新概念阅读：北京空气质量持续严重污染 启动应急方案

　　Beijing's air pollution reached dangerous levels yet again on Sunday, marking the third consecutive day of severe smog, municipal environmental authorities said.

　　北京市环保部门称，北京空气污染在上周日再次达到危险的水平。持续三天的严重雾霾天气给北京带来了严重的空气污染。

　　The municipal meteorological station issued the city's first orange fog warning Sunday morning due to decreased visibility caused by the heavy smog. Monitoring data released on Sunday showed that air quality indexes in most regions of Beijing had hit 500, the indexes' highest level.

　　北京市环保部门在周日上午发布了北京气象史上首个霾橙色预警，浓雾笼罩的北京市能见度非常低。周日发布的监控数据显示，北京大部分地区的空气质量指数均达到了极值500.

　　"Beijing implemented its emergency response plan for hazardous pollution for the first time on Sunday," said Yu Jianhua, director of the air quality department under the municipal environmental protection bureau. The plan, issued last year, includes multiple measures to combat and respond to hazardous levels of air pollution.

　　北京市环保局大气处处长于建华表示：“北京在周日首次启动了应对严重污染的应急方案。” 该应急方案于去年发布，规定应对严重级别空气污染的多项措施。

　　The plan calls for construction sites to limit construction activity that creates large amounts of dust, as well as asks industrial enterprises to reduce emissions, during hazardous pollution days.

　　该应急方案规定，严重污染日时，建筑施工工地应减少产生大量灰尘的施工行为，并要求工业企业减少排放。

　　The plan also requires municipal traffic authorities to limit government vehicle usage during smoggy days, with the goal of reducing such usage by 30 percent compared to normal days.

　　方案还要求市政交通部门在浓雾天气采用临时交通管制，限制政府车辆的使用，目标是减少正常日中30%的车辆。

　　The plan also calls for education authorities to instruct schools to limit or completely stop outdoor activity during periods of heavy air pollution.

　　方案另外要求教育部门指示学校等在严重空气污染期间减少或完全终止户外活动。

　　The municipal environmental monitoring center said readings for PM2.5, or airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, had reached more than 700 micrograms per square meter at several monitoring stations in Beijing, reaching as high as 993 Saturday evening.

　　北京市环境检测中心表示，在北京市的几个监测站，PM2.5的浓度检测结果(即大气中直径小于或等于2.5微米的颗粒物)达到了每立方米700微克以上，周六晚间更是高达993微克。

　　"These figures represent extremely bad pollution. Pollutants have gradually accumulated over the course of recent windless days, making the air quality even worse," said Zhu Tong, a professor from the college of environmental sciences and engineering at Peking University.

　　北京大学环境科学与工程学院教授朱彤说：“这些数值意味着非常严重、可怕的污染，目前北京无风静稳，新排放的污染物还在不断累积，空气质量更糟。”

　　The pollution is expected to engulf Beijing until Wednesday, when wind will arrive to blow the smog away, according to a weather report from the meteorological station.

　　根据北京气象站的天气预报，严重空气污染将持续影响北京至周三即1月16日，周三将有一股冷空气抵到北京吹散雾霾。