有聲英文閱讀-歷次重大的煙霧殺人事件

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The Killer Smogs

On the night of December 1, 1930, a dense fog moved over the Meuse Valley, in Belgium. Many factories in the valley poured smoke and fumes into the foggy air. This created a dark smog of smoke and fog combined. People in the valley began to cough and train for breath. The smog remained for four days. During that time, thousands of people became ill. The hospitals were filled with patients. Sixty people died. Most of them were older persons with heart and lung problems. Finally, a heavy rain washed away the smog. Scientists studied the causes of the disaster. They concluded that the illnesses and deaths were caused by chemicals in the smog.
The first reported event of this kind in the United States happened in Donora, a factory town in a valley near Pittsburgh. In 1948, a killer smog made half of the population sick, there were 17 deaths. Again, older people with lung or heart diseases were hit hardest.
London, England, has always been known for its "black fogs." In the winter of 1952, a milky white fog rolled into the city. It soon turned into black smog as the smoke of the city poured into the air. It was so hard to see that people had to walk in front of the buses to guide them. In this way, the most serious air pollution disaster in history began. When it was over, more than 4,000 people had been killed by the thick black smog.
New York City has had several London-type smogs since 1950. Each time, there were from 100 to 400 deaths caused by the smog. Although these smogs were not as deadly as London's, New York City has the worst air pollution problem in the United States.
In all the killer smogs, factories and homes poured smoke and fumes into the air from the furnaces. The chemical fumes combined with the water droplets in the fog to form harmful substances. These substances caused the illness of those who breathed the polluted air.
Usually, such harmful fumes rise into the upper air and are blown away by the wind. But sometimes there is an unusual weather condition called a temperature inversion. A layer of cold air remains near the ground as smoke and fumes pour into it. This is covered by an upper layer of warm air that acts like a lid. It prevents the polluted cooler air from rising. The harmful fumes pile up and make people ill. The smog may be so thick that airports are closed and chains of collisions occur on the highways.
Another type of smog occurs in Los Angeles. Here the weather may be clear and sunny. But stinging eyes and dry coughs show that harmful chemicals fill the air. The smog is due to invisible gases, mostly from automobile exhaust. Because these chemicals are changed by the sun high up in the air, Los Angeles smog is called photochemical smog. It contains automobile exhaust fumes and nitrogen oxides changed by the sun's rays. Added to these are sulfur dioxide and other fumes from factories and oil refineries. Photochemical smog is found in many large cities all over the world.
Killer smogs don't happen very often, fortunately. But in many large cities, a combination of automobile exhaust fumes, home furnace smoke, and factory waste gases pours into the air. This may also happen in the suburbs, or out in the country, where large factories have been built. A number of harmful substances have been found in the air there. When these substances are breathed in day after day, the health of the population is affected.

歷次重大的煙霧殺人事件

在1930年12月1日夜，一場濃霧漂移到了比利時的默茲山谷地區(qū)。在這山谷中的許多工廠都把煙塵和各種有害的微粒排放到這一場大霧當中了，于是就形成了煙與霧結合在一起的一大片濃黑的煙霧。這一山谷里的人們開始咳嗽，呼吸緊張。這場煙霧在這山谷里足足延續(xù)了四天，在這四天里成千上萬的人病倒了。各家醫(yī)院里都擠滿了病人。結果60人死亡。死者中絕大多數都是患有心臟病和肺病的老人。最后，是一場大雨把這場煙霧沖洗掉了。科學家倦研究了這場災難之后得出結論說，這場煙霧中的有害化學物質導致了人傘兵生病和死亡。
據報導，在美國的第一起這類事件發(fā)生在靠近匹茲堡的多諾拉。多諾拉是一個城鎮(zhèn)，那里全是工廠。在1948年，一場煙霧導致了該鎮(zhèn)有壯大數人口生了病，17人死亡。這里也還是患有肺病或心臟病的老年人受害最重。
英國倫敦一向以其"黑霧"稱著于世。在1952年冬季，一厚層奶白色的霧滾滾漂進倫敦的空氣當中。這場霧濃得令人什么也看不見，以致人們不得不步行在公共汽車的前頭引導著司機慢慢開車前進。就這樣，開始了歷史上最嚴重的一場空氣污染所造成的災難。災難結束時有四千多人被這場濃黑的煙霧奪去了生命。
自從1950年以來，美國紐約市發(fā)生了數起類似倫敦型的煙霧殺人事件。每次都因為有毒煙霧導致了一百到四百人的死亡。雖然這些煙霧令人致死的程度沒有倫敦煙霧那樣厲害，但是紐約市的空氣污染問題在全美國是最壞的，最嚴重的。
在所有這一切煙霧殺人的事件當中，都是由于各大小工廠和各個家庭把他們爐火中的煙塵和微粒排放到空氣中所造成的。這些化學微粒同霧中的極微小的水珠結合起來就形成了各種有害的物質，這些有害物質是那些呼吸這些被污染了的空氣的人致病的原因。
一般情況下，這些有害的微粒漂浮到空氣的上層以后，會被風吹走。但有時會有一種被稱作"溫度逆增"的不平常的天氣狀態(tài)。當煙塵和微粒拜謝到空氣中以后，有一層冷空氣仍然在貼近地面。這層冷空氣就阻擋了這些被污染的冷空氣，使之不能上升的高空中。這些有害的微粒越聚越多，于是就使人生病了。這些煙專利號有時很濃以致各個機場被迫關閉，公路上發(fā)生了一串一串的汽車相撞的事件。
在美國洛杉磯出現過另一種煙霧。這里天氣晴朗陽光燦爛，但是人們感到眼睛刺痛，出現干咳嗽。這些癥狀表明空氣中充滿了有害的化學物質。這種煙霧是由看不見的無色氣體所組成，這種氣體主要是汽車尾氣中的微粒和被陽光照射后起了化學變化的氮氧化物，此外還有從工廠和煉油廠排放出來的二氧化碳和其他的懸浮微粒。在全世界很多大城市中都發(fā)現有光化學煙霧。
幸好，這種煙霧殺人事件并不是經常發(fā)生的。但在許多大城市中，都把汽車尾氣中的微粒、家庭火爐冒出來的煙塵及工廠的廢氣匯合在一起排放到空氣中去了。這種做法也會出現在郊區(qū)或城市外圍的農村，因為這些地方都蓋起了大型的各類工廠。在這些的空氣中發(fā)現有很多的有害化學物質，人們日復一日地呼吸了這些有害物質，身體健康就會大受影響。