从前有一个人 Once there was a man
想要揭开地球的真实年龄之谜 who went searching for the true age of the Earth.
在苦苦探索的过程中 In his struggles to discover it,
他无意中发现了一个重大威胁 he stumbled on a grave threat.
1966年一个明媚的春日 Beautiful spring day,
加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳市 Pasadena, California. 1966.
商业繁荣 人们生活富足 Business is booming, life's good.
只有一个人例外 Except for one man,
他就是克莱尔·帕特森 地球化学家 a geochemist named Clair Patterson,
人们称其为帕特 known as Pat.
他知道 他见到的每一个人 He knows that everyone he sees
都身处在一种看不见的威胁之中 is in danger from an invisible menace.
他下定决心要不惜一切代价 And he's determined to put a stop to it,
结束这种局面 no matter what the cost.
本字幕由ZiMuZu原创翻译 最新下载请登录 www.ZiMuZu.tv
翻译 hoshi
校对 OBAFGKM
时间轴 泽川
后期 吉吉
总监 OBAFGKM
宇宙 时空之旅
说起帕特 也就是帕特森的故事 You can't really tell Pat Patterson's story
就不得不追溯到 without going all the way back
我们的家园地球 to the time long before the Earth,
形成之前 our home, was built,
恒星为它提供了原材料 when the stars brought forth its substance.
铁 Iron.
构成行星的熔融内核 For the planet's molten core.
氧 Oxygen.
构成岩石 水和空气 For the rocks and the water and the air.
碳 Carbon.
形成钻石 创造生命 For diamonds. And life.
一颗恒星诞生了 A star is born,
我们的恒星 ours.
在最初的几百万年中 一切平稳运行 For the first few million years, things ran smoothly
尘埃颗粒像滚雪球一样聚集成大块的天体 as dust grains snowballed into progressively larger objects.
一旦这些天体质量变大 But once these objects grew massive enough
有了足够的引力 to have sufficient gravity,
它们就开始在相互吸引 造成轨道彼此交叉 they began pulling each other into crossing orbits.
这就是地球刚形成时的样子 This is how our world looked when it was new.
地球表面任何一块区域 No part of the Earth's surface could survive intact
早已不复当年的模样 from that time to the present.
关于地球早期的记录已不可寻 So, with all its birth and early childhood records erased,
我们怎样才能确定 how could we ever hope to know with any certainty
地球的真实年龄呢 the true age of our world?
古往今来 人们一直在苦苦思索 People have been wondering about this since antiquity.
1650年 爱尔兰大主教詹姆斯·亚瑟 In 1650 archbishop James Ussher of Ireland
似乎通过计算解决了这一问题 made a calculation that seemed to settle the question.
和同时代的其他人一样 Like almost everyone else of his time and his world,
他认为《圣经》中关于创世界的记录极具权威 he accepted the biblical account of creation as authoritative.
可是《圣经》也没有给出地球的具体年龄 But the Bible does not give exact years,
因此 亚瑟找到了《旧约》中记载的 so Ussher searched for an event in the Old Testament
一个符合事实的历史事件 that corresponded to a known historical date.
他发现 根据《列王记》第二册中的记录 He found it in the second Book of Kings,
巴比伦国王尼布甲尼撒二世 the death of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar
死于公元前562年 in 562 B.C.
亚瑟将每一代的先知 Usher added up the generations of the prophets
和族长的年龄加起来 and the Patriarchs,
根据《旧约》记载 the 139 "Begats" Of the Old Testament,
从亚当到尼布甲尼撒二世 一共有139代 between Adam and the time of Nebuchadnezzar,
他发现 and discovered
我们的世界起源于 that the world began on October 22
公元前4004年10月22日 in the year 4004 B.C.
晚上六点 at 6.00 p.m.
那一天是周六 It was a Saturday.
亚瑟大主教的年表一直被西方世界 Archbishop Ussher's chronology was taken as gospel
奉为真理 in the Western world.
直到我们在另一本书中找到了地球的年龄 Until we turned to another book to find the age of the Earth,
它被真实地记录在了岩石里 the one that was written in the rocks themselves.
科罗多拉大峡谷的大部分岩石 Most of the rock layers in the walls of the Grand Canyon
是由细小的微粒长年累月沉积而成 are made of sediments, deposited as fine grains
那时这里还是一片汪洋 in a time when this part of the world was a sea.
千万年间 沉积物逐层覆盖 Over eons, the sediments were compressed into rock
在重压下被压成了岩石 under the weight of succeeding layers,
最古老的岩层处于最下面 with the oldest ones at the bottom.
随便选一层岩层 Pick a layer, any layer.
那层怎么样 How about that one?
从前 这里一定有浅水 Once upon a time, there must have been shallow water here.
在前寒武纪时期 Back in the Precambrian period,
距今约十亿年前 about a billion years ago,
世界上只有一种生物 there was only one kind of life.
那些青色的细菌正忙着吸收阳光 These blue-green bacteria were busy harvesting Sunlight
制造氧气 and making oxygen.
对它们来说 氧气只是没用的副产品 For them, it was just a waste product,
可是以后进化出的动物 其中也包括人类 but for the animals who evolved later, including us,
氧气是生命之源 it was the breath of life.
好了 再选一层 Okay. Pick another layer.
那层怎么样 How about that one?
这一层就是人们所说的天使页岩层 This layer is known as the bright angel shale.
大约形成在5.3亿年前 It formed about 530 million years ago.
这些痕迹是2.6亿年前留下的 These tracks were left 260 million years ago.
你们想知道地球的年龄吗 So you want to know the age of the Earth?
