London

疯狂英语 （新读写
）
1952年的寒冬，伦敦上空形成了一层厚厚的、有毒的烟雾。

London s smog incident
伦敦烟雾事件
江西　孙朝岚
On December 5th, 1952, the Great
Smog of London descended on the British capital due to a combination of air pollu‑
tion and weather conditions. To maximize revenues in the aftermath of the Second World War, the British government had
opted to export the country s better‑quality hard coal and retain the more sulfurous,
low‑grade coal for domestic consumption.
Smoke from burning this coal in do‑
mestic fires to offset the particularly cold winter of 1952, combined with pollutants from London s numerous power stations,
factories, and public transport to create a thick, noxious blanket of smog over the city. The thick yellow‑black smog was held over London for five days due to the arrival of high‑pressure weather conditions. This
caused an anticyclone that stopped the pol‑luted air from rising into the atmosphere.Windless conditions and London s po‑
sition in a river valley also meant that the smog was unable to be blown away. Visi‑
bility in the city was reduced to just a few
meters, bringing public transport to a halt and forcing schools and businesses to close. Meanwhile, people across the city breathed in the toxic air and began to suc‑cumb to respiratory infections. Estimates stated that between 4000 and 12,000 Lon‑doners died as a direct result of breathing
the polluted air.
In response, the government began to
rethink its policy towards air pollution, and in 1956 introduced the Clean Air Act that established smoke control areas where only clean fuels could be burned, precipi‑tating a shift towards the use of cleaner coals, electricity, and gas as sources of
heat.
Reading
Check What can we learn from the incident
of London?
47。