NEW DELHI — It isn’t just sweaters the kindergartners are wearing as they pour out of their classrooms onto the lawns of the American Embassy School in India’s capital city.

新德里——在印度首都的美国大使馆学校，当幼儿园的孩子们涌出教室奔向草坪时，身上不只是穿着毛衣。

They are also wearing face masks.

他们还戴着口罩。

The school does not require students to wear air filtration masks against the polluted air here, the worst in the world, in the estimation of the World Health Organization. But it has created what its director calls “a culture of acceptance” around wearing them.

据世界卫生组织的估计，新德里是世界上空气污染最严重的地区。学校没有要求学生戴上防污染的空气过滤式口罩，但该校校长称学校创造了一种戴口罩的“接受文化”。

It helps that they come in wild prints, made by a San Francisco company, many in fabrics from this year’s spring and summer collections of a top Indian fashion designer, Manish Arora . The Tiger’s Den, the campus store, has sold 800 this school year alone.

口罩上的花哨印花起到了一定推动作用，这些口罩由旧金山的一家公司生产，其中许多使用了印度顶级设计师曼尼什·阿若拉(Manish Arora)今年春夏服装系列中的面料。校园里的虎穴商店(Tiger’s Den)这一学年卖出了800只口罩。

With expatriates and health-conscious Indians leading the way, residents of the Delhi metropolitan area of 25 million people are finally taking steps to protect themselves from the health-threatening atmosphere, as people in Beijing and some other heavily polluted Asian cities have already done.

在市区人口达2500万的新德里，居民们在外籍人士及有健康意识的印度人带领下终于行动起来，像北京及其他污染严重的亚洲城市的人们一样，保护自己不受威胁健康的空气的侵害。

New Delhi has long been covered with smog, but concerns escalated in early 2014, when the W.H.O. study ranked New Delhi the worst. Then the American Embassy here began making its air pollution data publicly available. A government pollution board stepped up its efforts to consistently measure and report its findings.

新德里早就被雾霾笼罩，但在2014年初，担忧开始加剧，当时世界卫生组织的研究将新德里列为污染最严重的城市。后来美国驻新德里大使馆开始公布空气污染数据。政府污染控制委员会加大努力，不断测量并汇报相关结果。

“The catalyst was the data becoming available,” says Paul Chmelik, director of the American school.

美国学校校长保罗·赫梅利克(Paul Chmelik)说，“现在可以获得数据，这是一种催化剂。”

Shri Ram School, an elite private school, canceled sports day this winter because strenuous activity was deemed unsafe in such polluted air. The Delhi High Court asked the government to take action to improve the air, saying that living in New Delhi was like “living in a gas chamber.”

精英私立学校施利拉姆学校 (Shri Ram School)今年冬季取消了运动会，因为人们认为在污染严重的空气中进行剧烈运动是不安全的。德里高等法院(The Delhi High Court)要求政府采取行动改善空气状况，称在新德里感觉像是“住在毒气室”。

In January, the government restricted private cars in New Delhi to alternate days during a two-week test. To general surprise, the city’s famously lawless motorists actually followed the plan. The government plans to repeat the driving rules in April.

1月，政府对新德里私家车隔日出行的限行政策进行了为期两周的试验。令大家感到意外的是，该市一向目无法纪的司机们竟然遵循了这项政策。政府计划在4月再次实行这套驾车规定。

Air purifiers, from $50 to $1,000, have been flying off the shelves. And an Indian entrepreneur has been selling high-end, designer air masks in Khan Market, among the most expensive retail areas in the world.

空气净化器非常畅销，价格从50美元到1000美元不等。一名印度创业者一直在可汗市场(Khan Market)售卖由设计师设计的高端口罩，可汗市场是世界上价格最贵的零售市场之一。

When the store’s owner, Jai Dhar Gupta , began selling the masks in January 2015, he estimated that he would sell about 10,000 a year. He sold that many in nine days.

商店老板贾伊·达尔·古普塔(Jai Dhar Gupta)从2015年1月开始出售这种口罩，当时他估计一年可以卖出1万只口罩。实际上他九天就卖出了这么多。

A New Delhi native who used to own a call center company in San Francisco, Mr. Gupta developed a serious respiratory illness while training for a marathon in 2014, and recovered only after he began using an air filtration mask made by Vogmask. He became the company’s Indian distributor a year ago.

古普塔是新德里本地人，曾在旧金山开了一家电话客服中心。2014年进行马拉松训练时，古普塔患上严重的呼吸道疾病，在开始使用威隔(Vogmask)制造的空气过滤式口罩后才慢慢恢复。古普塔在一年之前成为该公司在印度的经销商。

This winter, he says, he has been selling 500 to 700 masks a day from two retail stores in the New Delhi area as well as the school shop and a website.

他表示，今年冬季，他在新德里开设的两家零售商店、学校商店及一家网店每天可以卖出500到700只口罩。

The masks, when properly fitted, filter out 99 percent of airborne particles and are certified as personal protective equipment by agencies of the Chinese and South Korean governments, according to the company.