只要知道每一层沉积了多长时间 Just figure out how long it took to deposit each layer
就不用再去计算系谱了 and then, instead of counting the "Begats,"
把这些岩层加起来 add up all the layers.
很简单 对吗 Easy, right?
可是还有一个问题 Just one problem.
通过观察这一过程我们知道 We know from observing this process,
如今这一运动 because it still happens today
仍在世界各地的海洋和湖泊中进行着 in oceans and lakes around the world.
沉积物按照不同的速率沉积 That sediments can be laid down at widely different rates.
这一过程十分缓慢 It usually happens very slowly,
沉积30厘米要经过1000年的时间 say a foot of sediment per 1,000 years.
一旦遇到罕见的洪灾 But when the's a rare catastrophic flood,
会加快沉积的过程 it can happen much faster,
只要几天就可以沉积30厘米 as much as a foot in just a few days.
许多地理学家试图 Many geologists tried this method
运用这一方法计算出地球的年龄 to calculate the age of the Earth.
他们用科罗拉多大峡谷 They used the Grand Canyon
以及地球周围其他的沉积层序计算 and other sedimentary sequences around the planet.
结果得出的答案却大相径庭 But their answers ranged too widely to be of much use,
从300万年到150亿年不等 anywhere between three million years and 15 billion.
这一方法还存在其他问题 And there were other problems with this method:
即便是最深层的岩层 Even the deepest layers of rock
也不是地球上最古老的存在 are not the oldest things on Earth.
为什么 因为在地球动荡的婴儿期 Why? Because not even rocks could survive
岩石都无法幸存 the Earth's violent infancy.
在宇宙中 一切都不一样了 In space it's another story.
宇宙中还有地球诞生时留下的纪念品吗 Are there any mementos from when the Earth was born,
有没有其他天体可以告诉我们地球的年龄呢 objects that could possibly tell us its true age?
我知道有一个地方 那里还保留着 I know a place where the unused bricks and mortar left over
太阳系形成之初没有用过的原材料 from the creation of our Solar System can be found.
在木星和火星的轨道之间 It lies between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.
这就是形成地球的原料 Here is the stuff of the newborn Earth,
在低温中漂浮着 adrift in cold storage,
从那时起就不曾改变 unchanged ever since that time.
一百多万年前 A million or so years ago,
一颗巨大的小行星撞上了一颗非常小的小行星 a large asteroid happened to jostle a much smaller one,
把它送到了一条新的轨道 sending it on a new trajectory,
它在五万年前的一个夜晚走到了旅途终点 a collision course that ended one night
撞到了地球 some 50,000 years ago.
它从科罗拉多大峡谷上空落下 It must have shattered the peace of the Grand Canyon
形成了这个陨石坑 as it sailed overhead...
打碎了那里的宁静 to blast out this crater
那个陨石坑正位于今天的亚利桑那州 in what would one day be known as Arizona.
砸出这个陨石坑的陨铁碎块 Fragments of the iron asteroid that made this crater
被完整地保留了下来 have survived intact.
如果我们知道那个铁块是什么时候形成的 If we just knew how long ago that iron was forged,
我们就可以知道太阳系的年龄 we'd know the age of the Solar System.
以及地球的年龄 Including the Earth.
可是我们怎么才能知道呢 But how could we know that?
选择一块岩石 Pick a rock.
任何一块岩石 Any rock.
这个怎么样 How about that one?
这块石头中有些原子有放射性 Some atoms in this rock could be radioactive,
也就是说 这些原子会自发分解 which means they spontaneously disintegrate
变成其他元素 and become other elements.
一个铀原子先变成一个钍原子 A uranium atom first becomes a thorium atom.
一般来说 至少需要几十亿年 On average, it takes a few billion years.
钍元素更不稳定 The thorium is much more unstable.
不到一个月 它就会变成镤元素 In less than a month it turns into protactinium.
一分钟以后 镤又变成了其他元素 A minute later, protactinium becomes something else.
原子经历十几次原子核变化 The atom undergoes ten more nuclear transmutations...
直到到达衰变链的最后一站 Until it reaches the last stop on the decay chain:
形成稳定的铅原子 A stable atom of lead.
铅原子会一直稳定地 And lead it will remain...
保持下去 For eternity.
20世纪 人们几十年来付出了巨大的努力 In the 20th century there was a huge effort, lasting decades,
想要测量出每一种放射性元素变成另一种元素 to measure the time it takes for each radioactive element
究竟要多长时间 to transmute into another element.
物理学家发现 每一种不稳定元素的原子 Physicists discovered that the atoms of each unstable element
都在以固定的速率衰变 decay at a constant rate.
原子核好像一处避难所 The nucleus of an atom is a kind of sanctuary,
环境的冲击和变化完全不能影响到它 immune to the shocks and upheavals of its environment.
用铁锤敲击 Hit it with a hammer.
放进油里煮沸 Boil it in oil.
使其汽化 Vaporize it.
原子钟依旧滴答作响 The nuclear clock goes on ticking,
严格执行着时间标准 keeping an absolute standard of time
丝毫不受太阳和其他恒星的影响 that does not look to the Sun and the stars.
除了铀原子 还有什么更好的方案 What better way to find the true age of the Earth
测量地球的年龄吗 than with the uranium atom?
要是能搞清楚岩石中有多少铀原子 If you knew what fraction of the uranium in a rock
会衰变成铅原子 had turned into lead,
铀 铅
你就可以计算出从岩石形成起 you could calculate how much time had passed
经过了多长时间 since the rock was formed.
可还有一个问题 But there's a problem.
