02-12-2015 07:00

In Beijing, poor air quality is making breathing hard for people. The government placed the capital on a special alert. The pollution is 17 times higher than it should be.

As a result, highways closed, construction work stopped, and people had to stay indoors.

Emissions in northern China increase during the winter months because people turn their heating systems on. Also, the wind speeds are low, so the smog does not move away.

Difficult words: alert (a warning to be ready for possible danger), pollution (when something in the environment is dangerously dirty), increase (to go up).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.