5.Improperly Designed Garbage Incinerators Are Polluting The Atmosphere
5.垃圾焚燒爐的不合理設計污染大氣
China is struggling to contain the insane amounts of waste the country produces. Landfills are quickly overfilling, leaving them with nothing to do but simply destroy the garbage if they can. In many situations, this has led to a strategy of garbage incineration, with the fumes vented straight into the atmosphere. While this probably doesn't sound like a great idea even in the best of situations, there are some incinerator plants in China that are having a serious environmental impact. Regulations aren't well designed and there are a plethora of incinerator facilities that aren't even close to standard, belching nasty smoke into the air with mercury and every other poison you could imagine. The horrible toxic fumes that spew forth have caused protests by everyone near them, and they're an obvious threat to everyone's health for miles.
中國正在努力解決垃圾處理問題，大量垃圾給生存環境造成的壓力不容小覷。由于垃圾掩埋場很快被填滿，對垃圾進行焚燒成為無奈之舉。很多情況下，垃圾焚燒產生的煙霧會被直接排放到大氣中。不僅如此，垃圾焚燒機也會對環境造成嚴重負擔。由于法律漏洞和監管不力，很多垃圾焚燒機都達不到環保標準，焚燒產生的煙霧異常難聞，當中還混雜不少像汞這樣的化學物質，影響附近居民的身體健康。
4.It's Become The Largest Dumping Ground For E-Waste
4.中國正在成為最大電子垃圾傾倒場
E-waste is an increasingly vexing problem for the world. When old electronics are tossed out they often aren't properly recycled because it's too time consuming, unsafe or expensive. In many cases, a venue that recycles old cell phones and computers may just take all that junk and send it to another country to pick over as they please. This is technically illegal, but there's little deterrent. Using both the guise of donations and straight up smuggling, China has becoming the leading importer of e-waste to the point that 70% of the world's e-waste is ending up there.
對全世界來說，電子垃圾正在成為一個愈發棘手的問題。回收廢舊電器要付出相當大的物力和財力，而且存在安全問題，因此這些電子垃圾常常和普通垃圾一樣廢棄一邊，得不到妥善處理。在許多情況下，一個回收舊手機和電腦的場所，很有可能僅僅是另一個愿意接收這些垃圾的國家。盡管嚴格說起來這種行為觸犯法律，但顯然并不具有震懾力。其他國家利用捐款和直接走私的幌子，導致中國已經成為電子垃圾的主要進口國，世界上百分之七十的電子垃圾都在這里。
One town called Guiyu has become a hot zone for the stuff, and many entrepreneurs have risen up around mining old electronic garbage for valuable metals and other useful scrap. Unfortunately, this is terrible for their health and the environment. The process often involves burning plastic or using hydrochloric acid, neither of which is good for the user or the atmosphere. To make matters worse, this pollution has also affected the town's water supply and rice crops. While the local government is trying to stop the flood of e-waste into the town, they face resistance from some residents because it's the only way they know how to make a living.
貴嶼鎮已經成為這類垃圾傾倒的熱門場所，許多企業家在這周圍興建工廠提煉有價值的金屬和其他一些有用的材料。不幸的是，這對健康和環境都很不利。提煉的過程通常都包括燃燒塑料，使用鹽酸，沒有一種是對使用者或大氣是有益的。更糟糕的是，這種污染也影響了當地的供水和糧食作物。雖然當地政府正在阻止電子垃圾涌入城鎮，但是他們遇到了一些阻礙，因為當地居民認為這是他們所知的維持生計的唯一途徑。
3.Pollutants Are Making The Food Supply Unsafe
3.污染物讓糧食供應變得不安全
It stands to reason that if China's air and water isn't doing well, their soil probably isn't faring much better. The problem with the soil may actually be more serious than any others. While many farmers are worried about the constant pollution levels they're exposed to, most of the country is worried about the safety of their food supply — a supply they're increasingly unable to trust.
如果中國的空氣和水質都不好的話，那么顯然他們的土壤也不會好到哪里去。實際上，土壤的問題可能比其他任何問題都要嚴重。雖然許多農民都擔心他們一直在接觸污染物，但大多數國家更在意他們糧食供應的安全性——他們越來越擔心糧食的安全問題。
The soil problem has been one of the most carefully guarded secrets in China. In fact, a few years ago the Chinese government conducted a study of the soil in order to assess environmental concerns. The results have never been released, which led to speculation that they're worse than anyone could have imagined. To give you some idea, a group of Chinese officials found levels of cadmium beyond what's recommended as safe in 155 samples of rice. One official commented that eight million acres of Chinese farmland was so poisoned with heavy metal contamination that it should no longer be used to grow crops. The worst part is that it's almost impossible for Chinese consumers to know whether or not their food is contaminated.