地球最初形成的岩石 The rocks in the Earth that were present when it was formed
已经不存在了 are no more.
它们都经过了压碎 融化 再造的过程 They've all been crushed, melted, remade.
有一种方法可以测量出 There is a way to calculate the amount of lead
最初的铅含量 that was present from the beginning.
那就是来自太空的礼物 It's a gift from the heavens:
陨石 Meteorites.
撞击出陨石坑的陨石 This one... A fragment of the one
它的碎片就很理想 that made this giant crater... Was ideal.
这块陨石中的铅含量 The amount of lead deep inside this meteorite
与地球最初形成时的铅含量相同 is exactly the same as when Earth formed.
知道铀衰变的固定速率 Since you know the constant rate of uranium decay,
就能知道这块陨石的年龄 that should give you the age of the meteorite,
也就知道了地球的年龄 which was made at the same time as the Earth.
你需要做的 All you had to do was measure
就是测量出这块陨石内的铅含量 the amount of lead in meteorites.
很简单 不是吗 Easy, right?
芝加哥大学 一位名叫 A scientist named Harrison Brown,
哈里森·布朗的科学家 at the University of Chicago,
在1947年最先发现了这一点 first understood this in 1947.
他选中了一个年轻的研究生 He chose a young graduate student,
克莱尔·帕特森完成这项工作 Clair Patterson, to do the work.
帕特森当时并不知道这项工作 Patterson couldn't possibly know how this assignment
会改变他的一生 would alter the course of his life...
以及我们所有人 And ours.
这个看似纯粹的科学研究 What seemed like pure scientific research
得出的结果远超我们的想象 turned out to be so much more.
克莱尔·帕特森 爱荷华州邮递员的儿子 Clair Patterson, son of a letter carrier from Iowa,
天生桀骜不驯 在学校的成绩也不理想 was rebellious by nature and not very good in school.
但他是一位天生的科学家 But he was a natural born scientist.
一位名叫哈里森·布朗的地质学家 A geologist named Harrison Brown
给帕特森布置了一个看似简单的 gave Patterson what seemed like a straightforward
科学工作 scientific assignment.
首先 帕特 First off, Pat...
我可以叫你帕特吗 You mind if I call you Pat?
我知道你不是地质学家 Now, I know you're no geologist...
也许你分辨不出花岗岩和长石 probably couldn't tell granite from feldspar...
可是我听说 你对质谱仪很有研究 帕特 but I hear you really know your way around a mass spectrometer, Pat.
很好 你结婚了吗 帕特 Good. You married, Pat?
是的 劳里 她也是一名化学家 Yeah, Laurie. Yeah, she-she's a chemist, too.
曼哈顿计划 第二次世界大战期间美国陆军自1942年起开发核武器计划
我们一起在橡树岭参加 Uh, we worked on the Manhattan Project together,
曼哈顿计划 at Oak Ridge.
很好 首先你要知道 Good. Okay, well, first thing you need to know:
这些小的晶体叫做锆石 There are these tiny crystals called zircons.
像针头一样小 密度极高 坚硬无比 Real small, size of a pinhead, tight as a drum and tough.
没有什么能穿过它 Nothing gets in or out of 'em.
我是说 即使过了几十亿年 And I'm talking for billions of years.
我们之所以能知道这些颗粒的真实年龄 We know how old these grains are because we've already
正是因为我们测定了这些岩石的年龄 dated the rocks they came from.
每一块小小的锆石里只含有几百万分之一的铀 Each little zircon has only a few parts per million of uranium inside,
这些铀逐渐衰变成 and that uranium is decaying
含量更少的铅 to even tinier amounts of lead.
现在 你已经知道如何测量铅含量 Now, you figure out how to measure that lead,
你以后会研究出如何测量陨石中的铅含量 and you'll know how to do it for a meteorite.
对吗 帕特 You think you can do that, Pat?
是的 为什么不能呢 Yeah. Yeah, I... I don't see why not.
很好 因为你一旦成功了 你就会成为 Good, because when you do, you'll be the first man
第一个揭开地球年龄之谜的人 to know the age of the Earth.
你会一举成名的 And you'll be famous.
你也知道 And you see,
这并不难 It'll be easy.
对你来说 易如反掌 Duck soup.
锆石晶体
就在帕特森测量锆石颗粒中 While Patterson tried to measure
含有的微量铅元素的同时 the trace amounts of lead in the zircon grains,
另一名研究生 乔治·蒂尔顿 another grad student, George Tilton,
测量出了同一颗粒中的铀含量 was measuring the amount of uranium in the same grains.
帕特森只需要 All Patterson had to do
用同样的精度测出铅含量就可以了 was measure the amount of lead with equal accuracy.
给你了 帕特 She's all yours, Pat.
六次测量得出了相同的结论 Measured it six times. Same result:
百万分之三点二 3.2 parts per million.
干得漂亮 乔治 谢谢 Yeah, nice going, George, thanks.
蒂尔顿的实验得出了相同的结果 Tilton's results were always the same.
可帕特森对于同样颗粒铅含量的测量 But Patterson's results on the lead content of the same grains
结果却千差万别 were wildly inconsistent.
这讲不通 This made no sense.
难道是因为实验室 Could the lab have been contaminated
被之前进行过的铅实验污染了吗 by previous experiments with lead?
也许实验环境中自身含有 Maybe it was the naturally high amounts
极高的铅含量影响了他的实验结果 of lead in the environment that were messing up his results.
帕特森用尽了一切方法 Patterson did everything he could
除去实验室中的铅 to cleanse the lab of any lead.
