鉴于北京雾霾，几周以前，微软北京分公司向每名员工发了一件奇怪的春节礼物——重型防毒面具。而包括电子产品生产商LG在内的其它跨国公司，也向自己在北京的员工发放了口罩。下面我们来看看人们对北京雾霾的理解，以及这些雾霾都来自哪里呢?

　　Why such a morose gift during a holiday season? Air pollution and its health impact is becoming a bigger concern in China’s smoggy capital.过节为何要发这种败兴的礼物?答案是，在常常雾霾弥漫的中国首都，空气污染及其对健康产生的影响正引起越来越大的关切。

　　Beijing’s air pollution has been a problem for decades — thanks to car exhaust, coal-burning stoves and factory fumes blowing in from nearby Hebei province.几十年来，北京一直存在空气污染问题——这要“归功于”汽车尾气、燃煤炉灶和毗邻北京的河北省飘过来的工厂废气。

　　But now Beijingers have a new tool to deal with the smog: a range of apps for iPads and iPhones that allow users to check pollution data.但现在，北京居民有了一种对付雾霾的新工具：一系列可供用户查看污染数据的iPad和iPhone应用。

　　Getting accurate air pollution data has become an especially hot topic following months of public outcry over the government’s inadequate air pollution reporting.自近几个月公众对政府不完善的空气污染报告提出强烈抗议以来，获取准确的空气污染数据已成为一个特别火爆的话题。

　　A key function of the new apps is to that they allow users to access independent air pollution data gathered by the US embassy in Beijing from equipment on its roof.这些新应用的一个关键功能，就是允许用户查看由美国驻华大使馆搜集的独立空气污染数据。这些数据是通过安装在美国大使馆屋顶上的监测设备获取的。

　　Until recently pollution data for PM 2.5, the small particles that are most hazardous to humans, was published ony by the US embassy on its Twitter and Chinese microblog feeds.直到不久以前，还只有美国大使馆通过其Twitter和中文微博帐号发布PM2.5污染数据。PM2.5是对人体危害极大的微小颗粒。

　　Twitter is blocked in China but the microblogs aren’t, giving appmakers access to the data. [corrected paragraph: we previously omitted that the embassy supplies information to Chinese microblogs].Twitter在中国遭到屏蔽，但微博没有。因此，应用开发者能够获取PM2.5数据。

　　After a public uproar last autumn over the inadequacy of Beijing’s publicly reported air pollution data, checking the US embassy’s air pollution report has become a daily routine for many Beijingers.去年秋天，公众对于政府所公布的空气污染数据的不准确感到愤怒。此后，查看美国大使馆公布的空气污染数据便成为许多北京居民每天都要做的事情。

　　Here’s a screenshot from one of the most popular pollution apps, which includes a chart of pollution levels over the last 24 hours and the last month. Helpfully, it will even send you an alert if it deems you should be wearing a face mask:如下是一款最受欢迎的应用的截屏，上面有一张标示过去24小时和上个月污染水平的图表。很有用的一点是，它甚至会在判定应当佩戴口罩时向你发出一条警示：

　　On the day this screenshot was taken Beijing was actually enjoying a rare blue sky day— hence the person in the upper right-hand corner is not wearing the white surgeon’s mask that he dons on more polluted days.截取这个画面的当天，北京实际上处在少见的晴空万里的状态，因此，右上角的那个人没有戴白色的医用口罩——赶上哪天污染较严重时他就会它戴上。

　　Another app uses a catchy smokestack icon and provides averages, highs and lows for PM 2.5, as well as a basic weather report:另一款应用使用了一个醒目的大烟囱图标。它提供PM2.5的平均浓度、最大浓度和最小浓度，以及基本的天气报告：

　　For Beijing expats, the English-language pollution app is a staple — particularly for international schools that have to reschedule sports matches when the smog becomes hazardous:对于居住在北京的外籍人士而言，下面这款英文界面的应用是必不可少的——对国际学校来说尤其如此，因为当雾霾达到有害水平时，这些学校要重新安排体育比赛时间：

　　But one statistic is curiously absent from these apps: the official pollution data from Beijing’s monitoring stations.但奇怪的是，这些应用都没有提供某一种统计数据，那就是来自北京监测站的官方污染数据。

　　After mounting public pressure last year, Beijing recently began publishing hourly updates for PM 2.5, from a single monitoring station on the western side of town. But the new numbers are nowhere to be found on the air pollution apps. To be fair the new data just became available last week, so app designers may not have had time to integrate it into their programs.随着去年舆论压力日渐增强，北京最近开始每小时公布一次PM2.5数据，数据来自西城的一个监测站。但所有的空气污染应用都不提供这些新数据。公平地说，这些新数据是上周才开始发布的，所以应用设计者可能还没来得及将其整合到自己的应用中。

　　But one thing is for sure — Beijing residents, with iPhones in hand, are getting more demanding about the dust-laden air they breathe.但有一件事是确定无疑的：手持iPhone的北京居民，越来越不能容忍自己所呼吸的充满尘埃的空气。

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