如果地球上人类都消失 会出现什么样的情景呢？ What would happen if every human being on earth disappeared?
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在未来的某个时候 At some point in the future,
这或许是我们这个星球必然的命运 This could be the fate of our planet
这不是一个人类如何消失的故事 This isn't the story of how we might vanish
这是一个讲述无人生活下世界的故事 It is the story of what happens to the world we leave behind.
历史频道:人类消失后的世界 Life after people
人类的消失有点像科幻小说 The disappearance of humans may seem like science fiction,
但最终世界就会变成这样 But eventually, there will come a day like this;
人类不再是世界的统治者 A day when people no longer walk the earth
人类会从地球上消失 这样的想法 It's no great stretch to imagine humans disappearing
由来以久 From the face of the earth.
我们的老祖宗有不少传说 Every generation has its tales
像天启或圣经记载的世界末日 Of armageddon or apocalypse.
人类通过有意识的活动 We're the first generation that could,
最终决定自己的命运 这是其它生物所不能的 By deliberate actions, cause its own doom.
人类消失之后 世界将是如何？ What will life be like after people?
大家经不住好奇想问 We're tantalized by our myths
人类到底如何灭绝 About our own destruction,
也非常好奇地想问 But also tantalized by the notion,
嘿 或许人类的灭绝人给其它物种带来机会 "hey,maybe it's the turn of someone else."
没有人类 它们会怎么生活 What will they do if we're gone?
没有人类 地球又何去何从 What will the earth do when i'm gone?
人们自然而然会想到这些问题 It's the most natural question in the world
时间已变得无用 Time has run out for man.
人类不再是这个星球的主宰 Our hold on the planet is over.
欢迎来到 零人口的地球 Welcome to earth, population zero.
人类消失若干个小时后 Within hours after we're gone,
全世界的灯光 陆续熄灭 Lights start going out around the world.
美国超过七成的动力 More than 70 percent of power in the united states
都来自矿物燃料 is generated by the burning of fossil fuels.
一旦燃料消耗完 The plant will only continue to produce electricity
电力系统就无法维续 As long as the fuel takes to be consumed.
如果电厂没有人来为其添加新燃料 If there's no one around to provide the new fuel into the generating plant,
很快全世界的灯光 Then it'll be quite quick before the lights
就会暗淡下去 start going out in cities all over the world.
核电厂不会那么容易失去燃料 Nuclear power plants are unlikely to melt down.
一般的反应堆就有着 The average reactor holds enough fuel
能够用上两年的核燃料 To keep running for two years.
但如果没有人来消耗这些能量 But without humans consuming the power generated by the plant,
反应堆在两天内便会停止工作 The reactors will automatically shut down
而进入安全模式 into a safe mode in as little as two days.
即使是风力发电机组 也不会一直工作下去 Even wind generation can't last forever.
涡轮的旋转需要轴承和润滑油 The turbines require bearings and lubrication of those bearings in order to keep operating.
如果没有人来维护 If there's no one around to maintain the turbines,
很快风力发电机组就无法工作 The electricity doesn't get produced
由于发电机组无法正常运行 As generating plants go down,
电力在传输过程中不断耗损 Outages on the power grid
最终一点点的消失殆尽 Contribute to a cascade of failure worldwide
几周后 After a few weeks,
整个星球就将沉寂在 无限的黑暗中 The planet is plunged into a deep darkness.
人类自从学会用火后 It has not experienced
就再也没经历过这样的黑暗 Since humans first huddled around campfires
也许整个星球上还能看到的 唯一的人造光 Perhaps,the last glow of artificial lights on earth
出现在美国的西南部 Will be seen in the american southwest
胡佛大坝 Here,the mighty hoover dam
水力发电机组 Hydropower plant
在这个人类消失的世界 不起眼的默默工作着 Takes little notice of the absence of humans.
这是一种几乎取之不尽的能源 Its source of fuel is virtually limitless.
在胡佛大坝 At hoover dam,
我们所利用的能源 Our fuel supply
就是在大坝背后的蓄水池里源源不断的水 Is actually the water in the reservoir in lake mead behind hoover dam,
只要蓄水池里有水 So as long as there's water in the reservoir,
水电机组就能继续运行 This power plant can keep running.
水库里流动的水 There's water in the reservoir
带动涡轮发电机不停的工作 Keeps supplying the water to the hydro turbine generators.
这些发电机自动工作 These generators are operating automatically
只要系统不出问题 And that would continue as long as
他们能够一直工作下去 All of the systems are functioning normally.
如果我及我的同事 If i and my staff
今夜就离开胡佛大坝 不再回来 Were to leave tonight and not come back to hoover dam,
就像现在这样把车间留在这里 Say just in the condition of the plant is in right now,
它们会正常的工作 This would continue operating without us here.
一个星期后仍然会继续运转下去 That would still be true after about a week,
数星期数月之后 Several weeks,several months,
甚至几年之后 Maybe even a couple of years,
一切都还会正常运转 Everything would still be running normally.