土壤問題已經成為中國最不愿被人提及的秘密了。事實上，為了檢測環境問題，幾年前中國政府曾經做過一個有關土壤問題的研究。研究結果從未公開過，這引起了外界的各種猜測，他們懷疑問題可能比任何人設想的都要嚴重。但有項調查可以得見，在被認定為安全的155份大米樣本中，鎘的含量全部超標。其中一位政府工作人員披露，中國已經有八百萬英畝的土地被重金屬嚴重污染，這些受污染土壤不應該再用來種植糧食。更糟糕的是，食品安全問題一直是主流媒體鮮少報道的話題，國人維權意識淡泊，對許多問題食品的內幕往往毫不知情或了解甚少。
2.癌癥村
Since the late 1990s, international activists and groups in China have been working on the problem of cancer villages. A cancer village is a small town of 100 or so residents that's extremely close to industrial plants. These plants are constantly producing some of the nastiest pollutants on earth. People from the villages describe it as a nightmare, with chemically tainted water that can't be purified and clouds of toxic ash floating through the air.
從上世紀九十年代后期起，國際環保人事和環保組織就一直致力于解決中國癌癥村的問題。一個癌癥發病率較高的村莊往往緊鄰化工企業，村里居住人家僅百戶左右。這些化工企業長期排放對環境危害嚴重的污染物，造成當地水源污染，無法凈化使用，空氣中彌漫著有毒灰塵，嚴重危害當地人的身體健康，可以說是無法承受的噩夢。
The Chinese government doesn't want to address or acknowledge the issue, but like the smog the problem has become bad enough that no amount of covering up can hide it. Unfortunately, these villages are unlikely to go away anytime soon. As it turns out, the richer citizens of China don't like pollution when it affects them, so they've been pressuring the government to move industrial plants. The government obliges and moves them near poor villages that lacks the political influence to do anything about it.
隨著癌癥村數目的不斷上升，這個問題同霧霾一樣已經到了難以整治的地步，成為中國政府不愿提及的痛。造成這一困境的原因之一是短期內不太可能將癌癥村的居民重新安置妥當。事實證明，許多經濟發達地區愈發重視環境問題，不斷向政府施壓要求遷移重污染企業。于是這些企業開始遷往內陸經濟欠發達、政治影響力相對較弱的貧困地區。
1.It Affects The Entire World
1.國內污染影響整個世界
While it's important for China to help its own country, the problem affects more than just China. The massive amount of pollution is starting to affect the rest of the world, and the results aren't pretty. Scientists at Texas A&M University ran climate simulations both with and without China's current air pollution and found troubling results. According to their simulations, cyclones in the Pacific Ocean are being strengthened by the pollution levels, and there's an increase in ocean storms in general. If that wasn't bad enough, tracing the pollutants led to the conclusion that some of it's reaching the western United States, and much of the pollution levels in those states could be blamed on China.
環境污染問題不僅對國民生活危害巨大亟需治理，其他國家也會受到負面影響，后果嚴重，令人堪憂。德州農工大學(Texas A&M University)的科學家們分別在受中國大氣污染影響和不受影響的條件下進行了氣象模擬。模擬顯示，隨著污染程度加深，太平洋的颶風日益增強，且海洋風暴的發生次數也在不斷上升。如果你認為這些影響還不算嚴重，那么通過追蹤污染物會發現一些污染物漂洋過海甚至到達美國西部地區，這些污染源基本都來自中國。
As the study points out, this is massively ironic because the United States — and other developed countries — rely on China for cheap consumer goods. While many countries have outlawed practices that are bad for the environment, they turn around and buy massive amounts of goods from countries that continue to poison the environment. Countries like China fill a void by allowing us to get things for cheap while feeling like we're taking the high road by enacting tougher pollution laws at home. These countries' economies quickly become based on manufacturing, and the cycle becomes hard to break. While China may need to change, it's a problem of more than just their making. If we want China to stop polluting, the rest of the world needs to find a more environmentally sustainable way to produce the goods that drive our economies.
調查證實，這是極大的諷刺，美國和其它發達國家從中國進口大量廉價消費品，同時又禁止污染環境的產業在本國生存，導致發展中國家的環境污染問題嚴重。這些國家很快轉變為以小商品制造業為支柱產業，犧牲環境為代價的經濟發展模式。這種模式一旦形成，環境污染問題就會進入惡性循環，很難被打破。中國需要作出轉變，污染并不只是制造業帶來的問題。如果我們希望中國擺脫環境污染，就必須找到一種環保的替代生產方式，轉變產業結構，建立新的發展模式。
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