霧霾天停課不停學 北京孩子叫苦

BEIJING — Wu Yiling, a 15-year-old student with a love of hamburgers and Hello Kitty, celebrated when she heard that her school was canceling classes for three days because of air pollution. Finally, she would be able to stay up late watching her favorite Korean soap operas, she imagined, and playing computer games with friends.

北京——15歲的學生吳亦玲（音）喜愛漢堡包和Hello Kitty，當她聽說學校因爲空氣污染停課三天時，非常高興，以爲終於可以熬夜看她喜歡的韓國肥皂劇，和朋友們一起玩電腦遊戲了。

But at the crack of dawn on Wednesday, Yiling’s mother jolted her out of bed.

但是週三清晨，媽媽把她叫起了牀。

Her literature teacher had assigned 100 pages of reading, including an intricate Song dynasty poem. Her mother had arranged a tutoring session with a math instructor. An English teacher had announced that there would be a six-part exam on Friday.

語文老師佈置了100頁的閱讀篇目，其中包括一首精巧的宋代詩詞。她媽媽安排了一位數學老師來輔導她功課。英語老師宣佈本週五會進行測驗，題目分爲六個部分。

“I quickly learned that there’s no such thing as a day off,” said Yiling, who attends a high school in eastern Beijing. “Even when we can barely breathe outside, somehow we are supposed to do our schoolwork.”

“我很快就明白了，根本不是所謂的放假，”在北京東部上中學的吳亦玲說。“即使我們在外面呼吸困難，我們還是得做作業。”

As smog blanketed this city for a second day on Wednesday, reviving calls for officials to take action, millions of families grappled with the unexpected closing of schools across the city.

本週三是霧霾籠罩這個城市的連續第二天，敦促官員們採取行動的呼聲再次高漲，而數百萬個家庭正在慌忙應對全市學校的此次意外停課。

Parents searched frantically for day care options. Teachers drew up impromptu lesson plans for use at home. Students who dreamed of leisurely breaks and trips to the mall braced for hours of drills and review sessions instead.

家長們竭力搜索日託服務。教師們制定了在家上課的臨時教案。學生們夢想着悠閒地放假和逛商場，結果卻只得一連數小時溫書複習。

“It’s hard to be at home and doing nonstop work,” said Zhang Wei, 14, a student at a middle school in central Beijing. “I wish the skies were clear and we could play outside.”

“在家裏不停地學習很困難的，”北京市中心一所中學的14歲學生張偉（音）說。“我希望天能放晴，這樣我們就能去外面玩了。”

In online forums, students bemoaned the amount of work they had to complete over the three-day break.

在網絡論壇上，學生們對停課三天中必須完成的作業量發出了哀嘆。

“You may never know how badly we will be tortured by the teachers in the three days that we are home,” an unidentified student wrote on a widely circulated post on Weibo, a microblogging service. “Kids in Beijing, go cry.”

“你們根本不知道我們在家三天受了老師多大的折磨，”一名沒有透露身份的學生寫的帖子，在微博上廣爲轉發。“北京的孩子們，哭去吧。”

Several parents and students said they were concerned that school closings would become more frequent as the severe air pollution persisted. While Beijing has historically kept its schools open, no matter how poisonous the air, the government this week issued what it called a “red alert” for the first time, advising schools to close down from Tuesday through Thursday.

幾名家長和學生表示，他們擔心隨着重度空氣污染持續下去，學校以後會更加頻繁地停課。以前無論空氣污染有多嚴重，北京一直沒有停過課。政府本週首次發佈的“紅色預警”，建議學校從週二停課到週四。

“Smog will be the norm in the future, so what are you going to do about it?” said Zhang Lili, 38, a university instructor and the mother of an 8-year-old son. “Are we supposed to suspend classes whenever there is smog? Am I supposed to become a stay-at-home mother?”

“霧霾未來會成爲常態，那麼你要怎麼辦呢？”38歲的大學教師張麗麗（音）問道。“每次一有霧霾我們就停課？我要整天待家裏管孩子嗎？”她有一個8歲的兒子。

As smog levels reached hazardous levels on Wednesday, parents hoarded face masks and bought air purifiers. Some said it was unsustainable to have students studying at home and questioned whether it was an effective safety precaution.

隨着上週三霧霾達到危險級別，家長們紛紛囤積口罩，購買空氣淨化器。有人說，讓學生在家裏學習不是長久之計，他們對這種安全防範措施的有效性也提出了疑問。

“Schools and homes share the same air pollution problem,” said Chen Xiao, 35, a translator who is the father of a 9-year-old boy. “My son can still be hurt by smog.”

“學校和家裏面對的是同樣的空氣污染問題，”35歲的翻譯陳曉（音）說。“我兒子仍然會受到霧霾的損害。”他的兒子今年9歲。

Mr. Chen said the pollution had gotten so bad recently that his family was considering leaving Beijing.

陳曉說，近來污染已經變得如此嚴重，他的家人正在考慮離開北京。

Chinese parents invest extraordinary amounts of time and money to ensure that their children succeed academically, and many said they worried their children might fall behind if they were kept out of school too long.