在人类消失后的世界 In a life after people,
胡佛大坝很可能是 It is possible that hoover dam
这个星球上最后一座还能运行的发电站 Would be one of the last power plants still running.
一旦世界范围内电力枯竭 As the power goes out around the world,
其它相关系统都将很快崩溃 Other systems are quickly beginning to fail.
世界上各大城市的地底下 Beneath all the major cities,
都有复杂的地下管道、隧道系统 There's a complex network of underground tunnels,
有的用来作为排水系统 And these are there for drainage purposes
有些用来排线布线 Or for cabling purposes,
在一些大城市 And in the case of the big cities,
也是交通运输的通道 For transportation as well.
大部分的隧道都在地下水位以下 There are many of those sit below the level of the water table,
为保持隧道不浸水 And in order to keep them dry,
都会有一套抽水装置 We have to have a system of pumps
在必要的时候抽掉隧道里的水 That are switched on when necessary
以保证地下隧道干燥和正常运行 To drain the tunnels.
在纽约地铁隧道的深处 Deep within new york city subways,
有超过700台的水泵 More than 700 pumps
不停的工作来保证不被地下水所淹没 Constantly struggle to keep out a flood of ground water,
平均一天大约要抽掉1300万加仑的水 An average of 13 million gallons a day.
现在 如果人类都消失了 Now,if all these people were not around,
也就没人去打开水泵抽水 There will be nobody to switch the pumps on.
经过测算 It's estimated,
在36小时之内地下水就会淹没整个隧道 That the tunnels will fill with water in about 36 hours.
回到地面上看看 Back above ground,
超市里的食物一点点腐烂 Food is rotting on supermarket shelves.
电冰箱也只不过是存放着一堆腐烂食物的铁皮盒子 Home refrigerators become nothing more than cabinets for decaying food,
电冰箱里融化出来的水 But melt water from defrosting freezers
却给一些生物提供了临时的生命保障 May provide a temporary lifeline for some of the creatures we've left behind.
一旦没有人类的照看 What will be the fate of our family pets
宠物的命运又将如何呢 Once there are no humans left to care for them?
它们不得不走出家门 Right from the get-go,
这也导致大量的宠物狗死亡 There's gonna be a massive die off of dogs.
人类的消失 The instance that humans are gone,
就不再会有食物的残渣 They're not creating the debris
也不再生产粮食 Or producing the food
宠物狗们也就失去了赖与生存的条件 That the dogs are living on.
它们既不会开罐头 He can't open cans,
也不懂打开冰箱看看 He can't get in the refrigerator.
它们不得不走到外面觅食 They gotta get out of the house.
宠物狗一走出家门 The family dog has gotta get out of the house
面临的就是死亡 Or he's gonna die there.
它们必须找到有食物的地方 And once he gets out, he's got to go to some source of food.
宠物狗们跳出窗外 The first thing that happens is that they all jump out of the windows
来到一片新天地 And they are now out there in a new landscape.
眼前的景像让他们倍受打击 And the first to whack at it
似乎重新回到了一个死尸遍地世界 It is that they go back to scavenging a whole bunch of dead things out there in the world.
据统计全球共有400万只狗 There are estimated to be four hundred million dogs in the world
分属300多个种族 And 300 different breeds.
它们中只有及少数能够独立生存 But very few of them are suited to surviving
而不需要人的照顾 In a life after humans.
像这样的小型宠物狗 The smallest dogs
一个星期不到便难以生存 Probably won't last a week without us.
小型狗几乎没有适合它们的生存环境 There's probably no niche for the smaller dogs.
犬类非常好斗和具有竞争性 Dogs are very competitive and when you have wolves,
狼群取代野狗 They displace coyotes,
野狗取代狐狸 Coyotes displace foxes,
我们能想像 And we would assume
在家狗当中 也会出现这样的等级层次关系 That hierarchy would prevail among domestic dogs.
事实上 In fact,
经过上万年的进化与演变 Many of the unique features
狗类那些独有的特征 That have been bred into dogs over the years
却成了他们生存的障碍 Will now become major handicaps in the fight for survival.
有些狗腿短 There are dog for the really short legs, i think,
脸长或脸短 The dogs with the really short faces or long faces,i think,
都是命中注定的 That they're all doomed.
它们注定不善奔跑 You know,they're not gonna move well,
也不懂侦察和狩猎 They're not gonna be able to search and explore.
我想一些处于中间类型长相平凡的狗 I think that the kind of the middle of the spectrum, the kind of average dog,
却有着他们的优势 Has the best chances in this.
能够长久的生存下去 I think that they will survive in the long haul,
当然他们不会变得漂亮 But it's not gonna be pretty.
正当幸存下来的宠物狗为自己命运奋斗的同时 As the surviving dogs struggle to find their new niche,
一些家居生物也慢慢意识到人类的消失 Household pests are slowly beginning to notice our absence.
像家鼠这样的小生物 Little creatures, rats and house mice,
看上去似乎人类地消失 对它们没有影响 They would seem to be able to exist without us
却非常依赖于人类留下的各种食物 Are surprisingly quite dependent on our food supplies.
