍
Lin Wei
去年春节回北京，扑面而来的是前所未有的雾霾；整日昏天昏地，让人感到堵闷。人们戴着口罩、帽子、头巾、沙镜，在拥挤的人群、车辆中抢路、奔波、躲闪……
As soon as we got to Beijing for Spring Festival last year, we entered a city shrouded in a thick blanket of fog and haze, where people could hardly breathe under the dark sky, wearing gauze masks, hats, scarves and glasses, rushing and searching among the crowd.
不久，就得到了我的两个好朋友先后得肺癌去世的消息，其中一个是著名的摄影家邓伟。我们成为朋友已有二十余年，一起做过很多事，包括办出国手续，出国后，也一直保持联系。他不抽烟、不喝酒，生活节俭而有规律，何以就得了肺癌，且如此突然离世？我到了他家，其家人对我说，不排除与环境污染有关……
Before long, I was horrified to know that two of my best friends had just died of lung cancer, including the well-known photographer Mr. Deng Wei, who had been a very disciplined person, never touching cigarettes or alcohol. Over the past 20 years of our friendship, we shared the same experience of applying to study abroad, among many other things, and had frequent contact even overseas. The constant heavy air pollution in Beijing over past decades shouldn’t be ruled out as one of the causes of his sudden death, according to his family.
对于环境污染的危害性，过去总以为，与自己在空间和时间上还有着相当的距离，因为地球太大，而自我太小。现在，我有了可谓“切肤之痛”；它不再遥远，而就在眼前！
It was thought the detrimental effects of environmental pollution are still in somewhere rather remote from where we are, given the magnitude of the earth in relation to our tiny beings. Now the pain is so piercing! It is happening in no other places but here.
对于眼前污染的原因，有着不同的解读，如城市人口太稠密、私家车太多、能源使用不合理、粗放式生产与经营等等。
There are different causes to blame for the current pollution, such as the density of urban population, the ever-crowded private cars, the irrational use of energy and extensive production and operation and so on.
从人与物质世界的根本关系来看，就经济发展与生活质量而言，这种污染实质上是一种发展失衡的结果。
Considering the fundamental relations between man and natural world, economic development and the quality of life, however, pollution of this kind, in my view, has been attributed to imbalanced development. |