几个月后
可最后测出的铅含量还是高出了100倍 There was still 100 times too much lead.
他已经耗费了两年多的时间 He had been at it for more than two years.
什么易如反掌 全是骗人的鬼话 Duck soup, my ass.
超级净化
闲人免进
帕特森意识到 他应该先把容器煮沸 Patterson realized he would have to boil his containers
把工具浸泡在酸里 再提纯所需的化学物质 and tools in acid and purify all his chemicals
以减少实验室中的铅含量 to further reduce the lead in his lab.
-你好 -不 - Hey, you... Oh, I... - No!
我是新来的 I'm new here.
-请问卫生间在哪儿 -真该死 - Uh, where's the men's room? - Ugh, damn it.
加州理工学院
帕特森疯狂的清洗和消毒工作 All of Patterson's obsessive scouring and sterilizing
并没有帮助他解决这一问题 had still not solved the problem.
他得重新设计自己的实验室 重头来过 He would need to design his own lab and build it from scratch.
哈里斯·布朗来到帕萨迪纳市加州理工学院后 The opportunity arose when Harrison Brown moved
邀请了帕特森参与他的工作 to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
事情似乎有了转机 and invited Patterson to join him.
闲人免进
警告 小心
限制区域 闲人免进
好了 汤姆 够了 Okay, Tom, that's enough.
我们可以穿过这扇联锁门了 We can move through the interlock, now.
帕特森花了6年的时间 Patterson had now been at it for six years,
锲而不舍地净化 doggedly tracking down and eliminating
他的仪器中含有的 the many sources of lead
一切可能的铅来源 that were compromising his instruments.
他建造出了世界上第一间超净室 He had built the world's first ultra-clean room.
并最终掌握了测量岩石中 He was finally able to measure how much lead
铅含量的方法 was actually in the rock.
这样就知道岩石的年龄了 One whose age had already been established.
现在 帕特森把研究目光 Now, at last, Patterson was ready
转向了陨铁 to tackle the iron meteorite,
以揭开地球的真实年龄 to find the true age of the Earth.
他把陨石样本 He brought his meteorite specimen
带去了阿贡国家实验室 back to the Argonne National Laboratory...
世界上最精确的质谱仪 Where the world's most accurate mass spectrometer
刚刚在那里投入使用 had just become operational.
博士 可以明天再做吗 Doc, this can't wait till tomorrow?
好了 小家伙 我必须得把你汽化 Okay, little buddy, we're gonna have to vaporize you.
质谱仪在磁作用下 A mass spectrometer uses magnets
使样本中的元素分离 to separate the elements contained in a sample,
以测量其中每一种元素的含量 so that the amounts of each element can be quantified.
有关地球年龄之谜的最后一层面纱 This would provide the last missing piece
就要被揭开了 in the puzzle of the Earth's true age.
现在 我要把你电离 Now I'm gonna ionize you, yeah.
听起来有点可怕 Sounds worse than it is.
朋友之间有什么电子呢 What's an electron between friends?
将样本隔离 防止受到外界的铅污染 Having isolated the sample from any outside lead contamination,
帕特森最终测出了样本中的 Patterson was, at last, ready to measure the amount of lead
铅含量和铀含量 and uranium in the sample
并计算出了样本的形成时间 and calculate how many years before it had formed.
地球的真实年龄 The true age of the Earth.
感谢之前的各位科学家 Thank you to all the scientists who came before.
感谢各位地质学家 Thank you, geologists.
感谢查尔斯·莱伊尔 Thank you, Charles Lyell.
感谢迈克尔·法拉第 Thank you, Michael Faraday.
约瑟夫·约翰·汤姆森 J.J. Thomson.
厄恩斯特·卢瑟福 Ernest Rutherford.
感谢哈里森·布朗 Thank you, Harrison Brown.
地球形成至今已经有四十五亿年了 The world is four and a half billion years old.
铅含量地质年代图
我们做到了 We did it.
妈妈 Mom?
妈妈 Mom.
帕特森希望他的母亲 Patterson wanted his mother to be
成为第一个知道 the first person to know
他努力多年终于取得了成功 what he had struggled for so many years to discover.
得到了地球年龄 The true age of the Earth.
这一发现为他带来了什么呢 His reward for this discovery?
只有无尽的麻烦 A world of trouble.
他当时并不知情 他的发现 He didn't know it, but he was on a collision course
和当时一些非常有影响力的人物产生了冲突 with some of the most powerful people on the planet.
对古罗马人来说 To the ancient Romans,
带着光环的土星不是一个真实的星球 the majestic ringed planet Saturn was not a real place,
不是另一个世界 而是一位神 not a world, but a God King,
天神和地神结合之子 a son of the marriage of Heaven and Earth,
铅之神 the God of lead.
古罗马城市广场最古老的寺庙里 These columns are all that remain
只有这些柱子如今还留存至今 of this oldest temple in the Roman forum,
2500年前 first consecrated to Saturn
那里供奉着农业之神萨图尔努斯 2,500 years ago.
同时也是古罗马的国库 It also served as Rome's treasury
以及管理度量衡的部门 and its bureau of weights and measures.
今晚是农神节 Tonight is Saturnalia,
在这个属于萨图尔努斯的十二月的节日里 the wild December holiday in Saturn's honor.
人们的生活颠倒过来 And everyday life will be turned upside down.
在这一天里 主人侍奉奴隶 The masters will serve the slaves,
没有战争和死刑 no wars or executions will be allowed,
人们交换礼物 and gifts will be exchanged.