这些家鼠通常被定义为 Rats and mice are usually termed
"共生啮齿科"动物 "commensal rodents,"
即与人类共存共亡 Which means that term means literally sharing the table.
对人类有很大的依赖性 They're very dependent on people.
这些家鼠以及棕鼠 And the little house mouse and norway rat
一离开人类便难以生存 Are great examples of animals
是这类动物的一个好例子 That would do less well in the absence of people.
人类消失后的前几周 In the initial weeks after people are gone,
它们会洗劫厨房、食品厨等一切储藏有食物的地方 They will raid pantries in homes,in grocery shelves in stores.
一旦吃光后 After eating through these food supplies,
便开始啃食纸箱、衣服或者叫胶水之类的东西 They will struggle to survive on things like cardboard,cloth, or glue.
我想 如果在一个弃城 I think that if a city was abandoned,
老鼠就不得不重回大自然 The rats would have to go back
过上"勤劳致富"的生活 To earning an honest living.
所谓"勤劳致富"是指回归荒野 An honest living means to go back to the wild
为有限的资源而不懈斗争 And compete for resources there.
最终 这些啮齿类动物被迫走出房子 Eventually,these rodents will abandon homes and buildings,
这也使他们很容易成为猎食者的囊中之物 Which will make them easy pickings for predators.
即使这些老鼠能够幸存下来 Although,rats and mice will mostly likely survive in the future,
数量也将大为减少 Their numbers will be greatly diminished.
人类消失后的6个月后 After six months into a life after people,
城市也将变成荒野 Urban areas are already taking a turn for the wild.
猎食动物很快便夺回这些地方 The predators would return very quickly in the absence of humans
先前由于人类故意的驱赶、 Because we suppress them, we create conditions that either work against them,
捕杀这些猎食动物 Or we deliberately go out, and remove and destroy them.
一旦人类消失 他们便很快回来 They would come back very quickly.
先前生活在边缘地区的北美野狗野猫 Smaller predators like coyotes and bobcats always survive
这些小型猎食动物 On the fringe of human populations.
会首先回归这片土地 They are the first to colonize our abandoned neighborhoods.
当时机成熟 有足够猎物时 Larger carnivores will have to wait longer for the habitat
大型肉食动物也很快会出现在这里 To recover enough to support their appetites. But soon enough,they,too,
在这一片曾经是花园的地方猎食 Will hunt in what were once our backyards.
人类消失后的一年后 1 year after people one year into a life after people,
城镇虽然还可以辨认 Towns and cities are still recognizable.
但自然的力量正一点点的占据上风 But nature is beginning to reclaim her old turf.
人类消失后的最大的物理效应便是 One of the first great physical effects in the absence of people
那些不透水层的变化 Would be the transition of the impervious surfaces:
比如停车场 路面等 The parking lots,the roads into places
在这些地方生命重新开始显现 That supported and then had an abundance of plant life.
只要有阳光植物可以生长在任何地方 Any place where you have sunlight that's hitting,
你或多或少见过植物的生长 You're probably gonna get some plant growth.
一颗种子掉在裂缝里 Little seeds are gonna get stuck in the cracks and so forth,
便开始不断爬藤蔓延 And these things are all gonna start to creep.
植物是这方面的能手 Plants are wonderful that way.
几年之后它们能便毁灭一切 They can destroy things in matters of,you know, a few years.
没有人类的处理 Without humans to remove them,
像蒲公英这样的野草 Weeds like dandelions
便会渗透在人行道的各个角落 Infiltrate every crack in the pavement.
当野草枯萎后 As these weeds die,
其残留物以及青苔、地衣 Their remnants combine with ever-spreading moss and lichen
便会形成表层土 To create a layer of topsoil.
这种土刚开始多沙而无营养物质 This sandy soil is poor in nutrients,
刚开始只有像苜蓿这样的植物能生存 So only plants like clover
而苜蓿能够吸收大气中的氮元素 That can pull nitrogen from the air flourish at first.
先前修整过的院子逐渐变成 Formerly manicured yards morph into fields
白尾鹿能在里面觅食的牧场 For a white-tailed deer forage for food.
野生动物也开始适应在城市里的生活 Wild animals have also begun to find their way into abandoned cities.
人类自诩对自然的控制力 Man's supposed domination over nature
在这个时候被证明是多么的渺小 Has proven to be quite tenuous.
在这里到处可见人类的对自然的无力 The signs of our vulnerability have always been there.
这是一株臭椿树 This is an ailanthus tree.
似乎在这片荒地中自得其乐 It seems to enjoy rooting itself in very inhospitable locations.
它喜欢攀爬在墙壁的缝隙里 And it likes to attach itself to crevices in buildings.
正因如此会造成不少的破坏 And when it does so, it causes damage.
巨大的膨胀力使墙壁的灰泥和石头脱落 And the expansive forces of that force out mortar
根系开始膨胀 The roots expand,
最后导致墙壁的倒塌 And stone and cause crumbling of a facade.
