
Letters are welcome via email to letters@economist.com Find out more about how we process your letter
欢迎通过电子邮件将信件发送至 letters@economist.com。了解更多关于我们如何处理您的来信的信息。
City heat
城市高温
People pushing for more air-conditioning in places like Europe do not recognise that it is a big contributor(促成因素,推动者) to urban heat (“The geopolitics of air-conditioning”, July 25th). Research has shown that operating AC during a heatwave in Paris, where most residents still don’t have AC, increased ambient city temperature by 20C (3.60F).(研究表明,在巴黎热浪期间运行空调使城市温度升高了2°C。) Adopting AC as the dominant cooling strategy(主导性降温策略) in cities will condemn(使……注定,迫使) them to more miserable summers, hurting outdoor workers, athletes, tourists and anyone not inside air-conditioned space.
在欧洲等地推动更多空调的人们没有认识到,空调是城市高温的一大推手(《空调的地缘政治》,7月25日)。研究表明,在巴黎的热浪期间运行空调——那里大多数居民仍然没有空调——使城市环境温度升高了2°C(3.6°F)。将空调作为城市主导降温策略,将注定让城市陷入更悲惨的夏天,伤害户外工作者、运动员、游客以及任何不在空调空间内的人。
A smarter alternative(替代方案) that is being adopted across a dozen(一打,十二个) American cities, including Atlanta, Boston and Dallas, is to change surfaces to enable an element of cooling. City roofs and roads absorb more than 80% of incoming sunlight, contributing three times more to city heat than does global warming.(城市屋顶和道路吸收80%以上的阳光,对城市高温的贡献是全球变暖的三倍。) The solution is to treat all city surfaces as a single integrated solution to heat. With our help, last year Atlanta adopted a bill requiring new and retrofitted(翻新的,改造的) roofs to be much more reflective. This one measure, one of several the city is embracing, will triple the reflectivity(反射率) of commercial roofs, cool the city by 1.30C (with up to 3.50C cooling in hot, lower-income neighbourhoods) and cut the electricity bill by $310m. Putting these mandates in place costs a city nothing, and because reflective roofs cost about the same as dark roofs, businesses and consumers also reap benefits(获得好处).
一个更明智的替代方案正在美国十几个城市推行,包括亚特兰大、波士顿和达拉斯,即改变城市表面以实现一定的降温效果。城市屋顶和道路吸收了超过80%的入射阳光,对城市高温的贡献是全球变暖的三倍。解决方案是将所有城市表面视为一个整体的降温方案。在我们的帮助下,去年亚特兰大通过了一项法案,要求新建和翻新的屋顶更具反射性。这一项措施——该市正在推行的几项措施之一——将使商业屋顶的反射率提高两倍,使城市降温1.3°C(在炎热的中低收入社区最高可降温3.5°C),并削减3.1亿美元的电费。实施这些规定对城市来说零成本,而且由于反射性屋顶与深色屋顶成本相当,企业和消费者也能从中受益。
Getting to the truth
探寻真相
Red light doesn’t spell danger
红光并非危险信号
A relaxing night out
放松的夜晚外出

This charming man
这位迷人的男士
Don’t mince your words
直言不讳