中國父母投入了非常多的時間和金錢來確保孩子取得學業上的成功。很多人表示，他們擔心孩子如果待在家中時間太長，成績可能就會落後。

School closings in Beijing are rare, given the city’s dry climate and lack of snow. An exception was the outbreak of SARS in 2003, when the city suspended classes for several weeks.

鑑於北京氣候乾燥，降雪稀少，學校停課的情況很少出現。此前有過一次例外，2003年爆發SARS疫情時，全市停過幾周的課。

In issuing the red alert this week, Beijing officials told parents that while classes were suspended, students should continue studying. They encouraged parents to use the time to teach their children “life and safety” lessons. The government also unveiled a database of 5,000 lecture videos, covering topics like Chinese history and biology, on a state-run digital education platform.

本週發佈紅色預警時，北京的官員告訴家長，雖然學校停課，但學生們應該繼續學習。他們鼓勵家長利用這段時間，在家對孩子進行生活和安全教育。政府還在一個國家經營的數字教育平臺上，發佈了5000則教學視頻，內容涉及中國歷史、生物等。

Private tutoring companies, a booming industry in China, seized on the disruption caused by the smog to make a pitch for their products. Some offered extra tutoring sessions to help prepare for college exams. Others advertised online courses, saying that parents could return to work with peace of mind while their children studied at home.

私營家教公司在中國是一個蓬勃發展的產業，這些公司利用霧霾導致停課的機會推廣自己的服務。一些公司提供了額外的輔導課程，幫助學生準備高考。其他公司則極力推廣網絡課程，稱家長可以放心地回到工作崗位，讓孩子留在家中學習。

At Beijing Jingshan School, a prestigious public school, teachers led online classes for students in subjects like math and Chinese. One class on Wednesday focused on the history of air pollution in China, making the argument that it was present even in ancient times, when fog and dust storms were common in Beijing.

在著名的公立學校北京景山學校，老師引導學生們通過網絡課程學習數學、語文等科目。週三有一堂課主要教授中國的空氣污染史，課程中闡述道，即使在古代，霧和沙塵暴在北京就很常見。

At some of Beijing’s most competitive schools, parents were asked to provide pictures of their children completing school assignments as proof that they were still studying. They happily complied, flooding online forums with snapshots of their children seated at desks and next to calculators.

北京最具競爭力的一些學校，要求家長們提供學生完成學校作業時的照片，以此證明他們仍在學習。他們高興地遵守要求，紛紛在網上論壇裏發佈自己的孩子坐在桌旁，身旁放着計算器的照片。

He Mei, 40, a housewife in Beijing, said her daughter, He Xiang, 8, could have a healthier lifestyle by studying at home, taking more breaks and eating more fruit.

今年40歲的何梅（音）是北京的一名家庭主婦。她說自己8歲的女兒何湘（音）在家學習時，可以享有更健康的生活方式，可以有更多休息時間，吃更多水果。

“Beijing is dirty and dry,” Ms. He said. “Staying at home is good for her health.”

“北京又髒又幹，”何梅說。“在家待着對她的健康有好處。”

Her daughter disagreed. “I don’t like the smog,” she said. “I want to go outside and play with my classmates.”

她的女兒並不這麼認爲。“我不喜歡霧霾，”她說。“我想出去跟同學們玩。”

When Ma Chenlei, 44, an engineer, and Wang Yanhui, 46, a salesman, first heard that the pollution in Beijing would reach hazardous levels this week, they decided to stay home with their two children until classes resumed. They have alternated study time with play breaks and occasional walks around the block, to make up for missed exercise classes.

當44歲的工程師馬晨蕾（音）和46歲的銷售員王巖輝（音）最初聽說北京的污染本週會達到有害水平時，他們決定在家陪着兩個孩子，直到學校重新開課。他們將學習與休息結合起來，還偶爾帶孩子繞着街區散步，以彌補停掉的體育課。

“I don’t like it, I cough a lot,” said their 7-year-old daughter, Yifan. “When I wear a mask, I feel a little suffocated.”

“我不喜歡霧霾，一直咳嗽，”他們7歲的女兒王易凡（音）說。“戴上口罩感覺有點憋氣。”

Inside the family’s apartment on Wednesday, Yifan showed off her completed math and English homework, which she had sent to her teachers, while her 3-year-old brother, Yichen, played with racecars.

週三，王易凡在家中展示了她完成的數學和英語作業，她已經將作業發給了老師，而她三歲的弟弟王易辰在玩賽車。

Ms. Ma said her daughter’s school was planning to install air filters next year. In the meantime, she said, there was nothing they could do to alleviate the pollution.

馬晨蕾表示，她女兒所在的學校計劃明年安裝空氣淨化器。與此同時，她表示，他們沒有能力做些什麼來減輕污染。

“We hope that every day the air is clean,” she said. “But it will take much longer than one or two days to solve this problem.”

“我們希望空氣每天都是乾淨的，”她說。“但這不是一兩天就能解決的問題。”