以后的几百年里 A couple of hundred years from now,
早期的传教士为了吸引 when the early church fathers look for a way
更多的异教徒 to attract more pagans,
将农神节改为了圣诞节 they'll decide to turn Saturnalia into Christmas,
冬至节的目的几经改变 making it the latest in a long line
圣诞节是它最后变成的样子 of winter solstice holidays to be re-purposed.
农神节的夜晚 萨图尔努斯的木质雕像 This towering wooden statue of Saturn may have looked like this
也许就像这个一样耸立着 on the night of Saturnalia.
可是在古罗马时期 这位神有着阴暗的一面 But in ancient Rome, this God had another, darker side.
萨图尔努斯的另一面是阴郁呆滞的食尸鬼 That other Saturn is a cold and sullen, sluggish ghoul,
时常暴怒 given to irrational bouts of rage.
他对他的父亲犯下了令人发指的暴力罪行 He committed an unspeakable act of violence against his father,
并且吃掉了自己的孩子 and devoured his own children.
古罗马人通过肉眼观察 Of all the planets visible
发现在所有的行星当中 to the unaided eyes of the ancients,
土星的运行速度是最慢的 Saturn is the slowest,
因此 它才被称之为 which could explain why it's named
铅之神 after the God of lead.
不可否认的是 But there's no denying
萨图尔努斯性格中的缺陷越多 that the more negative aspects of Saturn's personality
就越能反映出人们对于铅有毒的古老的认识 reflect the age-old knowledge of the symptoms of lead poisoning.
可罗马人真的很有意思 Funny thing about the Romans.
即使他们知道 Even though they knew
铅对人体有毒 它会损害人体健康 that contact with lead inevitably poisoned people,
引发不育 甚至使人失去理智 rendered them sterile and drove them mad,
可他们用什么金属建造 what metal did they use to make the pipes
那些用于送水的著名渡槽呢 that carried the water through their legendary aqueducts?
我给你们一个提示 I'll give you a hint.
"铅工业"一词来源于拉丁语中的 The word "Plumbing" Comes from the Latin word
"铅"一词 for lead, "Plumbum."
他们著名的浴池用什么金属修的呢 What metal did they use to line their famous baths?
当酒太酸的时候 他们怎么使其变甜呢 And how did they sweeten their wines when they were too sour?
他们用什么镀在桶和锅内侧呢 What did they use to line their vats and cooking pots?
一些历史学家认为 There are some historians who believe
铅的大范围使用是造成 that the widespread use of lead was a major cause
古罗马帝国衰亡的重要原因 in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
为什么他们明知道铅有毒 Why did they continue to use lead
还是要使用铅呢 long after they knew it was toxic?
因为铅便宜且具有很好的延展性 易于加工 It was cheap, very malleable, easy to work with,
那些接触到会使人致死的高铅含量的 and the ones who were exposed to it at its most lethal levels...
生产铅的矿工和工人 the miners and workers who processed the lead...
被看作可消耗品 were considered expendable.
他们的生命一文不值 Their lives didn't matter.
他们是奴隶 They were slaves.
大部分的铅都深埋在地下 Most of the Earth's lead started off at a safe distance
和地球上的生命保持了一段安全距离 from living things, down below the surface,
可大约在8500年前 but about 8,500 years ago,
人类开始学会了从地下的岩石中 humans began figuring out how to dig into the Earth
获取金属材料 and extract metals from rock.
那时 这座房子还是新的 By the time this villa was new,
就在几千年前 just a couple of thousand years ago,
罗马人一年可以生产出8万吨铅 the Romans were producing 80,000 tons of lead a year.
为什么铅对人体有毒呢 Why is lead so poisonous to us?
因为铅一旦进入人体 Because when it gets into our bodies,
就会伪装成锌和铁 lead mimics other metals, like zinc and iron,
这些人体细胞需要的元素 the ones our cells actually need to grow and flourish.
细胞酶被铅的伪装欺骗了 Enzymes in the cell are fooled by the lead's masquerade,
开始发挥作用 and they begin to dance.
这是死亡之舞 铅是进入人体的骗子 But it's a dance of death, because the lead is an imposter
它们无法满足细胞的需求 that can't fulfill the cell's vital needs.
铅还会阻塞神经递质 Lead also blocks neurotransmitters,
影响细胞之间的交流网络 the communication network between the cells.
对人类记忆和学习有至关重要作用的 It interferes with the molecular receptors
分子神经末梢产生干扰 that are vital to memory and learning.
铅对儿童的危害更大 This is especially damaging to children,
但任何人都无法幸免 but lead poisoning spares no one.
在20世纪之初 Starting at the turn of the 20th century,
含铅漆的制造商雇佣了一大批 the makers of leaded paint hired the fledgling
荷兰男孩的铅派对
刚开始发展广告业人士向消费者宣传 advertising industry to persuade the consumer
铅对儿童无害 that lead was child-friendly.
一个玩具铅战士对一个荷兰小男孩说 A little toy lead soldier once to the Dutch boy said,
"我们有很多含铅的伙伴" "We have some fine relations who all contain some lead."
"你应该办个派对让人们认识一下 "Why don't you give a party so folks can meet and see
荷兰男孩的故事世界
"铅家族里其他快乐的小伙伴" "the other happy members of the great lead family?"
派对上第一个出场的是艳丽的电灯 The first one at the party was gay electric light.
他说 "我很棒" He said, " I'm very brilliant."
"总是在黑夜中发光" "I always shine at night."
"这都要归功于我头顶的玻璃罩" "No little of my brilliance is due to my glass head,"
"让灯光更亮些" "which gives a light much brighter"
"因为那是含铅的" "Because it's made with lead."
