By Esha Mitra and Rhea Mogul, CNN
Gulpreet Singh begs for food from a dirty hemp mat spread on the sidewalk outside Delhi's South Campus metro station. Like millions of Indians who survive on handouts or daily wages, the 84-year-old says he has no choice but to be outside, breathing air thick with smog in the Indian capital.
Gulpreet Singh在印度德里南校區地鐵站外的人行道上，鋪著一張髒兮兮的麻墊，乞求食物。像數百萬靠救濟金或日薪維持生計的印度人一樣，這位 84歲的老人表示，除了在外面呼吸印度首都煙霧瀰漫的空氣之外，他別無選擇。
"I come here and wait. Sometimes, people give me food," said Singh, his voice straining over the noise of auto rickshaws and cars belching fumes just meters away.
Singh宣稱：「他來這裡等待。有時候，人們給他食物。」儘管人力車及汽車排出廢氣的吵雜聲，僅在幾米外，他的聲音緊繃。
Delhi is often ranked among the world's most polluted cities, and air pollution there reached "hazardous" levels in early November, according to India's National Air Quality Index (AQI), which tracks the presence of harmful particles in the air. But some Delhi residents have become so accustomed to bad air that it's a part of daily life -- they barely notice it, they say.
根據追踪空氣中，有害顆粒之存在的印度國家空氣品質指數(AQI)，德里時常被列為世界上最受污染的城市之一，在2021年11月初，那裡空氣汙染達到了“危險”水平。不過，一些德里居民已經變得很習慣，是日常生活一部分的惡劣空氣。他們表示，幾乎不在意它。
Others say it's making them sick. A police officer directing traffic at one of Delhi's busy junctions says pollution levels have become "unbearable" this winter. "I've taken off my mask because I need to blow the whistle to stop traffic, but it's been horrible," said the 48-year-old officer, who didn't reveal his name because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
其他人表示，這使得他們生病。一名在德里繁忙路口指揮交通的警察表示，今年冬天的污染程度已經變得“難以忍受”。這名因為未經授權與媒體談話，而沒有透露自己姓名的48歲警官宣稱：「因為指揮交通，需要吹口哨，他一直摘下口罩。不過，這一向是可怕的。」
Exhaust fumes flow from the rows of vehicles around him -- he says he finds it hard to catch his breath. "My eyes hurt. It's hard to breathe. It's not easy," he said. Social worker Neelam Joshi, 39, says she feels the pollution every time she steps out of her house to catch the train to work.
廢氣從他周遭一排排的車輛排放出。他表示，這難以喘口氣。他宣稱：「他的眼睛受到傷害，呼吸困難。這是不舒適的。」39歲的社會工作者， Neelam Joshi表示，每次她步出家門去趕火車上班時，都會感受到污染。
"When you leave the house in the morning, that's the first thing which hits you," Joshi said. By the end of the day, she says her body seems to have adjusted, but the next day, it happens all over again.
Joshi宣稱：「當早上離開家時，那是打擊你的第一件事。」到了一天結束時。她表示，身體似乎已經適應了。不過翌日，這再次發生。
"In the last six years that I have lived in Delhi, there's never been a reduction in pollution," she said. "It only increases every year. Every year we reach a different level, and during festivals it always becomes worse."
她宣稱：「於她住在德里的過去六年中，污染未曾有過減少。只有每年增加。每年皆達不同水平，而在節日期間總是變得更糟。」
Amanpreet Kaur, 28, a flight attendant from Delhi's Rohini area, recently crewed a flight from the United States and was stunned by the difference in air quality.
"When I landed back into India, after my flight from USA, it was horrible. I'm continuously coughing," she said.
28歲的Amanpreet Kaur (來自德里羅希尼地區的空服員)最近充當了，從美國起飛航班的機組員，被空氣品質的差異驚呆了。她宣稱：「這太可怕了，在她從美國起飛，回到印度著陸後，一直不斷咳嗽。」
Kaur says the smog is so bad that you can see it at night as a dirty haze around street lamps and car headlights. "When the sun sets, all you see is smog, just smog all around," Kaur said. "It's very dangerous to live in Delhi."
Kaur表示，煙霧非常嚴重，以至於在夜晚，骯髒的霧霾圍繞路燈及汽車前燈時，能看見它。Kaur宣稱：「當日落時，看到的盡是煙霧，真地到處是煙霧。生活於德里很危險。」
Aditya Dubey, an 18-year-old environmental activist, has spent the past two years lobbying for urgent action against Delhi's pollution. Every year, the city is plagued by a throat-searing cloud of murky smog, but it's worse in winter when lower temperatures and a drop in wind speed trap particles in the air for longer.
一名18歲的環保行動主義者，Aditya Dubey過去兩年一直進行遊說，對德里的污染，採取緊急行動。每年，該城市都遭到，令人喉嚨灼痛之朦朧煙霧雲的折磨。不過，在冬季氣溫較低及風速下降，而陷捕住空氣中顆粒，達更長時間時，情況更糟。
"Winter has become a torture and every day feels like a punishment," Dubey said. "I have a burning sensation in my eyes and they start watering. I feel breathless."
Last month, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tried to control pollution levels by banning firecrackers for Diwali, the festival of lights, but celebrations mostly proceeded as normal.
Dubey宣稱：「冬天已經變成一種折磨，每天感覺像是一種懲罰。我的眼睛有種燒灼感，且開始流眼淚，感到呼吸困難。上個月，德里首席部長， Arvind Kejriwal試圖，藉由禁止排燈節(Diwali：印度的重大宗教節日之一，燈節)的鞭炮，來控制污染程度。不過，慶祝活動幾乎全照常進行。
The smoke from Diwali was exacerbated by a spike in the burning of crop waste in surrounding farmlands. By November 5, most locations in Delhi were recording an AQI above 500 -- the highest level on the scale. At that point, Dubey had had enough.
