英语拾零: 雾都——伦敦

读完"A LONDON FOG"这个故事，大家都会想起伦敦的别称——雾都。“雾都”，听起来既神秘又浪漫。然而1952年12月5日－9日发生在伦敦的烟雾事件却造成多达12000人丧生。这其实是一次严重的大气污染事件，政府迫于形势不得不对被害情况组织调查，但并没有查清原因，以致以后又继续发生了1956、1962年的烟雾事件。当然，也正是这些事件推动了英国环境保护立法的进程，这也从某种程度上为我们敲响了环境保护的警钟。

伦敦大雾的频发，从英文单词smog中也可窥见一般：smog是取了smoke和fog的首尾而成的单词，意思是“烟雾”。伦敦的雾很大程度上是由污染而起，是烟雾，所以确切的说，伦敦的雾应该是smog，而不是fog。下面就是一篇有关1952年伦敦烟雾事件的文章。

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.

改编:( ZT )