一对橡胶鞋底进来 挽住了荷兰男孩的胳膊 A pair of rubbers entered and took the Dutch boy's arm.
它们说 "我们可以保持干爽又温暖" They said, " We are protectors who keep you dry and warm."
"我们刚被生产出来的时候 制造我们的人说" "You knew when we were molded, the man who made us said,"
"我们坚硬无比 又满怀生机" we're strong and tough and lively
"因为我们是含铅的" "Because in us, there's lead."
可是直到1920年 铅产品才真正进入了 But lead production didn't really shift into high gear
高速发展阶段 until the early 1920's
化学家托马斯·米基利 when chemist Thomas Midgley
和通用汽车公司发明家查理斯·凯特灵 and inventor Charles Kettering of General Motors
发现四乙基铅可以商用 found that tetraethyl lead could be marketed
作为抗爆添加剂加入汽油中 as an anti-knock additive to gasoline.
他们成立了一家四乙基铅汽车燃料公司 They formed a new company called the Ethyl Corporation.
美国陆军部 It had once been considered for use
曾一度考虑将四乙基铅用作毒气 as a poison gas by the U.S. War department.
和油漆中的铅不同 四乙基铅是脂溶性的 Unlike the lead in paint, tetraethyl lead was fat soluble.
只要半杯倒在皮肤上就足以致命 A half a cup of it on your skin could kill you.
生产商计算出 The manufacturers calculated
他们一年就可以卖出6千万吨 that they could sell 60 million tons of it a year.
标准石油公司工厂中两人死于神秘毒气 三人精神错乱
唯一的问题是 Only problem was,
在特拉华州和新泽西州的工厂里 some of the workers who processed the stuff
一些生产工人开始神志不清 in factories in Delaware and New Jersey were going insane,
神秘气体致三人死亡 其余人重伤
含铅汽油面临有毒禁令
他们产生幻觉 破窗而出 hallucinating, jumping out of windows.
四人死于致疯毒气
尖叫着死去 They died screaming.
要掩盖这个问题 This was a selling job
可不能靠广告中跳舞的电灯泡 that would require a lot more than dancing light bulbs.
需要有一个科学家 What was needed was a man of science
安抚公众的恐惧 提高铅的公众形象 to calm the public's fears and improve lead's image.
他们找到了一个合适的人选 They found the right man for the job.
这是首次 This was one of the first times
由于科学权威 that the authority of science was used
给公众健康环境带来了威胁 to cloak a threat to public health and the environment.
通用汽车雇佣了一位来自辛辛那提的年轻博士 Robert Kehoe, a young doctor from Cincinnati,
罗伯特·基欧 was hired by GM.
他在公众心中挑起了 He raised scientific doubts in the public mind
针对铅危害的质疑 about the dangers of lead.
他说 铅来源于自然 Lead was naturally occurring in the environment, he said.
没错 对于从事铅行业工作的人来说 Yes, there might be occupational hazards
也许有一定的职业风险 for the people who worked with lead,
但这种危害可以通过行业自动调节得到控制 but that could be best handled by industry self-regulation.
而且没有证据显示 And there was no evidence to suggest that
铅对消费者有任何危害 lead posed any threat to the consumer.
几十年过去 没有人质疑他说的话 For decades no one challenged him...
直到克莱尔·帕特森开始破解 Until Clair Patterson went searching
地球年龄之谜 for the age of the Earth.
克莱尔·帕特森关于地球年龄的研究 Claire Patterson's research on the age of the Earth
使他成为了这个世界上测量铅含量的 had made him the world's leading expert
首席专家 on measuring trace amounts of lead.
像当时所有人一样 And like everyone else at the time,
他认为铅普遍存在是自然现象 he assumed the prevalence of lead occurred naturally.
作为一名真正的科学家 True scientist that he was, he set out
他开始研究 to discover everything he could
铅是如何在自然环境中循环的 about how lead circulates through the environment.
在美国石油组织的资金支持下 On a grant from the American Petroleum Institute,
他开始测量深海和浅海中的 he carefully measured the concentrations of lead
铅的含量 in deep and shallow seawater.
帕特森再次发现 Once again, Patterson found
他的原始数据让人迷惑 that his initial data made no sense.
在大洋深处的海水中 铅的含量 There were only minuscule concentrations of lead
非常低 in the deep ocean water.
可是在浅层水和表面 But in shallow waters and at the surface,
铅的含量要高上几百倍 the concentrations of lead were hundreds of times greater.
在任何一个大洋中 浅层水要经过 In any ocean, it takes a few hundred years
几百年的时间才能和深层水混合起来 for the shallow waters to mix with the deep.
帕特森意识到表层水中 This told Patterson that the large amount of lead
大量的铅元素是近期才出现的 in the surface waters had arrived recently.
不然 铅元素的分布应该更加平均 Otherwise it would have been more evenly distributed.
在了解了浅层海水中的铅含量 Knowing the quantity of lead in the shallow seas
以及浅层海水和深层海水混合所需的时间之后 and the time needed to mix it into the deeper layers,
他可以估算出 he was able to estimate
铅在浅层水中聚集的速率 the rate of lead contamination at the surface.
帕特森问自己 Patterson asked himself
究竟是什么使得海洋中的 what could possibly supply lead
铅含量如此之高呢 to the world's oceans at such a rate.
太平洋
这些铅都是从哪儿来的 Where's all that lead coming from?
也许我知道 哈里森 I think I know, Harrison.
是从含铅汽油中来的 It's from leaded gasoline.
那我们可有大麻烦了 帕特 Well, then we've got a problem, Pat,
那可是赚钱的大生意 because that's the same place the money comes from.