來自排燈節的煙霧，因周遭農田作物廢料的燃燒尖峰，而加劇。到2021年11月5日，德里的大多數地方，空氣品質指數都超過了500。這是該級別的最高水平。在那種程度，Dubey已經受夠了。
The activist filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking protection for his "right to breathe." On November 15, the court ruled in his favor and ordered the central government to do more.
這位行動主義者向最高法院提交了一份，要求保護其“呼吸權”的請願書。於11月15日，法院作出了有利於他的裁決，並責令中央政府做更多事。
Subsequently, schools were shut, non-essential traffic was suspended, construction projects were halted, and six out of 11 coal-fired plants were ordered to close until the end of November. Construction projects resumed Monday as Delhi recorded a marginal improvement in air quality. But for many, the damage had already been done.
隨後，學校關閉、非必要的交通暫停、建設項目停止、11家燃煤電廠中， 6家遭勒令關閉，直到11月底。在空氣品質上，由於德里顯示了微小改善，建築項目於週一恢復。不過，對很多人來說，損害已經造成。
Delhi is not the only Indian city choked by smog. Last year, nine of the world's 10 most polluted cities were in India, according to monitoring network IQAir. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes an estimated 7 million premature deaths a year globally, mainly as a result of increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory infections.
德里不是印度遭煙霧籠罩的唯一城市。根據瑞士空氣質量技術公司IQAir 監測網絡的數據，去年，世界上最遭污染的10個城市中，9個在印度。根據世界衛生組織(WHO)的說法，空氣污染導致每年全球大約700 萬人，過早死亡。主要由於來自心血管疾病、癌症及呼吸道感染的死亡率增加。
Bad air could be reducing the life expectancy of hundreds of millions of Indians by as much as nine years, according to a recent study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). The study also found that every single one of India's 1.3 billion residents endure annual average pollution levels that exceed guidelines set by WHO.
根據美國芝加哥大學能源政策研究所(EPIC)最近一項研究，糟糕的空氣可能會使數億印度人的預期壽命，縮短多達9年。該項研究也發現，印度13 億居民中，每一個人都忍受著，超過由世界衛組織制定之指導方針的年平均污染水平。
In 2019, the central government announced a national clean air campaign, with an aim to reduce particulate pollution by up to 30% by 2024. Specific plans were created for each city; in Delhi, those plans included measures to reduce road traffic, burn-offs and road dust, and to encourage the use of cleaner fuels.
於2019 年，印度中央政府宣布了一項，開展全國清潔空氣運動。目標是到2024年，減少微粒物污染高達30%。為每個城市制定諸多具體計劃，在德里，這些計劃包括減少道路交通、燃燒榖類收成後殘餘物及道路灰塵，並鼓勵使用較潔淨的燃料。
But in the past few years, India's pollution problem has worsened, partly due to the country's dependency on fossil fuels -- and in particular, coal. At the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, India was among a group of countries that pushed for an 11th-hour amendment to the agreement to phase "down" coal rather than phase it "out".
不過，在過去幾年，印度的污染問題一直惡化，部分因為該國對化石燃料的依賴，特別是煤炭。在最近於格拉斯哥舉行之第26屆締約國會議(COP：Conference of Parties)的氣候峰會上，印度是一群推動，對協議進行第11小時之修正，來分階段“減少”煤炭，而不是分階段“淘汰”煤炭的國家之一。
In Delhi, noxious air is claiming tens of thousands of lives each year, according to analysis of IQAir data by Greenpeace. But despite the worsening air quality, some Delhi locals have become so accustomed to it they don't seem to notice. Many roam the streets without a face mask and have developed a general complacency toward pollution levels.
根據綠色和平組織對IQAir數據分析的說法，在德里，有害空氣每年正奪走數萬人的生命。不過，儘管空氣品質不斷惡化，一些德里當地人已經習慣，他們似乎並不關注。很多人沒有戴口罩，在街上閒逛，且已經發展出一種，對污染水平普遍自滿的情緒。
Omprakash Mali, a 50-year-old gardener, say the air pollution doesn't affect him or his work. "We work with mud and in dust as a gardener, so I don't feel anything additional," he said. " I think the top priority for the government should still be Covid-19. Pollution happens every year."
一名50歲園丁，Omprakash Mali表示，空氣污染並不影響他或他的工作。他宣稱：「身為園丁，他們在泥土及灰塵中工作，因此沒有任何額外感覺。他認為，政府最優先考慮的事，仍然應該是2019冠狀病毒症(COVID-19：Coronavirus Disease-19)。因為，污染每年都在發生。」
Meanwhile, Shesh Babu, 18, a manual laborer, said he "doesn't really care" about Delhi's thick smog. His priority is earning money. Dubey, the activist, says air pollution is considered to be an "elitist" issue. "Air pollution is a silent killer," he said. "There is a lack of awareness. People don't realize the seriousness of it."
在此同時，一名18歲的體力勞動者，Shesh Babu表示，他"並不真正關心"德里的濃密煙霧。其優先考慮的是賺錢。行動主義者，Dubey表示，空氣污染被認為是一種"精英優越感的"問題。他宣稱：「空氣污染是一種無聲殺手。在那方面缺乏意識。人們並不瞭解其嚴重性。」
網址：https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/23/india/air-pollution-delhi-residents-intl-hnk-dst/index.html
翻譯：許東榮
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