THE impact on the city’s air quality of people lighting fireworks in the city on Lunar New Year’s Eve and Sunday — the fourth night of the holiday, when people welcome the God of Fortune — was significantly lower than in previous years.
今年农历新年除夕以及这周日初四迎财神的日子,人们燃放烟花爆竹造成对城市空气质量的影响明显小于前几年。

The air quality index (AQI) in Shanghai was above 100 all day Sunday due to pollutants blown into the city from northern China, the environmental monitoring center said.
环境监测中心报道,就周日一整天,上海的空气质量指数由于受到中国北方的污染物投放已经高于100了。

It rose to a peak of 213 at 5pm, before falling to 113 at 11pm.在下午五点指标蹿升到了顶峰213，直到夜里11点指标才下降到了113。

Over the following two hours, as people lit their fireworks and firecrackers, the index rose to 165, while the density of PM2.5 pollutants rose to about 120 micrograms per cubic meter from 80 earlier in the day.再接下去的两小时内，随着人们开始燃放烟花爆竹，指标有上升到了165，而此时的PM2.5污染密度从白天早些时候的80微克/每立方米上升到近120微克/每立方米。

Overnight, however, the air quality improved, and by 6am yesterday morning, the AQI stood at 62.然而午夜之后，空气质量得到了提升，直到昨夜早晨6点，空气质量指数保持在了62.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, the AQI was 90 at 1am, while the PM2.5 density was 67 micrograms per cubic meter, up from 27 at 4pm the previous day. It dropped under 35 micrograms after 3am.除夕夜晚一点左右，空气质量指数在90，而此时PM2.5污染密度从前一天下午4点的27微克/每立方米上升为67微克/每立方米。在下午3点后下落到3567微克/每立方米。

This year was the first since 2012, when the city government began publicizing figures, that the PM2.5 density was under 100 at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The improvement was most likely due to tighter controls on the sale of fireworks.
自从2012年政府宣布数据以来，今年是第一年在除夕午夜，PM2.5污染密度小于100的。这个改善大部分归功于对于烟花销售严厉控制的结果。

The number of licensed vendors was cut to 700 this year, while a cap of 150,000 boxes was placed on the number of fireworks that could be sold.
今年烟花许可销售商已消减到700，同时150000盒的爆竹被允许销售。

Out of environmental and safety concerns, the Shanghai government has in recent years introduced increasingly strict regulations on the sale of fireworks.
出于对环境和安全的考虑，上海政府几年来一直对烟花的销售严格规定。

On Lunar New Year’s Day in 2013, the PM2.5 density soared to 523.7 micrograms per cubic meter at 2am, from just 81.4 at 8pm the previous evening. On the fourth night of the holiday, the measure rose to 279.7 shortly after midnight, from 85.8 earlier.
2013年的除夕夜的半夜2点，PM2.5污染密度急增到523.7微克/每立方米，前一天晚上的8点才只有81,4.在初四那天，因为燃放烟花爆竹，午夜后，污染密度直接从早期的85.8很快的窜至279.9。

The city’s fire control bureau last year reduced the number of licensed fireworks stores to 1,314 from 1,600 the year before, and cut the number of boxes available for sale by about 30 percent to 300,000.
去年城市消防局将许可销售店铺从前年1600家消减到1314家，并且将可销售的烟花盒数消减了30%至300000。

The PM2.5 density in the early hours of last year’s Lunar New Year peaked at 290 micrograms per cubic meter about 1am, while on the fourth night of the holiday the figure was 62.
去年农历新年早些时候，PM2.5污染密度最高于子夜1点到达290微克/每立方米，而初四的密度仅在62。