北京方面欲保APEC會議期間藍天

Beijng's air-quality index on Monday fell to some of its lowest levels all year -- in the single digits for two hours -- after rain swept away most of the city's air pollution. If the government had its way, the index, which averages about 174, would remain fixed at those famously low levels for the rest of the month.

在一場大雨沖走了絕大多數的北京空氣污染物之後，這座城市的空氣質量指數週一幾乎達到全年最好水平──有兩個小時該指數只有個位數（該指數越低表明空氣質量越好）。如果政府舉措得力的話，那麼這一平均大約在174的指數在本月餘下時間內有望保持在這樣的極低水平上。

The city plans to heavily reduce the use of government vehicles for two weeks while it hosts a meeting of senior officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic and Cooperation forum later this month, the Beijing News reported Tuesday.

《新京報》週二報道稱，北京市計劃在舉辦亞太經濟合作組織(Asia-Pacific Economic and Cooperation, 簡稱APEC)高官會議的兩週期間，大面積停駛公車。

Beijing will suspend bus services for government officials and reduce the use of government vehicles by 70% from Aug. 6-21, the newspaper said. The measures will help 'ensure good air quality and unimpeded traffic flow' during the APEC meeting, it said. Residents will also be encouraged to use public transportation as much as possible and to reduce their use of private cars, it said.

該報稱，在8月6日至21日期間，北京全市各級黨政機關和市屬企業單位的機動車全天停駛70%。其表示，此舉將有助於保障APEC會議期間空氣質量良好和道路交通暢通。報道還稱，北京市政府同時也號召市民，出行儘量乘坐公共交通工具，減少自駕車。

The forum will be attended by hundreds of delegates from 21 APEC member countries, while dozens of side meetings will also take place with more than 1,500 delegates in attendance.

來自21個APEC成員國的數百名代表將參加此次會議，而且逾1,500名代表還將出席數十個小組會議。

It's unclear whether government vehicles have a huge negative impact on Beijing's air quality. Government-vehicle purchases in China comprise less than 5% of the country's overall annual passenger-car demand, according to an estimate from consultancy Automotive Foresight. Meanwhile, vehicle emissions contribute as much as 30% of the fine particulate matter known as PM2.5--which is considered particularly hazardous--in urban air.

目前尚不清楚政府公車是否對北京空氣質量產生了非常嚴重的負面影響。根據諮詢公司Automotive Foresight的估算，中國每年的公車購買量佔全國乘用車總需求的比例不到5%。與此同時，大氣細微顆粒物(PM2.5)中最多30%來自於汽車尾氣，PM2.5被認爲是城市空氣污染中危害尤其大的污染物。

Still, this wouldn't be the first time China made itself artificially pretty for visitors. The country managed to improve air quality by more than 45% compared with the annual average during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. During that period, the city enforced a much tougher measure that called for alternate driving days for cars with even- and odd-numbered license plates--and took almost two million cars off the road.

不過，這並非中國首次爲了外賓而刻意裝點粉飾門面了。2008年北京奧運會期間，政府成功地讓空氣質量比往年平均水平改善了45%以上。那段時期，北京強制推行了嚴苛得多的規定，要求車輛按車牌尾號單雙數隔日限行，使得路上跑的汽車減少了將近200萬輛。

And with the exception of last year, the annual meeting of China's legislature in March--which lasts at least nine days--also ushers in a stretch of cleaner air, according to numbers crunched by China Real Time using data provided by the U.S. State Department.

去年的空氣污染也有例外之時。“中國實時報”整合了美國國務院提供的數據後發現，3月份人民代表大會（持續了至少9天）期間，北京的空氣質量出現好轉。