A strict no-air-conditioning ban was enforced for 87,000 Taiwanese students taking the college entrance examinations this month despite temperatures in many areas reaching 34 to 36 degrees Celsius.

尽管目前很多地方气温已高达34到36摄氏度，台湾还是出台了政策，严格禁止本月参加高考的8万7千名考生在考场内使用空调。

Although this long-term practice is being promoted as a pragmatic means to ensure fairness, since air conditioning is not available at all exam locations, rather than for environmental reasons, it nevertheless offers a good opportunity for the country to reconsider its addiction to air conditioning.

由于部分考点没有空调，实则推行这个长期举措目的是为了确保（高考的）公平性，而非出于环保考虑。然而，这也会在一定程度上促使台湾重新审视一下其对空调过分依赖的现状。

If students can manage without A/C in the heat of examinations, could not the rest of the population go cold turkey once in a while? If not 'Off,' then 'Down,' since air conditioners consume energy and contribute to climate change in proportion to each degree they are set below ambient temperature.

如果学生能在酷暑中不开空调考试，那其他人怎么就不能偶尔也关关空调呢？就算不能完全关掉，那也要把空调开的小一点。因为，空调很耗电，并且每比周围环境温度调低一度都会加剧气候变化。

Vehicle A/C systems can be a cause of sinusitis in some people, while poorly maintained air conditioning may lead to the proliferation of micro-organisms such as Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires' disease.

汽车内置的空调是导致部分人患鼻窦炎的罪魁祸首。如果保养的不好，空调还可能造成一些微生物如嗜肺军团菌的扩散增殖，引发军团病（一种大叶性肺炎）。

The problem from new high-tech machines is that they present a sizable contribution to man-made climate change. Cooling agents such as CFCs and their modern replacements are greenhouse gases with far more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide should they leak into the atmosphere.

高新科技产品所引发的问题是，他们在很大程度上加剧了人为气候变化。氟氯烃以及其现代替代制冷剂如果泄漏到大气中，将成为比二氧化碳能加剧全球变暖的温室气体。

It is everyone's responsibility to minimize his or her own contribution to the problem.

减排温室气体，控制全球变暖，你我他，人人有责。


Notes:
ban:禁令；禁止
pragmatic:务实的，实用的
addiction：成瘾；入迷
proportion：比例；比率
ambient：周遭的，环绕的
proliferation：（生物）增殖；激增，扩散
to go cold turkey：戒除坏习惯