但帕特森并没有屈服 But Patterson would not give in.
大西洋及地中海的水域中和雪中富集的铅
他开始全力工作 希望发表科学论文 He went right to work on publishing the scientific paper
反对含铅汽油 that would make the case against leaded gasoline.
《自然》科学周刊
他把这篇论文寄给了一家极具声望的科学期刊 When he sent the paper to the prestigious scientific journal
《自然》 并把自己署名为第二作者 Nature, Patterson put his own name second.
他经常这样做 来帮助自己的学生 He often did that with his students
提高他们的声望 to advance their reputations.
他一生都在回避闪光灯下的生活 He made a lifelong point of shunning the limelight
还有那些与之伴随的特权 and the privileges that come with it.
就在出版后的第三天 Only three days after publication...
问题来了 the push-back began.
-您好 帕特森博士 -很高兴见到您 - Hello, Dr. Patterson. - Pleasure to meet you.
我们对您的论文很感兴趣 Very impressed by your work.
您的工作对我们 Your work is of great interest
石油化工工业很有意义 to us in the petroleum and chemical industries.
没有您的资金支持就没有我的今天 Well, it wouldn't have been possible without your funding.
没错 我们愿意为您提供更多帮助 Precisely. And there's so much more we'd like to do for you.
我一直想要测量极地冰中的铅含量 Well, I've been thinking about measuring lead in polar ice
以判断其情况是不是与海洋相同 to see if it shows the same kind of pattern as the oceans.
铅吗 您不是已经完成了吗 Lead? But you've already done that.
我们认为您可以去研究其他元素了 We're thinking it's time you move on to other trace elements.
事实上 帕特森博士 In fact, Dr. Patterson,
我们愿意为您研究其他方向提供 our ability to fund you in any other line of research is...
无限的资金支持 Virtually limitless.
铅是一种神经毒素 Lead is a neurotoxin.
就在你们把四乙基铅运出工厂 When you ship your tetraethyl lead from the factory...
加入汽油之前 before you add it to the gasoline...
处理它时就像对待化学武器 it's handled just like a chemical weapon.
这一切都是有理由的 There's a reason for that.
在那些铅离开排气管之后 Where do you suppose all that lead goes
你觉得它们会去哪儿呢 after it leaves the tailpipe?
想想我们自己 还有我们的孩子们 Think about what it might be doing to us and our kids.
基欧博士已经说过了 环境中的铅元素 Dr. Kehoe has shown that the level of lead
如同十二月的飞雪那般自然 in the environment is as natural as snow in December.
那为什么深层海水中没有铅元素呢 Then why doesn't it show up in the deep water? Here,
来 让我告诉你们 let me just show you.
谢谢您抽出时间 Thanks for your time.
等等 你们还要继续往我们 Wait, you're just gonna keep on putting
赖以生存的空气中排放大量的铅吗 millions of tons of poison into the air we breathe?
如果我的研究无法搞垮你们的生意 If my research doesn't put you out of business,
总有一天会有另一位科学家证明的 some future scientist will.
帕特森来自石油工业的资金支持 Patterson's funding from the oil industry
一夜之间消失殆尽 vanished overnight.
事实上 他们想炒了他 In fact, they tried to get him fired.
可是美国政府 陆军 海军 But the U.S. Government... The Army, the Navy,
原子能委员会 公众健康服务中心 the atomic energy commission, the public health service,
还有国际科学基金会都站在他这一边 and the National Science Foundation... Stood by him,
支持他关于铅污染的研究 supporting his research on lead pollution.
他的调查范围北至格陵兰岛 His investigations took him from Greenland in the far north
南至南极洲 to Antarctica in the far south,
包括河流 山川 甚至山间的溪谷 and to rivers, mountains and valleys in between.
哪怕在极其艰苦的环境中 In even the most hostile conditions,
帕特森和他的团队仍旧在不懈追求 Patterson and his team worked to replicate
超净室的标准进行实验 the immaculate environment of the clean room.
他们的塑料衣物每天都要更换 Their plastic suits were replaced daily.
在零下的气温中工作10至12小时 Working ten-to 12-hour days in subzero weather,
他们在南极洲的冰面上 they dug a 200-foot-long shaft
挖了60米的通风井 into the ice of Antarctica.
这是一场时间旅行 It was a form of time travel,
寻找三个世纪之前飘落的雪 to recover snow that had fallen three centuries ago,
那时 工业革命还没有发生 before the start of the Industrial Revolution.
你的鼻子 Nose!
快擦擦你的鼻子 Wipe your nose, damn it!
你体内的铅含量是冰层里的 There's a thousand times more lead in you
一千多倍 than in this ice!
你想把样本污染了吗 You want to contaminate the whole damn sample?!
经过了四周的辛勤工作 After four grueling weeks
兢兢业业地收集样本 of painstaking sample collection,
帕特森准备返回实验室 Patterson was ready to go back to the lab.
他发现像深海一样 As with the oceans, he found that the amount of lead
几百年前的雪中的铅含量很低 was much lower in the snow of a few hundred years before.
不管他走到地球上的哪一个角落 No matter where he searched on Earth,
不过他追溯到历史上的哪一个时期 no matter how far he traveled back in time,
他得到的结果都是相同的 the results always told the same story:
过去空气中和水中自然存在的铅 The naturally occurring levels in the air and water in the past,
与现在相比都是极低的 were far lower.
几千年来 铅一直被看作是 For thousands of years, lead had been known
导致脑癌 发展性损伤 暴力行为 to cause brain damage, developmental impairment,
以及死亡的头号凶手 violent behavior, and even death.
