科学美国人60秒 SSS 喜马拉雅冰川发现工业革命污染物

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

Near the end of the 18th century, the industrial revolution began to transform Great Britain. Machines replaced hand tools, factories sprouted² up in cities and towns, and a sharp uptick in coal combustion³ polluted the skies. The industrial revolution, and the pollution that followed in its wake, soon spread to the rest of Europe. But some of the smoke and ash didn't stay there. It also drifted into the upper atmosphere and was blown by winter winds all the way to the frigid⁴ Himalayas.

18世纪末，工业革命开始改变英国。机器取代了手工工具，工厂在城镇里涌现，煤炭燃烧量急剧增加导致了空气污染。工业革命和随之而来的污染很快蔓延到欧洲其他地区。但有些烟雾和灰尘并没有停留在欧洲。它们还飘到了上层大气，之后被冬季的风一路吹到寒冷的喜马拉雅山。

"This ash was transported for thousands of kilometers. And eventually, it was deposited with the snowflakes."

“这些灰尘被运送了数千公里。最后和雪花一起沉积。”

Environmental scientist Paolo Gabrielli of the Ohio State University. His team found signatures of airborne pollution from the beginning of the industrial revolution in Tibet—specifically, in ice cores taken from a glacier⁵ nearly 24,000 feet above sea level on Mount Shisha Pangma. Such ice cores are like time capsules that contain a record of the contaminants that were mixed in with each year's snowfall.

俄亥俄州立大学的环境科学家保罗·加布里埃尔说到。他的团队在西藏发现了工业革命初期的空气污染特征，具体来说，他们在希夏邦马峰上一个海拔近2.4万英尺冰川采集的冰芯中发现了污染。这种冰芯就像时间胶囊，里面记录着每年降雪时混入的污染物。

"And we are able to count annual layers from the surface down to a depth, in this case, of even more than 500 years, covering a time period between the year 1500 A.D. to 1992. At the beginning of our record, we didn't observe any kind of anthropogenic contribution in our ice. And this lasted until about the year 1780. At that time, we start to observe an enrichment of some trace metals."

“我们能够计算从地表到深处的年层数，在这种情况下，年层可能超过500年，在公元1500年到1992年之间。在记录初期，我们并未在冰层中观察到任何人类活动的影响。这种情况一直持续到1780年。那时，我们开始观察到一些微量金属的富集。”

These metals included zinc⁶, chromium, nickel and cadmium.

这些金属包括锌、铬、镍和镉。

The industrial revolution also coincided with a rapidly growing global population. The increased demand for food led to the expansion of croplands. Gabrielli thinks that the practice of burning forests to clear land for agriculture may have also contributed to the trace metals found in the ice cores.

工业革命期间，全球人口也在迅速增长。对粮食需求的增加导致了农田的扩张。加布里埃尔认为，燃烧森林以开垦农田的做法也可能是冰芯中发现微量金属的原因之一。

The study is in the Proceedings⁷ of the National Academy of Sciences.

这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。

This finding is not the first time ice cores have revealed signs of human pollution from the past. A previous study showed that a glacier in the Andes Mountains of South America bore traces of toxic⁸ elements like lead and arsenic⁹, deposited during colonial silver mining operations in the 16th century, more than 200 years before the industrial revolution.

这一发现并不是冰芯第一次揭示出过去人类污染的迹象。此前的一项研究表明，南美洲安第斯山脉的一座冰川中有铅和砷等有毒元素的痕迹，这些元素在16世纪殖民地银矿开采作业期间沉积，比工业革命早了200多年。

"We have contaminated even the most remote areas of the world. And so, at this time, there is most likely no glacier on earth that does not show a trace of our presence."

“我们甚至污染了世界上最偏远的地区。因此，现在，地球上很可能所有冰川都有我们存在的痕迹。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 sprouted   

v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了，都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

5 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

6 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

7 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

8 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

9 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。