悲哀之城:被雾霾窒息了的"中国梦"

One of the most popular iPad apps in Beijing at present is China Air Pollution Index. The app is both addictive and disturbing. When I checked into a Beijing hotel recently, I found that – even from the 40th floor – I couldn't see further than one block because of the grey smog enveloping the city. So I checked the numbers and discovered that the AQ level, which measures fine particulates that are especially dangerous, was 250 – about five times the level deemed safe.

目前在北京最受欢迎的一款iPad应用是"中国空气污染指数"。这款应用既令人着迷，又令人不安。最近，我在入住北京一家宾馆时发现，即便站在40层楼上，也无法看清一个街区以外的地方，因为这座城市已被灰色的雾霾包裹住了。于是我查看了一下数据，发现空气污染水平（衡量尤为危险的细微颗粒）是250，约为安全水平的5倍。

A few weeks earlier I had experienced Beijing at 350, a level that made my eyes sting and lungs ache, even inside a car. Back in January it went as high as 1,000, at which point the US embassy urges people to remain indoors with the windows shut.

几周前，我还在北京体验过350的污染水平——即便坐在车里，也感觉眼疼肺痛。而更早一些，今年1月份北京的空气污染水平曾达1000，当时美国使馆敦促人们留在室内，关紧窗户。

In fairness, when the wind blows the pollution away from Beijing, the sky can be blue and it is suddenly a pleasure to walk around. But a good day in Beijing is often a bad day elsewhere in the country.

公平地说，当大风吹走雾霾时，北京的天空还是一片湛蓝的，忽然之间，出外散步变成了一件愉悦的事。但北京天气好起来时，中国其他地方的天气往往很恶劣。

Pollution in China is now so bad that it threatens to obscure the vision being laid out by Xi Jinping, the new president. Mr Xi has popularised the idea of a "Chinese dream", an obvious foil to the American dream. His dream seems to involve increasing wealth at home and increasing power abroad.

如今，中国的污染如此严重，很可能会遮蔽住新任国家主席习近平规划的愿景。习近平大力倡导"中国梦"，显然是为了对抗美国梦。他的梦想似乎是要对内增加财富，对外增强国力。

But the choking smog suggests that the leadership needs to rethink its national goals. After all, what is the point of rapid economic growth if it creates cities in which it is dangerous to breathe?
但令人窒息的雾霾表明，中国领导层需要重新思考其国家目标。毕竟，如果经济快速增长的后果是把城市变得连呼吸都危险了，那么经济增长又有什么意义？
One study, published in The Lancet medical journal last year, suggested that air pollution might have caused about 1.2m premature deaths in China in 2010 alone – a considerable figure even for a country of 1.3bn people. Beijing has registered a 60 per cent rise in lung cancer cases in the past decade.
医学杂志《柳叶刀》(Lancet)去年发布的一项研究指出，仅2010年，中国空气污染就可能导致约120万人过早死亡，即便对于一个拥有13亿人口的国家而言，这一数字也相当高了。过去10年间，北京肺癌发病率增长了60%。
With pollution that bad, otherwise innocent sights take on a sinister aspect. Ma Jun, a prominent environmental activist, says that on days when the smog envelops the city he winces when he sees children playing football outdoors. Indeed many schools, foreign and Chinese, now forbid kids from playing outside on bad days.
污染如此严重，原本无害的景色也显得邪恶起来。著名环保活动人士马军表示，在雾霾包裹北京城的日子里，他看到孩子们在室外踢足球会感到痛苦。确实，很多学校（不管是面向外国人还是中国人的），如今都禁止孩子在污染严重的天气里到室外玩耍。
The pollution in Beijing is also an international embarrassment. The government went to great lengths to show the city off at its best during the 2008 Olympics, yet now the first thing any foreign visitor wants to talk about is the pollution, and many expats talk about leaving.
北京的污染也让中国政府在国际上处境尴尬。2008年奥运会期间，中国政府不遗余力地展现这座城市最美好的一面，然而现在，外国游客谈论的第一件事就是污染，很多在华外籍人士正在考虑回国。
Even allowing for the installation of air filters in official residences, China's leaders have to breathe the same air as their citizens. So one might expect them to make pollution their top priority. But the signs are that rapid growth remains goal number one.
即便考虑到中国领导人的官邸安装空气过滤器，但他们也得与公民呼吸同样的空气。于是，人们期望领导者把治污当成重中之重。然而种种迹象显示，经济高速增长依然是首要目标。
That is partly because, in recent decades, the government has derived its legitimacy from growth. Officials speak with justifiable pride about the hundreds of millions of people who have been lifted out of poverty. Influential pro-government academics, such as Shanghai's Zhang Weiwei, argue that the one-party system does not need a democratic mandate because it has "performance legitimacy", derived from improving the lot of ordinary people.
这在一定程度是因为，过去几十年来，中国政府的执政合法性一直源于经济增长。官员不无自豪地谈论着，中国数亿人已摆脱了贫困。如上海的张维为等富有影响力、支持政府的学者辩称，一党制不需要民主授权，因为这一制度了改善普通大众的命运，便从中获得了"绩效合法性"。