在探索地球年龄之谜的同时 In searching for the age of the Earth,
帕特森无意中掌握了一场 Patterson had stumbled on the evidence
空前绝后的大规模中毒事件的证据 for a mass poisoning on an unprecedented scale.
可是基欧和其他 But Kehoe and the other scientists
被铅工业巨头雇佣的科学家 employed by the lead industry
欺骗公众 让他们不要担心 persuaded the public they had nothing to worry about.
人人都以为帕特森是个臆想狂 Everyone thought that Patterson was a crank.
直到终于有一个人开始正视这一问题 Until one man started to pay attention.
帕特森将他关于铅的发现 Patterson went public with his discoveries
彻底公诸于众 about lead in a big way.
他将自己的发现发表在 He published his findings
一家主流环境健康期刊上 in a major environmental health journal
并把复件寄给了多方政府领导 and sent copies to various government leaders,
其中有一位极具影响力的参议员 including one highly influential senator.
参议员 马斯基
埃德蒙德·马斯基曾担任议会下属的 Edmund Muskie of Maine was the chairman
空气与水污染附属委员会主席 of the senate subcommittee on air and water pollution.
1966年 他举办了铅污染问题的听证会 In 1966 he held hearings on the lead question.
第一位证人是 The first witness
罗伯特·基欧博士 他一直以来 was Dr. Robert Kehoe, longtime scientific advocate
主张使用含铅汽油 for leaded gasoline.
您是不是说 Is it, uh, your conclusion
从1937年至今 that, in 1937 to the present time,
交警 加油站工作人员 摩托车驾驶员 there has been no increase in the amount of lead taken in from the atmosphere
并没有从大气中摄入更多的铅 by the average traffic policeman, service station attendant, or... or motorist?
没有任何证据能够表明 There is not the slightest evidence
在这期间 环境发生了 that there has been a change in this picture
重大改变 during this period of time.
没有证据 Not the slightest.
听证会被安排在 The hearings were scheduled to take place,
最强烈的反对者 克莱尔·帕特森在南极洲期间 when the fiercest critic, Claire Patterson was off in Antarctica.
可是 在陈述证词的第五天 But he unexpectedly appeared
他突然出现了 on the fifth day of testimony.
由于和外界环境直接接触 Uh, looks like there seems to be an increase
人体内的铅含量 in the concentration of lead in people
随之增加 as a result of exposure to the environment.
是这样吗 Is that correct?
是这样的 That is correct.
在确定标准铅含量的时候 In identifying typical lead levels,
你在野外进行了实物测量 you use actual measurements you've taken in the field?
是的 Yes.
你的这些观察结果 Are these observations different
和其他证人的观察结果有什么不同吗 from the ones we've been hearing about from other witnesses?
没有不同 我们观察到了同样的现象 No, th... They're the same observations.
你是说含铅汽油并不会对自然环境中的 You... You've testified that there has been no change
铅含量有影响 是吗 in natural lead levels, is that correct?
是这样的 That is correct.
你能肯定吗 You're sure about that?
没错 Absolutely.
我们在人体内发现的铅含量也许具有代表性 The levels we see in people today may be typical.
可这并不能代表这是自然发生的 But they are not by any means natural.
所以您不同意基欧博士的数据 是吗 So you don't disagree with Dr. Kehoe's numbers?
不 不 Uh, no, no.
你是说 根据相同的数据 You're saying that the same numbers
你们得出了不同的结论 是吗 are leading to different conclusions?
是的 Yes.
律师间常常出现这种争执 You know, this is the kind of thing
没想到科学家也一样 we expect to hear from lawyers, not scientists.
我同意这句话 I would agree with that, yes.
您似乎对您的结论很有信心 基欧博士 You seem to be very sure of your conclusions, Dr. Kehoe.
恰好我在这一领域的经验要比 It so happens that I have more experience in this field
当今任何人都丰富 than anyone else alive.
这种铅含量会对人体造成慢性的 At these levels, lead is a severe chronic insult
严重损害 to the human body.
并没有任何医学实验能够证明 There is no medical evidence that lead has introduced
铅对人体健康有害 a danger to public health.
大量开采有毒物质 使其扩散到环境当中 It's irresponsible to mine millions of tons
是一种非常不负责任的行为 of toxic material and disperse it into the environment!
要是铅对人体有害 我们早就发现了 If there was proof of harm, we would have found it.
可你的目的是为了赚钱 Not if your purpose is to sell lead.
帕特森在之后的20年中一直在为此奔波 Patterson fought the industry for another 20 years
直到美国最终禁止铅作为消费品 before lead was finally banned in U.S. Consumer products.
那个发现地球真实年龄的男人 The man who figured out the age of the Earth
也同样为20世纪 was also responsible for one
最伟大的公众健康斗争的胜利做出了贡献 of the greatest public health victories of the 20th century.
仅仅几年 儿童血液中的铅含量 In just a few years, average lead levels in the blood of children
汽油中的铅含量
就下降了75% plummeted by some 75%.
人体血液中的铅含量
如今 医学界一致认为 Today, the medical consensus is unanimous...
人体内的铅含量 即使很低 there's no such thing as a nontoxic level
也是对人体有毒的 of lead in humans, however small.
现如今 科学家们拉响了 Today, scientists sound the alarm
其他环境问题的警报 on other environmental dangers.
既得利益团体还在雇佣他们的科学家 Vested interests still hire their own scientists
为此狡辩 to confuse the issue.
可是 最终 But in the end,
大自然才不糊涂 nature will not be fooled.