万物简史 第338期:孤独的行星(3)

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　　a type of crustacean³ similar to shrimp⁴ but transparent⁵, which survive without any protection at all. 那是一种甲克纲动物，有点像小虾，不过是透明的。它们无须保护就能生存下去。

　　Most oceans are of course much shallower, 当然，大多数海洋比较浅，

　　but even at the average ocean depth of two and a half miles the pressure is equivalent to being squashed beneath a stack of fourteen loaded cement trucks. 但即使在平均深度为4公里的大海里，压力也相当于被压在叠在一起的14辆装满水泥的卡车底下。

　　Nearly everyone, including the authors of some popular books on oceanography, 包括一些海洋学科普作家在内的几乎每个人都认为，

　　assumes that the human body would crumple⁶ under the immense pressures of the deep ocean. 在大海深处的巨大压力下，人体会被压扁。

　　In fact, this appears not to be the case. 实际上，情况似乎并非如此。

　　Because we are made largely of water ourselves, and water is "virtually incompressible," in the words of Frances Ashcroft of Oxford⁷ University, 由于在很大程度上我们本身也是由水组成的，而水——用牛津大学弗朗西斯·阿什克罗夫特的话来说——“实际上是压不扁的”，

　　"the body remains⁸ at the same pressure as the surrounding water, and is not crushed at depth." 因此人体仍会保持与周围水一样的压力，不会被压死。

　　It is the gases inside your body, particularly in the lungs, that cause the problem. 麻烦的倒是体内的气体，尤其是肺内的气体。

　　These do compress, though at what point the compression becomes fatal is not known. 那里的气体确实会被压缩，但压缩到什么程度才会致命，这还不知道。

　　Until quite recently it was thought that anyone diving to one hundred meters or so would die painfully as his or her lungs imploded⁹ or chest wall collapsed¹⁰, 直到最近，人们还认为，只要潜到100米左右的深处，肺脏会内爆，胸壁会破裂，他或她就会痛苦地死去，

　　but the free divers¹¹ have repeatedly proved otherwise. 但裸潜者反复证明，情况恰好相反。

　　It appears, according to Ashcroft, that "humans may be more like whales and dolphins than had been expected." 据阿什克罗夫特说，似乎“人可以比预想的更要向鲸和海豚”。

　　Plenty else can go wrong, however.  然而，许多别的方面可能出问题。

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