英語拾零: 霧都——倫敦

讀完"A LONDON FOG"這個故事，大家都會想起倫敦的別稱——霧都。“霧都”，聽起來既神秘又浪漫。然而1952年12月5日－9日發生在倫敦的煙霧事件卻造成多達12000人喪生。這其實是一次嚴重的大氣汙染事件，政府迫於形勢不得不對被害情況組織調查，但並沒有查清原因，以致以後又繼續發生了1956、1962年的煙霧事件。當然，也正是這些事件推動了英國環境保護立法的進程，這也從某種程度上為我們敲響了環境保護的警鍾。

倫敦大霧的頻發，從英文單詞smog中也可窺見一般：smog是取了smoke和fog的首尾而成的單詞，意思是“煙霧”。倫敦的霧很大程度上是由汙染而起，是煙霧，所以確切的說，倫敦的霧應該是smog，而不是fog。下麵就是一篇有關1952年倫敦煙霧事件的文章。

The city of London used to be called "foggy London." Fog as thick as pea soup often settled over the city. As the fog got thicker, buildings seemed to disappear and traffic snarled. Foggy London became a place of danger.
In December 1953, a heavy fog brought danger and even death to London. Because of the fog, all land, sea, and air traffic in and out of London stopped. Accidents and illnesses increased. The blinding fog made it difficult to rescue the sick and injured. In December 1952, a heavy fog brought danger and even death to London. Because of the fog, all land, sea, and air traffic in and out of London stopped. Accidents and illnesses increased. The blinding fog made it difficult to rescue the sick and injured.
The great December fog started like most other London fogs. Cold, damp air settled over the city. There was hardly any wind. The fog formed and thickened as dirt and dust swirled up from the streets. Smoke from millions of chimneys had no place to go and mixed with the fog. The fog turned dark brown, then black.
The 1952 fog lasted for four days. Many people remember the fog as a great natural disaster. But how, "natural" was the disaster? Scientist found that air pollution was partly to blame. Most homes and factories in London still burned coal in 1952, so the air was filled with smoke and soot. Pollution from heavy traffic made the air even dirtier.
Air pollution alone doesn't cause fog to form. But it does make the fog form faster. Air pollution can also make a fog thicker than it might otherwise be. And it causes fogs to stay on and on.
After the great fog 1952, a Clean Air Act was passed in London. That law helped to cut down on pollution from homes, factories, and motor vehicles. In 1976, studies showed that London's air had only 25 percent of the smoke it had in the 1950's. Although there are still fogs in London, many of them last only a little while. The "pea soup fog" is now a thing of the past.
London's victory over fog is a lesson for people in places that still have "killer fogs." A section of a main highway in New Jersey is one of those places. On October 24, 1973, at 2 am, a dense fog "blacked out" part of the New Jersey Turnpike. Drivers ran into vehicles ahead of them because they could not see anything. Cars and trucks piled of the fog-covered road. Some people were killed. Others were injured.
The fog has caused other accidents on the turnpike. The northern part of the road runs through swampy land. Fog tends to form there at night or early in the morning, when the air is cool.
What can be done to prevent such accidents? One suggestion is to clean the air, as people have done in London. A fire in a garbage dump had been burning for days before the fog 1973 in New Jersey. That fire filled the air with smoke, soot, and ash. All that dirt in the air made the fog heavy and dark.

改編:( ZT )