该公司声称，这种口罩如果佩戴恰当可以滤除99%的空气颗粒物，而且它被中国及韩国政府机构认证为个人防护用品。

Vogmask has been manufacturing the masks in South Korea since 2012, and plans to begin making them in India this year. Reusable and made from a patented fabric, they retail for about $35, a price that is out of reach for the majority of Indians.

威隔从2012年开始在韩国生产口罩，并计划今年开始在印度生产。这种由专利面料制作的口罩可重复使用，零售价为35美元，这超出了大多数印度人的承受范围。

Foreign companies and nonprofits were among the early adopters. The Red Cross office in New Delhi bought masks for all of its employees this winter. Abid Malik, who works there, wears his mask while jogging.

外国公司及非营利机构是最早的使用者之一。新德里红十字会办公室今年冬季为所有员工购买了这种口罩。其工作人员阿比德·马利克(Abid Malik)会戴着口罩慢跑。

“Before using it, I used to cough all the time,” he said. “Now I feel better.”

“在使用这种口罩之前，我一直咳嗽，”他说。“我现在感觉好多了。”

Surendra Singh, 49, got an air filtration mask when his nonprofit company distributed them to all 30 employees this winter. “We were all really panicked about the air,” he said.

今年，49岁的苏伦德拉·辛格(Surendra Singh)获得一只空气过滤式口罩，他所在的非营利公司今年冬季向全部30名员工分发了口罩。他说，“我们都对空气污染感到恐慌。”

He asked for the black mask with two air filters, which was advertised as the best design for active people, and wears it during his commute on three buses.

他要了一种带有两个空气过滤阀的黑色口罩，并在需要换乘三辆公交车的通勤期间佩戴。广告宣称这种口罩是针对活跃人士的最佳设计。

On a rainy morning last month, he was the only one on the bus with his nose and mouth covered. This made him the subject of intense curiosity and concern among commuters who still widely regard the masks with suspicion.

上月一个下雨的早晨，他是公交车上唯一一个遮住口鼻的乘客。他引起了周边上班人士的强烈好奇和关注，他们普遍对这种口罩持怀疑态度。

Asked why they were staring at him, most people said they were worried that he was sick, perhaps with tuberculosis. Others said they suspected he was mentally ill.

被问到为什么盯着他看时，大多数人表示，他们担心他生病了，或许是得了结核病。还有人则表示他们怀疑他有精神病。

“Is he mad to wear that mask?” asked a 24-year-old hairdresser, Sonu Kumar.

“他戴着这种口罩，他是疯了吗？”24岁的美发师索努·库马尔(Sonu Kumar)问道。

As Mr. Singh got off the bus and began walking in the morning drizzle across a pedestrian footbridge toward his office, a 21-year-old student named Liaqat Ali was huddled with dozens of passengers under the bus shelter, continuing to stare.

当辛格下车，开始在蒙蒙细雨中穿过行人天桥朝着办公室走时，与几十名乘客挤在候车亭的21岁学生里阿卡特·阿里(Liaqat Ali)仍在盯着他看。

“I think maybe he is so sick that he will die if he does not wear that mask,” Mr. Ali said.

阿里说，“我觉得他可能病得很严重，可能不戴口罩就会死。”

That attitude has restricted sales in India, Vogmask’s co-founder Wendover Brown says. Her sales in China are four times as high.

威隔的联合创始人温德沃·布朗(Wendover Brown)表示，这种态度限制了口罩在印度的销售。这种口罩在中国的销售量是印度的四倍。

At the American school, the administration held forums to discuss the pollution, created a committee to develop an action plan and asked the campus store to stock the masks.

在这所美国学校，管理部门举行论坛讨论污染问题，成立委员会制定行动计划，并要求学校商店储备口罩。

A year ago, mask wearers were in the minority at school, but now most students wear them, says a parent, Aurelia Driver.

学生家长奥里莉亚·德里弗(Aurelia Driver)表示，一年前，学校里戴口罩的学生属于少数，如今大多数学生都戴上了口罩。

She sends her children to school with masks on their faces, attached by elastic bands so the masks can hang around their necks when indoors.

她送孩子们上学时一直戴着口罩，口罩上有松紧带，在室内的时候可以挂在脖子上。

What began as a grim necessity has for many children become something of a fashion accessory, she said. “Having something fun and cool makes it something the kids want to wear,” she said. Another mother said she had bought them for her daughters after they pleaded for them, arguing that all the other kids had them.

她表示，起初对很多孩子来说是必需品的东西变成了一种时尚配件。她说，“这些口罩有趣，够酷，孩子们都想戴。”另一位母亲表示，女儿们想要口罩，说是别的孩子都有，所以她就给她们买了。

The school has instituted a policy against students doing aerobic activity without wearing protective masks when the particulate levels reach the hazardous range.

该学校制定了政策，当颗粒物水平达到危险范围时，禁止学生在没有戴上防护口罩的情况下做有氧运动。

That led the girls’ varsity soccer team to put in an order this month for masks for the entire team.

这促使学校的女子足球队本月为全队订购了口罩。