Less than a decade ago, Beijing city was an industrial wasteland. The sky could be seen from Beijing's ancient monuments less than a third of the year. Nearby lakes were so contaminated that they couldn't be used to water crops. And children were warned not to play outside in the noxious air.

不到十年前，北京市還是一片工業荒原。從北京古老的歷史遺址，一年只有不到三分之一的時間可以看到天空。附近湖泊由於汙染太嚴重，甚至無法用來灌溉穀物。兒童更接獲警告，不要到外面有毒的空氣中玩耍。

So when China applied to host the 2008 Olympics, it encountered deep skepticism about its ability to pull off the feat in one of the world's most populous and polluted cities. There was real concern about athletes choking on chemical-laden air as they ran the 100-meter dash.

因此，當中共申辦2008奧運時，對其是否有能力在這個世上人口最多、汙染最嚴重的城市之一舉辦這場盛會深表疑慮，尤其擔心運動選手在百米衝刺時，因吸入充滿化學汙染物的空氣而窒息。

Seven years and $40 billion later, the Chinese have had remarkable success on many fronts. Practically every construction project is running ahead of schedule. The Chinese can brag of heroic feats of logistics and engineering: the "bird's nest" latticework of the 91,000-seat Olympic Stadium, the shimmering blue skin of the Water Cube aquatics center, a 70-mile high-speed railway, four new subway lines, an energy-efficient airport terminal.

七年過去了，又斥資400億美元後，中共在很多方面展現驚人的成就，幾乎每件營建工程計畫的進度都超前。中國人這下對物流和工程的傲人成績可以誇下海口，像91,000個座位的奧林匹克公園內的國家體育場鳥巢鋼結構工程；俗稱「水立方」的國家游泳中心閃閃發光的藍色外牆；70哩高速火車，四條新捷運路線，一個節能機場航空站。

But Beijing still has not conquered its pollution. Nearly 50 years after Mao Zedong's "war on nature" felled trees to make room for steel plants in the administrative capital and reversed rivers to provide irrigation, the Chinese government is finding that undoing the environmental damage and turning Beijing into a green showcase in time for the Olympics is no small task. China has only 16 months before 550,000 overseas visitors pile into a city of more than 15 million.

但北京仍未完全克服汙染問題。在毛澤東動員群眾向自然宣戰，伐木以清出空地在首善之區建鋼廠，並改變河道以利灌溉近五十年後，中國政府發現，要及時搶救環保傷害，並使北京成為奧運綠色櫥窗誠非易事。中國大陸還有16個月就會有55萬海外訪客，湧入這個有1500多萬居民的城市。

"Beijing has made significant progress compared to a few years ago, but just by looking outside you can see the pollution is still very bad," said Lo Sze Ping, campaign director for Greenpeace China.

「和幾年前相比，北京已有長足的進步，但只要看看外面，就會發現汙染情況仍很糟，」中國綠色和平組織宣傳主任盧思騁說。

Air pollution was greatly reduced in the initial years of Beijing's cleanup campaign, and by 2002 the number of "blue sky days" nearly doubled, to more than 200. Now, levels of ozone and other pollutants meet international norms. But for the past two years, fine soot in the air has failed to dissipate and still hasn't reached acceptable levels.

在北京剛開始推動淨化行動那幾年，空氣汙染大幅降低，到2002年，「藍天的日子」幾乎倍增，超過200天。如今臭氧層和其他汙染物已符合國際標準，但過去兩年，空氣中的細煤灰未能消散，同時也未達到可以接受的水平。

Several hundred million trees were planted in the capital, but moths descended on them, stripping much of the foliage that was supposed to absorb carbon dioxide emissions. And despite efforts to conserve water and process sewage more thoroughly, the most recent tests of nearby rivers and lakes showed that many are still badly polluted.

首都種了好幾億棵樹，但蠹蛾立刻大舉入侵，吃光大部分原本用來吸收二氧化碳排放量的樹葉。儘管努力節約用水，同時更澈底清理下水道，最近檢測附近的河川湖泊顯示，很多仍嚴重汙染。

Chinese environmental officers say they are proud of their progress and that Beijing should be judged not by international standards but by how much it has improved.