Yet the pollution problem suggests the leadership needs urgently to adopt a "greener" measure of "performance". It is not just the air. The rivers are often polluted by industrial waste, and the country has had a series of food-safety scandals.
然而污染问题表明，领导层需要迫切采取"更绿色"的"绩效"措施。受到污染的不只是空气。中国的河流也往往受到工业废水的污染，而且中国已经爆出一连串食品安全丑闻。
Local leaders and businesspeople also need to change direction. For the past 30 years, every provincial governor with an eye on a big job in Beijing knew that they would be judged by the local growth rate. Persuading them that they should now care as much about their city's air quality will be difficult when their personal and political fortunes are still tied to increasing the rate of economic expansion.
地方领导人以及商人也需要改变方向。过去30年间，每一位希望在北京谋求高位的省长都知道，当地经济增长率是评判他们表现如何的标准。在其个人及政治前途仍然系于经济扩张的速度之际，想要说服他们对空气质量予以同等关注是很困难的。
Some of the necessary environmental measures are fairly obvious. Insisting on cleaner fuel for cars and stricter emission standards for factories and power stations is crucial. But enforcing those rules will involve facing down powerful interests in the state-owned energy and power companies.
中国显然必须采取某些环保措施。要求汽车采用更清洁的燃油，在电厂以及工厂执行更严格的排放标准，都是十分关键的。但执行这些规章则必须降服国有能源及电力企业强大的既得利益。
If nothing is done, the problem will certainly worsen. Coal-fired power stations continue to open at a great pace and the number of cars on the roads is projected to quadruple by 2030. The latter is, of course, part of the Chinese dream of rising affluence. But personal fulfilment threatens to create a collective nightmare.
如果无所作为，问题肯定会恶化。中国各地大量新增燃煤发电厂继续迅速投入使用，路上行驶的车辆预计到2030年增加3倍。当然，拥有汽车是日益富裕的中国梦的一个组成部分。但个人成就可能创造出集体梦魇。
China can take some comfort from the fact that notoriously polluted cities elsewhere, such as London and Los Angeles, have been cleaned up. But the task for Beijing will be particularly tough. Mr Ma, the environmentalist, says: "London's problem was coal and LA's problem was cars. We have both."
世界其他地区以污染严重著称的城市（例如伦敦和洛杉矶）最终都治理干净了，可以让中国从中感到一丝慰藉。但北京的任务异常艰巨。环保斗士马军表示："伦敦的问题是煤炭，洛杉矶的问题是汽车。而两个问题在我们这里同时存在。"
The fact that environmental activists are allowed to speak out, however, may be a sign that the government wants to act and is willing to encourage a public debate. The air-quality readings for Beijing used to be released only by the US embassy. Now the government releases its own figures in real time, which people can check on their phones as they move around the city.
但环保活动人士被允许发声，或许就表明，政府希望采取行动，也愿意鼓励公众参与讨论。以前只有美国使馆发布北京的空气污染指数。如今中国政府也实时发布自己的数据，人们在市区往来时，可以用手机查看这些数据。
Mr Xi has made clear that he wants to restore Chinese greatness. But greatness can be defined in many ways. The country can now take rising affluence and international respect for granted. The next dream for China should be cleaner air and water – and an open debate about how to get there.
习近平明确表示，他想实现中国的伟大复兴。但伟大的定义有很多种。如今中国可以把国家日益富裕、赢得国际尊敬视为理所当然。中国的下一个梦想应该是更清洁的空气和水——以及公开讨论如何实现这一目标。