Beijing bids farewell to coal heating before 2008_社会生活

Beijing bids farewell to coal heating before 2008

文章来源：文章作者：发布时间：2007-11-19 08:06 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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Nov. 17 - A coal-fire stove provided heating for Zhao Yaoqin's courtyard bungalow¹ in a Beijing hutong all her life.

This winter, however, the stove has disappeared from the 66-year-old's life, an electric radiator² taking its place beside her bed, the product of a government-aided initiative to promote clean energy in the national capital.

With the Olympics to be staged in Beijing next August, the city is determined³ to eliminate the use of coal within the Third Ring Road that circles the city before the Games. The project to replace the stoves with electric radiators⁴ has been part of the effort.

When the city's four-month long heating season started on Thursday, coal-fired stoves, cited as a big source of pollution in the metropolis⁵, have disappeared from some 20,000 local households like Zhao's bungalow in the inner city "hutong" -- traditional imperial-era alleyways that date back centuries.

"We used to boil water or bake bread on the stove," said Zhao, sounding sentimental⁶ to the disappearance⁷ of the coal furnace from her life.

The pensioner⁸ has long understood that an electrical heater would relieve her from that familiar choking smell as well as the black soot⁹ in her bungalow. But the family, which survives on the government's minimum living allowance, could not afford to switch to the more expensive electricity for winter heating, not even after a coal gas poisoning almost took her husband's life in 2003.

Only after 40 treatments sessions in a hospital hyperbaric oxygen chamber¹⁰ did he escape life-threatening danger.

At Zhao's small 20-square-meter house her family shares a courtyard with five other households in Xiyizi Hutong in Xicheng District.

The city currently has about 400-plus hutongs, mainly in the inner city's Xicheng and Dongcheng (meaning west town and east town, respectively) districts. The number is down from 6,000 in its prime during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). With the fast pace of today's real estate development, there are not many bungalows¹¹ left in the city's hutongs.

The population density¹² of Beijing's hutongs is about 49,000 people per square kilometer, nearly triple the city's average of 14,000 inhabitants per square km, and much higher than the 4,000 per km in New York.

In addition, Beijing's air quality monitoring office found that the emission¹³ of sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide from the hutong areas have been higher than the city's average in winter, mainly because of the coal stoves. With the project to switch to clean energy for heating launched in 1999, the emission level of the two poisonous substances decreased by 42 percent and 44 percent, respectively, this year from 2001 levels.

Zhao accepted the switch to an electrical radiator when the government promised it would be no more expensive than coal. An extra incentive¹⁴ was the temperature-adjustable radiator was provided nearly free of charge.

In order to make electrical heating affordable¹⁵, the municipal government allows those living in bungalows a discount of 0.3 yuan per kwh of electricity, compared with the market price of 0.48 yuan per kwh. It also compensates¹⁶ poor families with 0.2 yuan for every kwh of electricity used.

Zhao said the fee for electrical heat for the entire winter was usually around 2,400 yuan (US$323) per household. With the government's subsidy¹⁷, however, she only needed to pay about 500 yuan, nearly the same price as that for coal.

According to the Beijing Bureau of Environmental Protection, the number of stoves has been reduced by 90 percent and 70 percent in Xicheng and Dongcheng districts, respectively. A total of 1,105 small coal-fired boilers¹⁸ for centralized heating have been converted to natural gas.

The efforts have helped reduce the sulphur dioxide emissions¹⁹ by 10 percent year-on-year, resulting in a level lower than the national standard of 0.15 milligrams per cubic meter, the bureau said.

In addition, the municipal government has set tighter restrictions²⁰ on construction works and steel and chemical plants to ensure good air quality.

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收听单词发音

1 bungalow
n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句：
A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。 The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

2 radiator
n.暖气片，散热器
参考例句：
The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。 Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

3 determined
adj.坚定的；有决心的
参考例句：
I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。 He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

4 radiators
n.（暖气设备的）散热器( radiator的名词复数 )；汽车引擎的冷却器，散热器
参考例句：
You can preset the radiators to come on when you need them to. 你可以预先调好暖气，使它在你需要的时候启动。 Stars are radiators of vast power. 恒星是强大的发光体。来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 metropolis
n.首府；大城市
参考例句：
Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。 He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

6 sentimental
adj.多愁善感的，感伤的
参考例句：
She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。 We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

7 disappearance
n.消失，消散，失踪
参考例句：
He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。 Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

8 pensioner
n.领养老金的人
参考例句：
The tax threshold for a single pensioner is$ 445.单身领退休年金者的纳税起点为445英镑。 It was the pensioner's vote late in the day that influenced the election of Mr.Sweet.最后是领取养老金者的选票影响了斯威特先生的当选。

9 soot
n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟
参考例句：
Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。 The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

10 chamber
n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所
参考例句：
For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。 The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

11 bungalows
n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋
参考例句：
It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。来自《简明英汉词典》 We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。来自互联网

12 density
n.密集，密度，浓度
参考例句：
The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。 The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

13 emission
n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发
参考例句：
Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。 Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

14 incentive
n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机
参考例句：
Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。 He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

15 affordable
adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的
参考例句：
The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。 There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

16 compensates
补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )；给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）
参考例句：
The company compensates her for extra work. 公司因她的额外工作而给她报酬。 A vertical spring compensates for the weight of the sensing element. 用一根垂直弹簧补偿敏感元件的负荷。

17 subsidy
n.补助金，津贴
参考例句：
The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。 The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

18 boilers
锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。来自英汉非文学 - 科学史 The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

19 emissions
排放物( emission的名词复数 )；散发物（尤指气体）
参考例句：
Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。 Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

20 restrictions
约束( restriction的名词复数 )；管制；制约因素；带限制性的条件（或规则）
参考例句：
I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。 a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

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