Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today. People didn’t have modern machines. There was no modern medicine, either.

Life today has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and polluted our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and become angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It’s bad for all the living things in the world.

Cars, planes and factories all polluted air so thick that it is like a quilt (被子)over a city. This kind of quilt is called smog(烟雾).

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before it is thrown away, they mustn’t blow dirty smoke into the air.

We need to do many other things. We can put waste things in the dustbin and not throw it on the ground. We can go to work by bus or with our friends in the same car. If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution.

Rules are not enough. Every person must help to fight pollution.

数百年以前，生活比现在要困难很多。人们没有现代的机器。也没有现代的医学。

当今的生活也已经产生了新的问题。最大的问题是污染。水污染使我们的河流和湖泊变肮脏了。它杀死了我们吃的鱼，污染了我们的饮水。噪音污染使我们要更大声说话，并且让我们变得更加容易发怒。空气污染是最严重的污染之一，它对世界上所有的生命都有害。


汽车，飞机及工厂都把空气污染地很浓密，以致于空气就像盖在城市上方的被子。这种被子被叫着烟雾。


很多国家都在制定法规来和污染作斗争。现在，工厂必须要把它产生的废水先处理干净才能排出去，不可以把肮脏的烟雾排入大气。


我们还必要做其它很多的事情。我们要把废物放进垃圾箱里而不要丢在地面上。我们可以乘公共汽车去上班或者与朋友同驾一辆车。开车的人越少，污染就越小。

仅有法规还不够。每个人必须要帮助和污染作斗争。