英语听力文摘 English Digest 124、少用空调对大家都好

（单词翻译）

　　Less use of air conditioners would be better for us all
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 Celsius¹.
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 addiction² to air conditioning.
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.
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.
The problem with new high-tech³ machines is that they present a sizable contribution to man-made climate change. Cooling agents such as CFCs and their modern replacements⁴ are greenhouse gases with far more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide should they leak into the atmosphere.
It is everyone's responsibility to minimize his or her own contribution to the problem.
ban:禁令；禁止
pragmatic:务实的，实用的
addiction：成癮；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