Environmental Protection

Head of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, Mr Xie Zhenhua, is being interviewed by a British Reporter. You are their interpreter.

B: Like many other countries, environmental pollution is also very serious in China. Could you give us a historical account of today's situation?

X: 50年代中国开始工业化以后,经济建设取得了很大的成就,当时的思想是“先发展,后治理”,这就逐渐造成了现在这种污染严重的状况。

B: You mean the pollution in China mostly came from industry?

X: 对,我国的工业80%集中在城市,这些工业大部分是50年代到70年代发展起来的,那时候技术比较落后排放到空气和水中的废物太多。

B: As a governmental body, when was Environmental Protection Administration set up in China? When did you actually start the environmental protection campaign?

X: 70 年代初,当时我们制定了一些政策和制度,也环保作为一项基本国策。最近十年多,我们制定了更强有力政策。    

B: I learnt about your “enforcement of total amount control of pollution discharge”. Can you tell us more about it?

X: 90 年代中期制定的这项计划在经济保持增长的情况下已经基本完成。现在主要污染物的排放总量比90年代初下降了10%-15%。

B: What do you think is today's major environmental challenge in China?

X: 除了环境污染的问题以外,还有就是生态恶化趋势也在加剧...