Snow affects Beijing travel

 BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Air and road traffic in Beijing has been disrupted after snowfall on Thursday evening and into Friday.

Two expressway sections near Beijing were closed after snow fell from around 7 p.m. on Thursday, and the Beijing Meteorological Station issued its lowest-level alert for heavy snow.

At Beijing Capital International Airport, where the visibility was reduced to 1,200 meters on Friday morning, the snowy weather had resulted in the cancellation¹ of 51 flights by 8:50 a.m., with another 22 delayed, according to the airport.

As of 8 a.m. on Friday, snowfall in urban areas reached on average 4.7 mm, and snow in some areas reached 2 to 5 cm, according to data provided by the station.

Some primary schools received a circular from education authorities that they should close by noon to reduced the strain on traffic.

Snow also hit Beijing's nearby provinces and cities. In Shandong Province, 60 expressway toll² gates were closed on Friday because of snow.

Elsewhere, at least three people were killed and several others injured at around 8:50 a.m. on Friday in a pile-up involving more than 10 vehicles on a snow-coated section of the expressway from the provincial³ capital of Jinan to Guangzhou in Pingyin County, according to provincial traffic management authorities.

Flight operations at the airport of Jinan were affected⁴ on Thursday evening but were restored on Friday.

Beijing started to use environmentally friendly snowmelt agent on some major road sections on Friday, according to the capital's municipal affairs administration commission.

The liquid agent contains no pollutants⁵ such as chloride, sulfate or nitrite, so will not affect the road surface and plants by the wayside.

Nevertheless, the commission said it will try to limit usage of the snowmelt agent and avoid it entirely⁶ in areas including Tian'anmen Square, residential⁷ areas and parks.

The snowfall ended on Friday afternoon. But at 4 p.m., the Beijing Meteorological Station released an orange warning on fog and a yellow icy-road warning.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system: red, orange, yellow and blue. Red is the most serious level.

1 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。