2021年经济学人 火山卤水矿,真正的绿色来源(1)

Science & technology

科技板块

Copper¹ gushers²

铜井

Brine mines

卤水矿

People may one day drill for copper as they now drill for oil

也许有一天，人们会像现在开采石油一样开采铜

Copper was the first metal worked by human beings. They hammered it into jewellery and ornaments³ as much as 11,000 years ago.

铜是人类最早加工的金属。早在11000年前，人们就把它锤成珠宝和装饰品。

Today, Homo sapiens uses more than 20m tonnes of the stuff a year, much of it in buildings and electrical infrastructure⁴.

如今，智人每年使用超过2000万吨的稀土，其中大部分用于建筑和电力基础设施。

More will be required in coming decades, to meet the need for widespread electrification⁵ brought about by the transition to less carbon-intensive economies.

未来几十年，为了满足向低碳密集型经济转型所带来的广泛电气化的需要，还需要更多的电力。

Copper is an essential part of batteries, motors and charging equipment.

铜是电池、电机和充电设备的重要组成部分。

Solar and wind installations use more copper than their fossil-fuel counterparts, and electric vehicles contain four times more copper than do cars with combustion⁶ engines.

太阳能和风能装置要比化石燃料使用更多的铜，电动汽车含铜量是内燃机汽车的四倍。

This has spurred interest in new sources of the metal, most of which comes at the moment from rocks dug out of vast opencast mines that are then ground up and processed to release the copper they contain, typically about 1% of their mass.

这激发了人们对铜的新的来源的兴趣，目前大部分的铜来自于从大型露天矿山中挖掘出来的岩石，然后将其碾碎加工，释放出其中所含的铜，一般约为其质量的1%。

Metal-rich nodules scattered⁷ across various parts of the ocean floor are a possibility.

有一种可能的来源是分布在海底各处的富含金属的结核。

But exploiting these brings technological⁸ and regulatory difficulties, and is in any case controversial because of the damage it would do to deep-ocean ecosystems⁹.

但是利用它们会带来技术和管理上的困难，而且无论如何都具有争议，因为会对深海生态系统造成破坏。

Jon Blundy of Oxford¹⁰ University, however, offers an alternative.

然而，牛津大学的乔恩·布伦迪选提供了另一种选择：

This is to extract, from deep under Earth's surface, the mineral-rich brines from which ores of copper and other valuable metals are generated in the first place.

首先从地球表面深处提取富含矿物的卤水，从卤水中产生铜和其他有价值的金属。

As Dr Blundy points out, "pretty much all of the non-ferrous natural resources that we exploit come ultimately from ancient volcanoes."

正如布伦迪博士指出的那样，“几乎所有人类开发的有色自然资源最终都来自古代火山。”

In particular, in 2015, he and his colleagues worked out the chemical details of how copper-sulphide ores form when sulphur-rich gases rise through the plumbing¹¹ of active volcanoes and encounter metalrich brines trapped in rocks sitting just above pockets of magma.

特别是在2015年，他和同事们研究出了当富硫气体通过活火山的管道上升，遇到困在岩浆口袋上方岩石中富含金属的卤水时铜硫化物矿石形成的化学细节。

Modern mining operations dig up examples of these ores that formed millions or billions of years ago.

现代采矿作业挖掘出这些形成于数百万甚至数十亿年前的矿石。

Dr Blundy proposes instead to cut out the middleman and go straight to the deep copper-rich fluids themselves.

相反，布伦迪博士建议省去中间步骤，直接进入富含铜的深层液体。

1 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

2 gushers   

n.喷油井( gusher的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 electrification   

n.充电，电气化；起电；电化；带电

参考例句：

• Electrification of the countryside--yes, that, too, is impressive. 是的。农村电气化也是了不起的事。 来自演讲部分
• After electrification, it will readily stick to a wall or a ceiling. 起电后，它立即吸附到墙壁上或天花板上。 来自辞典例句

6 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

7 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

8 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

9 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

10 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

11 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》