如果在整栋建筑前种满这种植物 If you get a lot of this on an entire building facade,
便会造成巨大的破坏 It could cause major,major damage.
大自然正在一点点回击 As nature battles back,
即使像胡佛大坝这样的人造巨人 Even manmade goliaths like hoover dam
也不是不可击败的 Aren't invincible.
5年时间21000多人的建造 To harness the power of this river
才在湍急的河流上筑起大坝 Took 21,000 men and five years of hard labor.
然而仅仅人类消失后的1年时间内 But one year after people,
17座巨大而几乎不可能被破坏的发电机组 Its 17 massive and seemingly indestructible generators
被仅有人类指甲大小的生物体所击败 Are about to be brought down by an organism the size of a human thumbnail.
大坝的表面到处滋生着 The lake above the dam is infested
这种叫做"斑驴贻贝"的入侵生物 With an invasive species of mollusk called the "quagga mussel."
它们源自欧洲 This stealthy invader from eastern europe
在北美没有天敌 Had no natural predators in north america
得靠人来从大坝的大门和管道内把其清除出去 Other than the humans tasked with scraping it from the grates and pipes it colonizes.
这些贻贝附在管道壁内 The mussels attach themselves to the inside wall of pipes
繁殖很快 And they're very prolific.
又能够一个个叠在一起生长 They colonize and rapidly build up and can grow on top of each other,
最终将完全阻断管道 And eventually completely block the diameter of a pipe.
这些给发电机组提供冷却水的管道 The small pipes that bring cooling water to hoover dam's generators
是贻贝生长的理想场所 Make perfect homes for these creatures.
在没有人类清理的情况下 And with no people around to remove them,
它们像癌细胞一样漫延开来 They spread like a cancer.
事实上它们阻断了冷却用的水管 And in fact, those mussels could clog up the cooling water pipes,
一旦这样 To the point
发电机组就无法进行散热 Where we couldn't keep these generators cool anymore.
于是自动控制系统便会发出过热警告 And it would cause the high temperature alarm in the automatic control system.
关闭过热的发电机组 And that automatic control system would then start the shutdown
紧接着大坝所有的发电机组 Sequence of that generator.
一个接一个都将关闭 Well,that would happen one by one for all of the generators of hoover dam,
最后整个大坝发电站便停止运转 And eventually the entire power plant would be shut down.
在拉斯维加斯 In las vegas,
最后一点人造光也消失殆尽 The last glimmers of manmade light on earth
回归到其最原始的黑暗 Relinquish the night to its primeval blackness.
由于发电机不再运转 With the generators no longer running,
水流也不再流经胡佛大坝 No water at all is passing through hoover dam.
科罗拉多河的下游开始干枯 And the colorado river downstream begins to run dry.
而大坝的另外一边水却无法流走 On the other side of the dam, the water has nowhere to go
导致水平面不断上升 And lake mead starts to rise.
如果水面不断上升 It would just keep building up in lake mead.
便会到达泄洪点 And it would eventually gets to the point of spilling
水流会从泄洪口排出 Over through the spillways
我们在大坝的两边都设计有泄洪口 On either side of the dam.
在没有人类的世界 Unchecked,
强大的自然力量正在一点点夺回其主宰地位 Nature's most powerful elements reclaim their supremacy on earth.
闪电引起了森林大火 Triggered by lightning strikes,
这在以前人类会毫不犹豫的进行扑救 The wildfires that humans once battled so valiantly
而现在大火肆虐 Now rage unchecked.
城市及周边到处都是遗弃的建筑、野草和废弃物 Cities and neighborhoods full of abandoned buildings, wild grasses,and debris
成为了野火的主要燃料 Are prime fuel for the flames.
芝加哥在燃烧 Chicago burns.
旧金山 San francisco's
庄严的维多利亚式木质建筑 Stately wooden victorians
成了理想的引火物 Are now only useful as kindling.
历史正在重演 And just as it did in the time of the ancients,
罗马又一次陷入火海 Rome is burning again.
建筑烧塌倒地 As structures burn to the ground,
烧焦的木材给土壤中 Charred timbers release nutrients into the soil,
注入了植物生长不可或缺的氮元素 Providing the next wave of plant life,
给下一次的枝繁叶茂创造了条件 With the nitrogen it needs to grow and thrive.
人类消失后的第五年 Five years after people,
全球的公路逐渐隐没于一片绿色之下 The roads of the world are disappearing beneath a green map
犹如被无情的怪兽吞噬一般 That spreads like some relentless monster.
大自然无边界 The advance of nature knows no boundaries.
英国白金汉宫的大门 The gates of london's buckingham palace
被蔓生植物和苔藓轻易毁坏 Are easily breached by vines and moss.
莫斯科红场变成绿色的海洋 In moscow,red square is becoming very green.
实事上 大自然重新夺回地球的速度相当得快 In reality, nature will reclaim earth very quickly.