中國環保官員說，他們以他們的進展為榮，而且北京不應以國際標準來衡量，而應看它改善了多少。

"People who come here for the first time feel that the environment and the air is not good," said Yu Xiaoxuan, deputy director for construction and environment for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games. "But they do not know how bad the pollution was several years ago."

「初到北京的人覺得，環境和空氣都很糟，」北京奧組委工程與環境部副部長余小萱說。「但他們不知道幾年前汙染有多嚴重。」

Members of the International Olympic Committee have repeatedly said how impressed they are with China's progress but have singled out air pollution as a challenge. Just last month on a visit to Beijing, IOC Vice Chairman Ludmilla Linberg urged city officials to further improve air quality.

國際奧委會委員再三表示，他們對中國大陸的進步印象深刻，但仍單挑空汙為一大挑戰。國際奧委會副主席林伯格上月走訪北京時，促北京市官員進一步改善空氣品質。

Beijing is a 65-square-mile expanse of flatland surrounded by a desert that is fast encroaching because of massive deforestation. It wasn't until 2000, when the city was applying to host the Olympics, that the government began to take seriously the environmental consequences of its actions. That summer, a series of ferocious sandstorms hit, turning the sky yellow, closing the airport and filling hospitals with people who couldn't breathe. Even the state-run media lambasted the government for failing to anticipate the problem.

北京是一大片占地65平方哩的平地，周遭被沙漠包圍，並因大量濫伐正快速侵蝕。直到公元2000年，當北京市申辦奧運時，政府才開始對環境後果認真採取行動。那年夏天，一波波凶猛的沙塵暴來襲，黃沙遮蔽天空，機場關閉，醫院擠滿呼吸困難的病患。連官方媒體也炮轟政府未能預見這個問題。

In its application to host the Olympics, China outlined more than 50 measures to improve environmental conditions. Beijing officials have been moving rivers and mountains since. Chunks of mountains in the northwest were blown up and the soil was moved to grow trees and greenery elsewhere. A river from a neighboring province is being redirected into Beijing to supply extra water.

中國申奧時，勾勒出50多項改善環境的措施，此後北京官員一直在移山移水。西北方好幾大塊山丘被炸掉，泥沙再搬運到其他地方去種樹綠化，鄰省一條河川也重新轉向北京以增加供水。

Beijing is planting three walls of trees around the city that include cypress, Chinese scholar trees, magnolias and Dragon spruces -- nearly 100 species. These green barriers not only change the look of Beijing but also defend against the desert, said Wang Sumei, deputy director general of the Capital Forestation Commission.

北京環城建了三層樹牆，包括白扁柏、國槐、木蘭、雲杉（白松），將近一百種，這些綠色樹籬不只改變北京的外觀，也防範沙漠侵蝕，首都綠化委員會副總幹事王素梅說。

Particles in Beijing's air are still 40 to 50 percent worse than in Los Angeles, the most polluted city in the United States. Fu Lixin, director of the Air Pollution Research Institute at Tsinghua University, who is advising the Beijing government, said that if pollution is severe, Olympic events could be put off until later in the day or even moved to another venue. The government is prepared to take radical measures such as seeding clouds to create rain, clearing the air.

北京空氣中的浮游微粒仍比洛杉磯嚴重40%至50%，而洛城是美國汙染最嚴重的城市。清華大學大氣汙染控制研究所所長傅立新是北京政府的顧問，他說，如果汙染很嚴重，奧運賽事可能每天稍晚或甚至轉移陣地到其他場地舉行。政府準備隨時採取激進的措施，像人造雲製造雨，以淨化空氣。

"Time is too short," he said. "I don't think it's realistic for Beijing to meet international standards of air pollution. But people should know the whole city is supporting and trying their best."

「時間很急迫，」他說。「我想，要北京達到國際空汙水平很不切實際，但大家應該知道，全市都支持並盡力而為。」

《詞解》
wasteland 荒原
monuments 歷史遺址
noxious 有毒的
choking 窒息
logistics 物流
terminal 航空站
levels of ozone 臭氧層
pollutants 汙染物
fine soot 細煤灰
dissipate 消散
moth 蠹蛾
foliage 樹葉
lambasted 炮轟
particles 浮游微粒