A breath of fresh air同课异构

A breath of fresh air

After sitting indoors for a couple of hours, whether listening to a lecture or writing a proposal on the a785bputer, one of the most natural things we want to do is to have a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately such a natural thing is bea785bing increasingly difficult to find. For people living in mega-cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, a breath of fresh air is almost a luxury.

The main reasons why air pollution is aggravated in cities in developing countries include increasing traffic, growing cities, economic development and industrialization. Smoke for example, is a a785bbination of water vapour, dust and various gases which are largely produced when fuels are burnt (by cars, for example). Smog caused big problems in London in the 19th and early 20th century. From Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist we know the serious problem of smog in London at that time, and this is why London was named Wu Du, meaning “smoggy capital”. Even today, many Chinese still think London is very smoggy.

Through my own travel experiences in England and my many visits to Beijing in recent years, I'm convinced that Beijing has successfully inherited the name Wu Du from London. In Beijing, in spite of all those claims about “blue skies”, thick smog frequently fouls the air and disrupts hundreds of flights.

In September 2011, I visited London again with my family. We went to see Wesminster, Bridge Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the Globe Theatre, Trafalgar Square, and other places of historical and cultural interest. What impressed us most were the clear blue skies, the green parks (big and small) flowers of all sorts, and seagulls gliding above the River Times, which is the a785bplete opposite of what T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem The Waste Land. In Hyde Park, we even had close encounters with squirrels begging for nuts, pairs of white swans, Canadian geese, Mandarin ducks, and many other wild birds that we could not name. Serenity, beauty and harmony were some of the words that came to mind when strolling through this fabulous park.

Looking at the huge problem of air pollution and serious ecological damage in our country, I strongly feel that we need a breath of fresh air in environmental protection, a breath of fresh air in our legislative bodies in writing laws to control emissions, a breath of fresh air in the scientific research on the damaging effects of and the solutions to air pollution, and a breath of fresh air in our education system, from nursery to postgraduates schools, so that every one of us is aware of the problem and will be prepared to do something about it. If we all take action and make peace with our plaa785b, a breath of fresh air will no longer be a luxury.