这些阶梯在18个月前还很干净 These stairs were cleared 18 months ago.
如果再过个18个月回来看看 If we came back in another 18 months,
只有仔细看才能找着阶梯 We'd have a hard time finding them.
如果5年后再回来 If we came back in five years,
就几乎找不着阶梯的踪影了 It would be almost impossible to find.
人类对自然的掌控常常只是种幻想 Man's mastery over nature has always been just an illusion.
这座柬埔寨人的古城和古庙 When the cambodian city of angkor and its temple complexes
在15世纪前就被遗弃在这里 Were abandoned in 15th century,
多年来丛林在其石制结构中肆意生长中 Jungle trees grew indiscriminately over its stone structures.
把它们的根深深扎入其中 Entangling them in their roots.
现在没有人的照看 Now,without armies of gardeners and repairmen,
现代城市孤立在大自然面前 接受大自然的复仇 Modern cities are laid bare to nature's revenge.
这里是纽约的中央花园 In new york's central park,
无人照料的草坪中长满了大树 The great lawns,now untended, sprout with saplings.
人类消失后的5年时间里 Five years without humans leaves the park
中央公园更像是一片森林 Looking more like a forest.
中央公园为变得一片混乱 Central park will go bananas.
转眼间 So all of a sudden
大树成林 You'll get trees,
万物复苏 You'll get growth.
所有的动植物不断繁殖 All the animals and plants
达到一定数量后 That are there now will go up in population levels
它们便开始向城市其它角落进军 And they'll start to spread out into the city.
在华盛顿情况同样如此 The story is the same in washington d.c.
林肯纪念像被绿色植物所包围 The great monuments have been swallowed by greenery.
而这里曾是林肯纪念碑前的广场 And on what used to be the national mall,
甚至还可以听到丛林万物的回音 The sounds of the jungle are echoing.
动物园里的动物是一个不确定因素 Zoo animals are really the great unknown.
这要取决于它们是否能离开笼子 Depending on whether or not they could escape
如果它们都能出来 那将出现翻天覆地的变化 From their confinement, then things change dramatically
可能会有狮子 Because you might have lions,
还有老虎 You might have tigers;
而它们都是在后人类时代生存的高手 Both of which would be perfectly capable
或许它们在其老家南部 会生活得更自在 Of surviving in a post-human period.
但这些动物都具有很强的适应力 They'd do better further south
很快它们都会掌握在华盛顿的生存之道 Than they would do in washington d.c.
动物园里的动物我们似乎很难确定其命运 But these are animals that are perfectly capable of figuring out how to do it and how to survive. Zoo animals may be the great unknown
但我们有一点可以确定 But there are things we can know for sure
那就是人类消失20年后的样子 About life 20 years after people are gone
因为在地球的某个角落已发生过 Because there's one spot on the globe where it's already happened.
这是人类消失20年后的景像 It's 20 years into a life after people.
由于没人粉饰墙壁和修补裂缝 Without humans to apply fresh paint and fill in cracks,
即使是钢筋混凝土建筑也开始瓦解 Even concrete buildings have already begun to crumble.
无人照看的城市活生生的 Lack of maintenance turns cities
变成 一座废弃的鬼城 Into eerie ghost towns.
动物们重新回归这片曾是人类生活中心的地方 Animals that have long avoided human population centers
在断垣残壁上安家筑巢 Now return to make new homes among the decaying walls.
我们是如何得知这些景像的？ How do we know this?
因为这些曾在世界某地方真实的发生过 Because there's one place in the world where it's already happened.
我们现在所站的位置是乌克兰普里皮亚季的中央广场 We're standing in the central square of pripyat,ukraine,
这里曾经是苏联最繁华的城市之一 The city that was once the most modern city in the former soviet union.
这座城市已经被遗弃了20多年 （切尔诺贝利核电站泄露事件） For 20 years now, this city has been sitting abandoned,
可以一观人类消失后的景像 And it really gives you a picture of what would happen if people are removed from a place of normal civilization.
切尔诺贝利事件后人们开始撤离这座城市 Evacuated after the chernobyl nuclear disaster,
原先拥有5万多人口的城市 一夜之间成为空城 Pripyat went from a city of 50,000 to ghost town overnight.
被尘灰所覆盖的学校 Dust-covered school rooms remain
再现了20年前学生被紧急疏散的场景 As students left them just over 20 years ago.
植物在大楼上肆意的攀爬 Vegetation pries apart masonry
挤满在砖与砖的缝隙里 As it crawls over buildings.
这是一座游乐场 An amusement park
还有四天就将开张 却发生了核泄露事故 Scheduled to open four days after the date of the accident
永远的沉寂下去 Remains never used.
观光转轮还未有游客 便已开始生锈 The park's ferris wheel accumulates rust rather than riders.
碰碰车就这样安详的被一点点腐蚀 The bumper cars sit in a state of motionless decay.
遗弃的普里皮亚季使我们 Pripyat has provided an amazing and rare opportunity to see
得以一窥人类消失后的城市 What happens to a manmade city when humans disappear.
