Given the high costs of cleaning up the environmental pollution, some people argue that companies and individuals, rather than the government, should shoulder the financial responsibility of protecting the environment and how much they should pay depends on the amount of pollution they have produced.

鉴于清理环境污染的成本高昂，有人认为，企业和个人，而不是政府，应该承担起保护环境的财政责任，他们应该支付多少，取决于他们产生的污染量。

It is certainly true that the government should invoke the ‘polluter pays’ principle and make companies and individuals accountable for the damages done to the environment and human health, because this will make them feel the environmental burden of their action and stop them from doing more harm to the environment. For example, a paper-making factory will be more careful with its wastes if it iscompelled to pay a tremendous amount of money for the water it pollutes, and a car owner may choose to use public transport if he is made to pay an extra pollution fee for driving.

毫无疑问，政府应该援引“谁污染谁付费”的原则，让企业和个人为他们对环境和人类健康造成的损害负责，因为这将使他们感觉到自己的行为对环境造成的负担，从而阻止他们对环境造成更多的损害。例如，如果强迫造纸厂为其污染的水支付巨额费用，它就会更加小心处理其废物；如果让车主为驾驶而支付额外的污染费，他有可能选择使用公共交通工具。

Yet this does not mean that the government has no share of responsibility in cleaning up the environment. In fact, in cases such as volcanic eruption and forest fire, the pollution happens, but not as a result of the improper action of any company or individual. Under such circumstances, the government should be responsible forrestoring the environment.

然而，这并不意味着政府在清理环境方面没有责任。事实上，遇到诸如火山爆发和森林火灾这些情况，污染是会发生的，但不是任何公司或个人的不当行为造成的。在这些情况下，政府应该负责恢复环境。

It is perfectly reasonable that the companies and individuals who do greater harm to the environment should pay more to clean it up, though many problems may arise when this policy is put into practice. It is, after all, very difficult to determine in exact terms the proportion of pollution a company or individual has produced, and therefore there will be many quarrels about how much a company or individual should pay to deal with the pollution. Nevertheless, I believe that a final solution will be found so that no company or individual will argue over their share of responsibility.  

对环境危害较大的企业和个人，应该多花点钱来进行清理，这是完全合理的，尽管这项政策实施后可能会出现很多问题。毕竟，很难准确地确定一个公司或个人所制造的污染的比例，因此，对于一个公司或个人应支付多少费用来处理污染，会有很多争吵。不过，我相信，最终的解决办法会找到，这样就不会有公司或个人为自己的责任分担而争论了。

1. It is certainly true that the government should invoke the ‘polluter pays’ principle and make companies and individuals accountable for the damages done to the environment and human health, because this will make them feel the environmental burden of their action and stop them from doing more harm to the environment.

毫无疑问，政府应该援引“谁污染谁付费”的原则，让企业和个人为他们对环境和人类健康造成的损害负责，因为这将使他们感觉到自己的行为对环境造成的负担，从而阻止他们对环境造成更多的损害。

2. In fact, in cases such as volcanic eruption and forest fire, the pollution happens, but not as a result of the improper action of any company or individual.

事实上，遇到诸如火山爆发和森林火灾这些情况，污染是会发生的，但不是任何公司或个人的不当行为造成的。

3. It is perfectly reasonable that the companies and individuals who do greater harm to the environment should pay more to clean it up, though many problems mayarise when this policy is put into practice.

对环境危害较大的企业和个人，应该多花点钱来进行清理，这是完全合理的，尽管这项政策实施后可能会出现很多问题。

4. It is, after all, very difficult to determine in exact terms the proportion of pollution a company or individual has produced, and therefore there will be many quarrels about how much a company or individual should pay to deal with the pollution.

毕竟，很难准确地确定一个公司或个人所制造的污染的比例，因此，对于一个公司或个人应支付多少费用来处理污染，会有很多争吵。