In the ramshackle apartment blocks and sooty cement homes that line the dusty roads of urban India,there is a new status symbol on proud display.An air-conditioner has become a sign of middle-class status in developing nations,a must-have dowry item.

　　在印度城市尘土飞扬的道路两旁，那些破败的住宅楼，和肮脏灰暗的水泥房子里，一件新近兴起的家用电器占据着显耀的位置，它是当地人新的身份地位的标志。空调已经成为发展中国家中产阶级的象征，婚娶之际不能没有的嫁资或聘礼。

　　It is cheaper than a car,and arguably more life-changing in steamy regions,where cooling can make it easier for a child to study or a worker to sleep.

　　空调比汽车便宜，而且，在湿热地区，可以说空调对人们生活的改善也显著得多——在凉爽的环境下，孩子们更易学习，工人们也更易入睡。

　　The earth also has the cause of air conditioning disease

　　地球也得上了空调病的原因

　　But as air-conditioners sprout from windows and storefronts across the world,scientists are becoming increasingly alarmed about the impact of the gases on which they run.All are potent agents of global warming.

　　然而，随着空调迅速出现在世界各地的窗户和店面，科学家们对空调制冷剂造成的影响愈加警惕，因为这些化学物质都是全球变暖的强力诱因。

　　发展中国家对空调的需求在上升，正如在印度的孟买。这一情况引起了对全球变暖的担忧。

　　Air-conditioning sales are growing 20 percent a year in China and India,as middle classes grow,units become more affordable and temperatures rise with climate change.The potential cooling demands of upwardly mobile Mumbai,India,alone have been estimated to be a quarter of those of the United States.

　　在中国和印度，随着中产阶级的崛起，空调不再是一件奢侈品，而气候变化又使气温升高。因此，空调销售量以每年20%的速度增加。据估计，单单是在经济上升中的印度孟买，空调的需求量就相当于美国的四分之一。

　　Air-conditioning gases are regulated primarily though a 1987 treaty called the Montreal Protocol,created to protect the ozone layer.It has reduced damage to that vital shield,which blocks cancer-causing ultraviolet rays,by mandating the use of progressively more benign gases.The oldest CFC coolants,which are highly damaging to the ozone layer,have been largely eliminated from use;and the newest ones,used widely in industrialized nations,have little or no effect on it.

　　空调制冷剂最早是通过1987年的《蒙特利尔议定书》来进行规范的，该协议的目的是保护臭氧层。它规定，空调厂商须使用更无害的制冷气体，从而减少了对臭氧层的损害。臭氧层能够阻挡致癌的紫外线，是地球的重要保护盾。最早使用的冷却剂是氟氯烃(CFC)，由于该物质对臭氧层极其有害，已在很大程度上被淘汰;最新型的制冷剂在发达国家已得到广泛使用，对臭氧层的影响甚微，或根本没有。

　　But these gases have an impact the ozone treaty largely ignores.Pound for pound,they contribute to global warming thousands of times more than does CO2,the standard greenhouse gas.

　　但是，这类气体会造成另一种影响，这种影响基本被这份保护臭氧层的协议所忽略。这类气体对全球变暖的影响是等量的典型温室气体，二氧化碳的上千倍。

　　Concentrations of CFC-12,which had been growing rapidly since the 1960s,have tapered off since 2003,thanks to the treaty’s strict phaseout schedule.In 2006,NASA scientists concluded that the ozone layer was on the mend.

　　氟氯烃-12的浓度从20世纪60年代开始快速上升，但在协议严格淘汰计划的制约下，该气体的浓度从2003年开始逐渐减少。2006年，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的科学家得出结论：臭氧层正在逐渐恢复。

　　But that sense of victory has been eclipsed by the potentially disastrous growth in emissions from the newer air-conditioning gases.While a healthier ozone layer itself leads to some warming,far more warming results from the tendency of these coolant gases to reflect back heat radiating off the Earth.

　　但是，由于新的空调气体排放量的增加，最初的胜利感也被这潜在的破坏所冲淡。完好的臭氧层本身就能导致一定程度上的变暖，但这些制冷气体反射地球辐射出的热量，从而引起了更严重的温室效应。

　　When the treaty set its rules in the mid-1980s,global warming was poorly understood,the cooling industry was anchored in the West,and demand for cooling was minuscule in developing nations.

　　80年代中期，各国根据此协议制定规则时，世界对全球变暖还知之甚少，制冷工业主要在西方，而发展中国家对制冷的需求甚微。

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