我的仪表上显示 这里已经相对比较安全 I can see from my geiger counter that it's really quite safe to be here,
放射水平也不是那么高 Radiation levels were not very high.
然而重新回来这里生活已经是不可能了 But you can see that we've really hit a point of no return in recapturing these facilities.
这里是普里皮亚季的文化中心 We're in what was the cultural center of the city of pripyat.
实事上人们常来这里聚会交友 And indeed,this was a place where friends gathered,
这里会有庆祝集会 Where there would be celebrations,
有舞会 There would be balls,
有音乐 There would be music,
人们跳舞 There would be dancing,
表演、狂欢 There would be performing
就在我身后这个舞台上 On the stage here behind me.
但20年后 But after 20 years,
大自然开始腐蚀这些地方 The forces of nature have started to decay this facility.
这坐苏联混凝土建筑看上去很雄伟 This concrete soviet facade may look imposing
但在乌克兰寒冷的冬天就不是那么回事了 But it's no match for the frigid ukranian winters.
一入冬温度就降到零度以下 As the temperature drops below freezing,
大楼缝隙里的水份结成冰 不断膨胀 Water that has accumulated in cracks,expands,
巨大的压力使砖与砖之间的缝隙越来越大 Exerting bursting pressure that pulls apart the masonry.
大量植物放任生长 As vegetation grows unchecked,
根系扎入到大楼的根基地下 The roots spread through foundations and stairs.
根系吸收水份不断膨胀 These roots suck in moisture that makes them expand and grow.
就像一部微缩千斤顶一样 Like miniature hydraulic jacks,
时间一久 慢慢就把混凝土分裂开去 Over time, they slowly push apart the concrete.
这还仅仅是20年的时间 This is only 20 years.
你能想像200年后这些东西会是什么样呢？ Can you imagine what this facility will look like after 200 years?
事故发生后 After the accident,
科学家就预测这将 对野生生物带来巨大灾难 Scientists expected the worst for the wildlife in the region.
由于核辐射 Most of the trees
在核电站1.5公里范围内的 In a 1 1/2 square mile area around the nuclear plant
大部分树都陆续枯萎 Were killed off by radiation.
无数的动物死去 Many animals died.
然而不可思议的是 But incredibly,
没有人类的20年间 The effect of the absence of humans for 20 years has outweighed
大自然渐渐修复了这片曾经笼罩着核威胁的土地 The initial damage caused by the nuclear nightmare.
这里曾经是一片红叶林 This is the red forest,
遭受了核泄露的严重影响 An area that was horribly impacted by radioactivity due to the chernobyl explosion.
你可以看到树木都死于核辐射 And the trees that you see around me were killed by the radioactivity.
起初的辐射水平足以毁灭本区域的一切生命 The original amounts of radioactivity were sufficient to kill all of the wildlife in the region as well.
现在却可见生命的复苏 But now we see a resurgence of the wildlife.
这是生命在此复苏的见证 As an example of how wildlife has prospered here,
这是一个鹿角 We see,here,we have an antler
红鹿的 很明还很大很健壮 From a red deer and,obviously, a fairly large and healthy red deer.
红鹿在其它地区很难见到 Red deer are hardly found in any other areas in this region
即使是在切尔诺贝利区域也很难见着 And the chernobyl zone is the only place
这里是唯一一处 有着大批红鹿的区域 That you'll find populations of red deer.
这里还有俄罗斯野猪 We also find russian wild boars
而且数量比其它地方多上10－15倍 That the populations in the zone are 10 to 15 times higher than they are outside of the zone.
这是家幼儿园 We're now at the kindergarten
在离核电站不远 一个叫做karpachi的村庄里 Of karpachi village,not far from the chernobyl station.
当父母上班时 Children were living here
孩子们便在在此玩耍 While their parents worked.
自1986年4月的那个晚上事故发生后 But after that night in april 1986,
孩子们便永远离开了此地 They never returned.
这是幼儿园的卧室 We are in what was formerly a bedroom in this kindergarten
孩子们曾在这里睡觉和休息 Where children used to sleep and rest.
现在这里空无一人 Now,there's a certain emptiness here.
所有的玻璃窗都被毁 All these windows are broken.
然而房间仍有居住者 But the room continues to live on.
鸟儿飞来这里落在窗台上 Birds fly in here and sit on these bars.
甚至还有证据证明有猫头鹰来过这里 We even found evidence that an owl comes here.
它们叼来食物 皮毛 骨头和羽毛 An owl,it regurgitates food, fur,bones,and feathers.
很有可能它们居住在这个窗台上 Evidently,it likes to sit here on this window pane.
因此这间房还是有生气的 So this room continues to maintain life.
树木对核辐射沉降物的抵抗力较弱 Even trees which had proven especially vulnerable to radioactive fallout.
即使这样它们也找到了生存方式 Are finding new homes in the evacuation zone.
我坐在一座足球场的看台上 I'm sitting in the pripiat soccer stadium
20年前 Where,20 years ago,
上百人来此为他们心爱的球队欢呼 Hundreds of people would come and cheer on their favorite team.
