BEIJING — The loudspeakers in the pricey Temple bar erupted at 11:50 p.m. on Sunday with an announcement that set off either joy or despair, depending on the customer: Patrons had 10 more minutes to smoke.
北京——周日夜里11点50分，人均消费不菲的坛酒吧的音箱响起，宣布了一条有人欢喜有人愁的消息：顾客们的吸烟时间还剩10分钟。A tough new ban on smoking in public took effect at midnight in the Chinese capital, aimed at ending the era of tobacco fumes clinging to clothes and lungs. The estimated 4 million smokers in the City — one-fifth of the population, the government reckons — now have to avoid lighting up in any enclosed public space, including offices, shops, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, airports and trains.
当天午夜，一项严厉的新公共场所禁烟令在北京生效，旨在结束衣服和肺部被烟味附着的时代。这座城市的大约400万烟民——据政府统计，占人口的五分之一——现在不得不避免在任何封闭的公共空间吸烟，比如办公室、商店、酒吧、餐厅、夜总会、机场和火车站。
Some outdoor spaces are to be smoke-free now as well, including areas outside schools and hospitals as well as some tourist sites. Thinking of lighting up at the Forbidden City or on the Great Wall? Then be prepared for a fine of up to 200 renminbi, or about $32.
一些户外空间也将禁烟，比如学校和医院外的区域，以及一些旅游景点。想在故宫或长城点棵烟抽？等着交200元罚款吧。
And if you are a business owner who permits smoking on your premises or fails to post signs and other information about the ban, including the phone number for reporting violations, the fine can run up to 10,000 renminbi ($1,600).
而如果你是一名商家，在自己的经营场所允许吸烟，或是没有张贴关于禁烟令的标识或其他信息，比如举报电话，罚款最高可达1万元人民币。State news media cheered the ban as necessary to protect the public from dangerous secondhand smoke, but many Beijing residents were skeptical that it would actually be enforced. The municipal government has banned smoking twice before — in 1996 and before the 2008 Olympic Games — and each time the ban was widely ignored, with smoke continuing to waft through hotel lobbies, public lavatories and gym locker rooms.
官方媒体称赞该禁令十分必要，可以防止公众接触危险的二手烟，但许多北京市民对规定能否落实表示怀疑。北京市政府曾经两次发布禁烟令——分别是在1996年和2008年奥运会之前——每一次都被人们普遍无视，在酒店大堂、公共卫生间和健身房的更衣室，仍然烟雾弥漫。City officials say this time will be different. Thousands of “health police officers” trained by the Beijing Health Inspection and Supervision Bureau will fan out to make sure the law is implemented, according to an official at the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning who would give only his surname, Ma.
北京市的官员称，这一次的结果会不同。北京市卫生计生委的一位官员说，该市的卫生监督局将确保该法规得到落实。这位官员只透露自己姓马。“We are not depriving smokers of the right to smoke,” the official said by telephone, explaining that the law merely restricts where they do it. “I’m confident that it will be carried out smoothly and guide people to quit smoking.”
“我们不是在剥夺吸烟者吸烟的权利，”这名官员通过电话说。他解释说，这项规定只是限定了他们吸烟的场所。“我相信这项规定会顺利实施，并引导人们戒烟。”Suan Weiqing, a waitress at a dumpling restaurant, was less sure. It would be very difficult to stop diners from smoking, she said: “You can’t tell them they’re not allowed to smoke. We’re only a small restaurant, and we can’t offend our customers.”
在一家饺子馆当服务员的孙卫青（音）就没那么肯定了。让顾客不抽烟将十分困难，她说：“你不能告诉他们，这里不许抽烟。我们只是个小餐馆，不能得罪客人。”With a cigarette in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other, Zhang Jiawei, a man in his 50s who said he has been smoking for more than over 30 years, said he supported the ban for health reasons, and that he planned to smoke less because of it.
50多岁的张家伟（音）一只手拿着烟，另一只手拿着一双筷子，说自己已经抽了30多年的烟。他说，从健康角度出发，他支持禁烟，而且因为这项禁令，他打算以后少抽。His friend Gao Jianjun, seated across from him, disagreed. “Cigarettes are a good thing,” he said. “I feel sick when I don’t smoke.”
坐在他对面的朋友高建军（音）却不同意。“烟是好东西，”他说。“不抽我就觉得不舒服。”Cigarettes are something of a national pastime in China, especially among men. Wedding banquet tables routinely feature plates of stacked cigarettes for guests. Cartons of expensive brands have long been given as presents or to curry favor with officials.
在中国，香烟称得上一种全体国民消遣物，对于男性尤其如此。婚礼的宴席上往往会为客人准备香烟，成堆地摆在碟子里。长期以来，装在纸盒里的昂贵品牌一直是馈赠或者讨好官员的佳品。Smoking is also important to the country financially: A state-run monopoly manufactures one-third of the world’s cigarettes and accounts for a significant share of state revenue.
吸烟对中国经济也十分重要：一个国家垄断产业制造了世界上三分之一的香烟，在政府财政收入中占很大比重。China has some 301 million smokers, almost one-third of the world’s total, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly 53 percent of men and 2.4 percent of women smoke regularly, the organization estimates, and the habit contributes to a million deaths a year from heart disease, cancer and other ailments. Secondhand smoke causes another 100,000 deaths a year, the organization estimates.
据世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)调查，中国共有3.01亿烟民，几乎占世界烟民总人数的三分之一。世卫组织估计，有将近53%的男性和2.4%的女性有抽烟习惯，而与吸烟有关的心脏病、癌症和其他疾病每年会导致100万人死亡。世卫组织估计，每年另有10万人死于二手烟。In Beijing alone, smokers burn through 14.6 million cigarettes a day on average, according to a study conducted last year by the Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee. The study found that secondhand smoke was probably inhaled by 90 percent of people who went to bars and clubs, 65 percent of diners in restaurants and 40 percent of people in their own homes.
根据北京爱国卫生运动委员会去年的调查，仅仅在北京，烟民平均每天要抽掉1460万支香烟。调查发现，可能90%前往酒吧和夜店的人、65%的餐厅用餐者，以及40%待在自己家中的人，都是二手烟受害者。Against that backdrop, the ban’s impact could be significant. “Beijing has now set the bar very high,” said Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, the W.H.O. representative in China, in a statement. “We now look forward to other cities around China, and the world, following Beijing’s excellent example.”
在这样的情况下，禁令的影响可能会很大。“北京已经树立了一个很高的标杆，”世卫组织驻华代表施贺德博士(Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer)在声明中称。“现在，世卫组织期待中国其他省市、全世界其他地方，都能向北京看齐。”