Air pollution
   Air pollution comes from factories, power stations and cars. Chemicals in the smoke from power stations cause a lot of damage. They can travel hundreds of miles in the wind before falling to the ground in the rain. But this "chemical rain" gradually destroys trees in the forests and kills fish in the lakes. In Germany, over 50% of the country＇s trees had been damaged by the year 1986.
    Time and time again there are serious accidents that pollute the air.  In 1986 there was a bad accident at a nuclear power station in Russia.  A cloud of radiation crossed the whole of Europe. It is said that 125,000 people died in Russia as a result of illnesses caused by this accident.
In 1984 there was a serious accident at a factory in India and a cloud of dangerous gas covered the town of Bhopal. Over 2,500 people were killed that night, and hundreds of thousands of people were injured.  Many of the injured lost their sight.
[点评]
    本文主要描述了空气污染的原因和严重的空气污染带来的后果。文中所引具体数据使文章更具说服力。
[参考译文]
    空气污染
    空气污染来自工厂、电站和汽车。电站发出的烟雾中所含的化学物质造成很大的破坏。这些化学物质可以随风飘走几百英里，然后才随雨水降落地面。但是这种“化学雨”逐渐摧毁森林里的树木，杀死湖泊中的鱼。在德国，到1986年止，全国已经有过半数的树木被摧残。
    空气被污染的严重事故不时地在发生。1986年俄罗斯一座核电站发生过一起严重事故。一团带有辐射的尘埃穿越了整个欧洲。据说，在俄罗斯有125 000人由于这次事故引起的疾病而死亡。
1984年印度一家工厂发生了一起严重事故，一团有危险的气体笼罩着博帕尔市，当晚就有2500多人死亡，有成千上万人受伤，受伤者中有许多人双目失明。