在此你能感受到当初的笑声与欢呼声 You can imagine the laughter of the sounds of the crowds here. The activity on the field
而20年后足球场几乎已经无法辨认了 Which,20 years later, is barely discernable.
如今球场已被一片落叶林所替代 The soccer field now is going through succession
正如大家估计的那样 回到了百年前的原始状态 As you would expect in returning to what it was originally hundreds of years ago which was a mixed deciduous forest.
我就是从像这样的小镇长大 I grew up in a town about like this
我也曾喜欢玩这样的碰碰车 And i used to enjoy riding bumper cars like these
那都是年轻时的事了 About a half a world away.
当看到普里皮亚季这样的景像不免有些伤感 And it seems pretty sad when you look now and you see what's become of this beautiful city of pripiat
人们也无法重新生活在这片土地上 And that people will never live here again.
但故事还有另外一个侧面 But there's another side to this story,
鼓舞人心的一面 A very encouraging side;
有哲人说过 生命比我们想像的更具弹性 One that says that life is much more resilient than what we thought possible.
虽然没有人类的踪迹 That in the absence of man,
但生命仍在延续 That life will continue
万物兴盛 And that life will thrive
生命的轨迹也将继续下去 我们仍属于这里 And that the legacy of life will always be here,
因为我们人类也是万物的一部分 Because we are a part of life.
即使我们消失了 Even if we disappear,
生命的延续却不因此改变 Our legacy of life will continue.
人类消失25年后 It's 25 years into a life after people
在外面的乡村 Out in the country
自然正在抹掉所有的人类足迹 Nature is beginning to erase all evidence of man
在郊区 In the suburb
许多野狗穿梭于不断腐烂的邻里 Packs of fellow dogs roam through decaying neighborhoods
寻找下一顿饱餐 In search of their next meal.
在一些大城市 In some of the great cities of the world,
水泥公路已经很难辨认 Solid ground is getting harder to find.
在人类居住的时代 In the time of humans,
伦敦有10个可回收的巨型钢铁大门 London was protected from tidal surges
来保护其不受涨潮的干扰 By 10 retractable steel gates that could be raised
在暴风雨来临前 这些钢铁大门能够封闭泰晤士河 During storms to seal off the thames river
而不受北大西洋潮水的影响 From the north sea.
一旦没有人来操作这些人工屏障 Without humans to operate the barrier,
伦敦毫无抵抗之力 London is defenseless.
阿姆斯特丹 另一坐低地势城市 Another low-lying city, amsterdam,
面临着同样的命运 Meets the same watery fate.
即使像纽约这样地势较高的城市 In a new york city high rise,
窗户开始破损并慢慢滑落 Some windows have already cracked and slipped loose from their frames
正濒临毁灭的边缘 And many more are on the verge of destruction.
25年过后 After a quarter century
由于长期的潮气侵蚀和阳光的暴晒 又无人维护 Of exposure to moisture and heat without maintenance,
正常情况下柔软的窗户密封剂变得僵硬 The normally flexible window sealant has become rigid,
使窗玻璃和窗架连在了一起 Locking this window to its frame.
一旦温度变化 金属窗架便会膨胀或收缩 As the metal frame expands and contracts with changes in temperature,
给窗玻璃造成了更多的压力 It induces stresses on the glass.
不久窗户破损垂直落到底下的人行道上 It cracks and plummets to the sidewalk below.
当玻璃窗户不断损坏 就像这栋大楼的情形一样 After a few of the windows fall out of a building like this,
风吹过带来的压力就会产业巨大的压力 Then the wind pressure effect changes dramatically.
不仅外部会有压力 大楼内部同样会产业压力 As well as external pressure coming on to the building,
这种来自内部的压力使问题更加严重 You also get suction. And that aggravates the problem
也因如此 大部分的面板都会向外倒塌 So more of the panels are likely to fall out.
大楼千疮百孔 Through these gaping holes,
到处充满着狂风括来的各种碎片 The building fills with windswept debris.
夏日风暴正在袭来 A summer storm rolls in.
大楼顶上有着铜制的避雷系统 On top of the structure, the copper-lightning deterrent system
曾经保护着这里工作的人们 That once protected thousands of office workers
但现在避雷系统已生锈 毫无用处 Is now corroded and useless.
一道闪电劈在楼顶 A lightning bolt turns
瞬间变成了一场人间炼狱 The tower into a raging inferno.
大楼内部成了一些幸存者的理想住所 The gutted building makes the perfect home for a surprising survivor.
虽然鸽子曾经依靠人类而活 Although pigeons once relied on the handouts of humans,
但是25年来没有人的喂食 它们依然活的很自在 They have done just fine in 25 years without us.
鸽子能够幸存下来 Pigeons are survivors.
它们曾经生活在野外 They can live in the wild;
现在仍在野外生存 They do live in the wild still.
