On Dec. 5, 1952, a thick layer of fog settled over the streets of London, blanketing the city. This was no ordinary wintery mist, but rather a noxious haze of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired industrial factories and cookstoves in London homes. London's Great Smog hung in the air for five consecutive days; visibility was reduced to mere feet and cars were abandoned or led off the road by police with traffic flares. It was the "nation's worst air pollution disaster" and remains the deadliest smog event on record. According to the Telegraph, the devastation the smog wrought "only became apparent when undertakers reported that they were running out of coffins and florists had sold all their flowers." In the following three months, an estimated 13,000 people died of respiratory complications.
1952年12月5日，大雾笼罩着整个伦敦城。这不是普通的冬季雾气，而是煤炭燃烧产生的二氧化硫等污染物在城市上空蓄积的结果。伦敦冬季多使用燃煤采暖，市区内还分布有许多以煤为主要能源的火力发电站。伦敦的大雾连续五天弥漫在城市上空。能见度极低，汽车或被限制通行，或在交警的指挥下开着车灯前进。至今，这仍是“英国最为严重、最致命的雾霾污染事件”。《每日电讯报》称，直到“殡仪馆的人说他们用完了所有的棺材，花店卖完了所有的鲜花”后，雾霾的危害才变得异常明显。接下来的三个月，据估计约13000人死于呼吸道并发症。
The hazy scenes of London's Great Smog bear a striking resemblence to modern-day images of China's urban centers on their most polluted days. And though China has never had an event to match those four days in London, its pollution problem is persistent and pervasive. In 2010, air pollutioncontributed to 1.2 million deaths in China. Between 1981 and 2001, particulate levels in its major cities were five times greater than what the United States experienced before 1970. And the problem is worsening at an incredible rate. In 2009, the concentration of particulate pollution in the Chinese city of Harbin averaged 101 micrograms per meter, according to the World Health Organization. Four years later, in October 2013, levels were up tenfold, a new record.
中国许多城市污染最严重的时候和伦敦1952年的雾霾天气惊人的相似。虽然中国从未发生类似伦敦当年的惨痛经历，但中国的污染问题仍旧堪忧。2010年，中国的环境污染致120万人死亡。1981至2001年，中国主要城市的污染颗粒物含量是美国1970年以前的五倍多。这一问题正以惊人的速度恶化。据世界卫生组织称，2009年哈尔滨的污染颗粒物浓度是每立方米101微克。四年后，2013年10月，哈尔滨的污染颗粒物浓度是之前的十倍，创下新高。
The comparison bears consideration; what follows is a series of photo pairings -- smog in London then, and in China now.
对比中西方的污染会令我们反思；接下来是一系列的对比照片——彼时伦敦的雾霾，和此时中国的雾霾。
左图：中国国务院新闻办公室图片库/盖蒂图片社，右图：Carl Sutton/Picture Post/盖蒂图片社
Above left, a woman in Changchun, China walks along a road on Oct. 21, in a dense smog that forced business, school, and road closures. On the right, a woman in London wears a protective mask in Nov. 1953 during a smog episode nearly a year after the city's deadly Great Smog.
左图，中国长春市，10月21日，一名女子走在雾霾笼罩的路上，这场雾霾使商场停业、学校关闭、交通停止。右图，伦敦，1953年11月，一名女子戴着面罩，在1952年致命的大雾之后，雾霾期持续了近一年。
上图：Feng Li/盖蒂图片社，下图：Peter King/Fox Photos/盖蒂图片社
左图：STR/法新社/盖蒂图片社，右图：Don Price/Fox Photos/盖蒂图片社
左图：FREDERIC J. BROWN/法新社/盖蒂图片社，右图：Keystone/盖蒂图片社
上图：Feng Li/盖蒂图片社，下图：Keystone/Hulton Archive/盖蒂图片社
上图：Lintao Zhang/盖蒂图片社，下图：Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/盖蒂图片社
左图：中国国务院新闻办公室图片库/盖蒂图片社，右图：Terry Fincher/Keystone/Hulton Archive/盖蒂图片社
左图：STR/法新社/盖蒂图片社，右图：Edward Miller/Keystone/Hulton Archive/盖蒂图片社
上图： STR/法新社/盖蒂图片社，下图： CARL DE SOUZA/法新社/盖蒂图片社
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