Lockdowns have been a controversial aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, they undoubtedly save lives, but they also cause major ongoing economic issues – disrupting industries, causing job losses and associated financial pain.
新冠疫情期間的居家隔離飽受爭(zhēng)議。毫無(wú)疑問，居家隔離能挽救生命，但也會(huì)造成重大經(jīng)濟(jì)問題，各行各業(yè)停擺，造成失業(yè)和相關(guān)經(jīng)濟(jì)損失。

But another thing lockdowns have done all over the world is decrease air pollution, and new research shows an interesting flow-on effect of this.
但居家隔離也有好處，全球的空氣污染減少了，新的研究展示了這一現(xiàn)象的有趣影響。

The new study has looked at solar power in Delhi – one of the most polluted cities in the world – and has found that the reduction in air pollution has allowed significantly more sunlight to get through to solar panels in the city, increasing their output.
這項(xiàng)新研究觀察了德里的太陽(yáng)能，德里是全球污染最嚴(yán)重的城市之一。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)空氣污染的減少大大增加了該市照射在太陽(yáng)能電池板上的陽(yáng)光，提高了電量輸出。

"The increase that we saw is equivalent to the difference between what a photovoltaic (PV) installation in Houston would produce compared with one in Toronto," says first author Ian Marius Peters of Helmholtz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energies in Germany.
德國(guó)赫爾姆霍茲愛爾蘭根紐倫堡可再生能源研究所第一作者Ian Marius Peters說(shuō)：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)電量增加前后的差別相當(dāng)于休斯頓光伏設(shè)施的發(fā)電量和多倫多之間的差別?！?/div>

"I expected to see some difference, but I was surprised by how clearly the effect was visible."
“我之前預(yù)料到會(huì)有些區(qū)別，但效果太過(guò)明顯，令我驚訝。”

Delhi went into a strict lockdown on the 24 March 2020. The team looked at the PM2.5 particle concentration, a measure of fine particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in the air at the US embassy in Delhi before and after the lockdown – and compared them to the last few years at the same time of the year.
從2020年3月份開始德里嚴(yán)格執(zhí)行居家隔離，研究團(tuán)隊(duì)監(jiān)測(cè)了隔離前后位于德里的美國(guó)大使館內(nèi)空氣中的PM2.5濃度，也就是直徑小于2.5微米的微粒，并與前幾年的同期做了對(duì)比。

They also looked at the clear sky irradiance – which is how much sunlight reaches Earth's surface without being scattered or absorbed by particles and gases in the air.
他們也觀察了晴空輻照度，即到達(dá)地球表面，在空中沒有被散射或被微粒和氣體吸收的陽(yáng)光照射量。

The team found that, overall, the amount of sunlight reaching solar panels in Delhi increased by around 8 percent in late March 2020, and 6 percent in April 2020 compared to similar dates in earlier years.
研究團(tuán)隊(duì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，總體來(lái)看，與前幾年的同期相比，在德里到達(dá)太陽(yáng)能電池板上的陽(yáng)光照射量在2020年3月末增加了8%左右，在2020年4月份增加了6%。

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翻譯：菲菲