19世纪英国人对伦敦烟雾的认知与态度探析

On the Awareness of and Attitude toward the London Smog among 19^(th)-Century British People

工业革命以来,英国生产与生活方式的变化导致了伦敦烟雾问题的产生。但当时除了少数医生和改革者等中上层人物及专业人士外,大多数的英国人把它当作日常生活的组成部分,不仅认为煤烟无害,甚至认为有益。社会整体对烟雾的认知与态度是随着时间的推移和科学的发展而逐渐发生变化的。英国人最初并不关注烟雾本身,认为烟患只是一种麻烦事,给人造成感官的不适和生活的不便。他们更关注烟雾弥漫所造成的混沌环境可能导致下层社会的堕落和社会退化,从而影响帝国的前途与未来。煤烟有害的认知始于煤烟对动植物生长造成的损害、污损财物造成的经济损失,最后才认识到对人类身体健康乃至生命造成的危害。由此可见,19世纪英国空气污染的观念是逐渐形成的,对伦敦烟雾的认知和态度也是与时俱变的。

Since the Industrial Revolution,the production and life-style of Britain transformed London into a city of smog. Yet,except for some doctors,specialists,and upper-mid-class citizens,the majority of the British people deemed it a common,even healthy,phenomenon. Their social awareness of and attitude toward the smog changed with the development of science and the passage of time. At first,smog was only considered inconvenient and uncomfortable; people put more emphasis on the possible negative social and moral effects of a blurred atmosphere. Later,people realized that the smog was detrimental to animals and plants,and was corrosive to objects. This finally led to the awareness of its fatal physiological effects on human body. Hence,British people's awareness of and attitude toward pollution were formed and changed gradually.