While Beijing smothered Monday under a cloud of smog and a reputation for horrible air, other cities in the world quietly vie for the tarnished crown of world’s most polluted city.
盡管北京的周一籠罩在濃重的霧霾之中，而且它還有著空氣不好的不良名聲，但世界其他城市卻在悄悄爭奪著污染最嚴重城市的頭銜。
And this year’s winner is: Zabol, Iran.
而今年的“贏家”是：伊朗的扎博勒。
Beijing and much of northeastern China are currently shrouded in a smog red alert, causing some factories to shut down, highways to close and airlines to cancel flights. But the World Health Organization ranks the world’s cities based on air pollution, and the worst Chinese city, Xingtai, only ranks ninth in the 2016 list.
北京和中國東北大部分目前正處于霧霾紅色警告之中，導致部分工廠停工、高速公路關(guān)閉、航班停飛。但世界衛(wèi)生組織基于空氣污染對全球城市進行了排名，在2016年的排行榜中，中國污染最嚴重的城市是邢臺，位于排行榜第九位。
WHO’s ranking, released in May, is based on the amount of PM 2.5. PM 2.5 is nasty because it can get stuck in the lungs and cause or aggravate asthma and other long-term health problems.
世界衛(wèi)生組織于今年5月公布的排名以PM2.5總量為基礎。PM2.5之所以可怕，在于它能附著在肺部，引起或加劇哮喘及其他長期健康問題。
WHO guidelines call for no more than 10 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter of air. Dusty Zabol averages a whopping 217. Other cities cracking the dubious list’s top five include Gwalior, India, at 176, Allahabad, India at 170, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at 156 and Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia at 152.
世衛(wèi)組織的指導意見是每立方米空氣中的PM2.5值不應高于10微克。而塵土飛揚的扎博勒的平均值是217微克。排名前五的另外4個城市分別是印度的瓜廖爾(176)和安拉阿巴德(170)、沙特阿拉伯的利雅得(156)和朱拜勒(152)。
Beijing suffered Monday with levels hovering above 200; other Chinese cities have pushed close to 1,000 in recent days.
周一，北京的PM2.5值超過了200微克，而其他一些中國城市近幾天的PM2.5值接近1000微克。
The tide can be turned with effort. The 2015 most-polluted city, New Delhi, slid to 11 in 2016 thanks a crackdown that included bans on the most polluting cars and trucks and fines for for burning trash.
但這種趨勢是可以通過努力加以扭轉(zhuǎn)的。2015年全球污染最嚴重的城市是印度的新德里，但由于采取了包括禁止污染嚴重的小汽車和卡車上路，以及對燃燒垃圾的行為予以罰款等一系列統(tǒng)打擊措施，新德里在2016年的排名中下降到了第11位。
Breathe easier, America. The worst U.S. city didn’t crack WHO’s top 1,000. Visalia, Calif., checked in at 1,080.
美國的情況比較好。沒有一個美國城市進入全球污染最嚴重的前1000個城市之列。加利福尼亞州的維塞利亞排名第1080位。
