中國人對污染的最新擔憂:有害於人類繁衍

The fifty shades of gray hovering above China's cities could be sapping the country's men of their virility.

盤旋在中國城市上空的“五十度灰”有可能傷及該國男性的“男子氣概”。

That's the message from one Chinese newspaper website citing findings from a sperm bank in Shanghai that monitored samples over a decade and found two-thirds were 'affected' to various degrees by environmental factors.

這是一家中文報紙的網站傳達出來的信息。該網站引用上海精子庫的說法稱，經過10年來監測精液數據發現，三分之二的男性精液受到不同程度影響。

Potentially a source of couples' bedroom disputes, the report is one of two this week feeding a frenzy of speculation on the Chinese Internet about how the country's notorious pollution impacts reproductive health. Sperm can grow to be 'ugly' and 'not able to swim,' the head of the sperm bank, Li Zheng, told the Shanghai Morning Post (in Chinese), a newspaper owned by the military-run Liberation Daily.

這一發現有可能引發中國夫妻的臥室爭端。本週有兩篇報道在中文互聯網上讓人們紛紛猜測中國惡名遠揚的污染問題在何種程度上影響了生殖能力。上海精子庫的負責人李錚對《新聞晨報》說，精子是會遊動的，環境差了，精子就長“難看”了，甚至遊不動了。《新聞晨報》屬軍方運營的解放日報報業集團所有。

The discussion first erupted on Tuesday after a little known publication called the China Business Review ran a headline bound to get attention in a country more obsessed than most with children: 'Smog Can Impact Humans' Reproductive Ability and Immune System.' Below, the newspaper showed a rendering of how dust particles harm different organs in the human body.

相關討論最初爆發於週二，此前鮮有人知的《華商報》刊登了一篇報道，標題引起了非常注重孩子的中國人的注意。報道標題是《霧霾會影響生殖能力改變人體免疫結構》，並且配了一幅示意圖，表明污染物顆粒對人體的各個器官有哪些不良影響。

Both articles cite a new 'green paper' on climate change issued by the China Meteorological Administration and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. As one might expect, the report is mostly concerned with minimizing the carbon footprint of China's urbanizing population, though it does making a passing mention, on page 248, of the negative effects on human health of air pollution. Particulate matter can 'influence reproductive abilities,' it says.

上述兩份報道都引用了中國社會科學院、中國氣象局聯合發佈的《氣候變化綠皮書》。不出所料的是，綠皮書最關注的是儘可能降低中國城市人口的碳足跡，雖然該報告的確在第248頁一筆而過地提到了空氣污染對人類健康的影響。報告說，顆粒物可能影響生殖能力。

While neither the green paper nor the initial China Business Review story offered any data to support their claims, that hardly seemed to matter to the country's microbloggers, who have long expected the worse from the air they breathe.

不過，不管是綠皮書還是《華商報》最初發表的報道都沒有爲相關說法提供任何數據支持。不過對中國的微博用戶來說，這基本算不上什麼問題，他們長期以來都在擔心，他們呼吸的空氣會造成更嚴重的影響。

A study in July found that air pollution from coal combustion likely cut life expectancy in parts of China by more than five years during the 1990s. This week, China's official news agency Xinhua reported a doctor saying that an eight-year old girl from the eastern province of Jiangsu had contracted lung cancer from prolonged exposure to harmful particles having lived near a dusty street.

今年7月的一項研究發現，在上世紀90年代，燃煤產生的空氣污染可能導致中國部分地區的人口平均壽命縮短五年以上。本週，中國官方媒體《新華社》報道稱，江蘇一名八歲女童罹患肺癌，醫生說空氣污染是致病的主要原因，因爲女孩家住一條繁忙的公路旁，長期接觸有害顆粒物。

The Wall Street Journal called Beijing's United Family Healthcare for its take on what doctors should be telling their patients, but the hospital declined comment. 'Our (obstetrician and gynecologist) chief refused the interview, because there is no data or document to explain the pollution's impact to pregnant women,' wrote spokesperson Yafei Zhu.

《華爾街日報》致電北京的和睦家醫療集團(United Family Healthcare)，詢問醫生應該對病人說些什麼，但該醫院不予置評。該醫院的發言人朱亞飛（音）寫道，我們的婦產科主治醫生拒絕了採訪，因爲沒有數據也沒有文獻解釋污染對孕期女性的影響。

Previous studies have shown exposure to high levels of pollution can reduce the success rate of in vitro fertilization and drawn a link between toxic air and reduced fertility in men. In September, local media reported that scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing Medical University and Zhejiang University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences would conduct a national research study in 2014 to examine how toxins in the environment, including pollution, impact women trying to give birth.

此前已有研究表明，暴露在高水平的污染當中能降低體外受精的成功率，並發現有毒空氣與男性生育力降低之間存在關聯。今年9月，中國媒體報道上海交通大學、南京醫科大學、浙江大學和中科院的科學家將於2014年進行一次全國性調查，研究環境中的毒素（包括污染物）對女性生殖功能的影響。

Mr. Li from the Shanghai sperm bank says it has been facing a lack of qualified sperm donors and quality sperm in the last decade, and that only one-third of its sperm meets World Health Organization standards, according to Wednesday's report in the Shanghai Morning post. A spokesperson at Ruijin Hospital, which houses the sperm bank, said Mr. Li was not available for comment.

《新聞晨報》週三的報道說，上海精子庫的負責人李錚說，過去10年間，精子庫一直面臨兩個難題，一是合格的捐精者不足，二是精子質量不佳，捐獻者中僅三分之一的人精液質量較好，能達到世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)標準。仁濟醫院的一名發言人說，無法聯繫到李錚置評。上海精子庫就設立在仁濟醫院。

Readers of the China Business Review article were far from reticent. The post elicited 441 comments, including one that sardonically proffered a silver lining: 'Yes! No need to use condoms anymore.'

《華商報》的讀者對這篇文章的反應頗爲強烈。報道收到了441條評論，其中一條評論以諷刺的口吻寫道：太好了，再也不用戴套了。