虽然人类消失了 And in a period where there were no people
但遗留下来的建筑房屋仍在 But there still were edifices and artifacts,our buildings,
鸽子们很快适应了这种环境 They would do very well because they would adopt these as kind of artificial cliff faces,
它们把这些遗弃物当作是人造悬崖而栖居 Which is what they really are adapted to.
同鸽子一样 Like the pigeon,
人类的消失 The disappearance of humans
使蟑螂不得不改变生活习性 Forced a change in the habits of the lowly cockroach.
因为没有人类 蟑螂也就无法找到食物 Think of the poor cockroach after they gorge upon our surplus when we're gone,
可怜的蟑螂会在那缅怀我们 They'll mourn us. They'll be sorry.
但缅怀不会持续很久 But the morning won't last for long.
当它们吃完人类留下来的食物后 While cockroaches thrived on our scraps,
便开始啃食书本、纸板 They can also eat bookbindings, and cardboard,
还可以吃任何腐烂的有机物 包括腐叶和根 And any rotting organic matter including dead leaves and roots.
看来食物对这些动物来说不是问题 While food isn't a problem,
然而蟑螂也需取暖 Roaches also need warmth;
这在以前 人为制造的热量就足够了 The kind that humans had always supplied through artificial heat.
蟑螂属于热带动物 Cockroaches started as a tropical species
许多专家认为 在寒冷的城市它们熬不过冬天 And some experts say they couldn't survive the winter in colder cities.
但又有谁能打赌呢 But it's hard to bet
这种古老的动物 可是见证过恐龙出现和灭亡 Against a creature that has seen the dinosaurs come and go.
蟑螂的适应能力非常强 Cockroaches are extremely adaptable.
生活在这个星球上已经3亿年之久 They've been around for 300 million years.
如果要打赌 If i have to bet,
我会把赌注要在它们身上 I'd put my money on them
赌它们至少有一到两种方法熬过冬天 Being able to survive in one form or another.
人类消失后的第一个冬天 The first winter after humans did witness
的确见证了不少冻死的蟑螂 The die-off of some cockroaches,
然后大部分都移居于地底下 But many more moved underground
等待来年气温的回升 To find warmth until milder temperatures returned.
在这个遗弃的城市 In an abandoned downtown
没有杀虫剂的困扰 Devoid of insecticides,
到处都是植物 Overrun by vegetation
地下水位也逐步上升 And with a rising water table,
这些先前的害虫迎来一个黄金时代 This former pest is now enjoying a golden age.
蟑螂对人类来说只是个讨厌的家伙 Cockroaches were only a nuisance to humans,
而狼群则是令人畏惧的野兽 But wolves were a terror.
因此人类毫不手软的猎杀它们 So man hunted them mercilessly.
当第一批欧洲定居者来到美洲大陆时 When the first european settlers arrived in what is now the united states,
据传大陆上有近50万头狼 It's believed nearly half a million wolves roamed the country side.
而到了20世纪 By the 20th century,
这些掠食者在美国48个州几乎绝种 These predators were nearly extinct in the lower 48 states.
现在没有人类的捕杀 Now,with no humans left to battle them,
狼群的数量每年以6倍的速度增长 Wolf populations multiply by as much six times each year.
在人类消失后的25年内 Within 25 years of our disappearance,
很快又会有50万头狼在北美大陆猎食 There could easily be half a million of them roaming the united states again.
狼群这种数量上的回升 This amazing comeback
曾经有人做过类似的验证 Has been seen on a small scale before.
1995年生物学家 In 1995,biologists
曾经在黄石国家公园的边界附近 Released a few dozen wolves within the boundaries
放归了几十头狼 Of yellow stone national park;
在国家公园狼群受到保护 A place where they would be protected from persecution by humans.
10年的时间内 Within a decade,
几十头狼激增到1500头 A few dozen had multiplied into 1,500
而且狼群越出国家公园 And the wolves quickly spread out from their release point to occupy territory
在怀俄明州、蒙大纳州、爱达荷州都开辟了新领地 Throughout the states of wyoming,montana,and idaho.
它们的繁殖速度相当惊人 It would be fast if you can start with just a few dozen wolves
几十头狼10年的时间内便繁殖成1500多头 And in the course of one decade, have a population of 1,500
而且领域也有所扩张 And you could have a geographic expansion where they filled up
延伸到三个州之广 A big chunk of a three-state area. And these are big western states.
如果时机成熟 Yeah,when the conditions are right,
狼群将很快重新统治这片大陆 They can re-colonize pretty rapidly.
我们能在曼哈顿或芝加哥见到它们么？ Could we see them in manhattan or chicago?
只要有鹿群在那儿 As soon as the deer get there,
狼就会像幽灵一样跟着它们 The wolves will be right behind them.
动物不仅被人类捕杀 Animals haven't just been hunted by humans;
也被人类圈起来 They've also been hemmed in.
美国境内就有长达300万公里的公路 There are roughly three million miles of paved road in the united states alone.
其中不少公路挡住了动物的迁徙道路 And it's no coincidence that many of them cut right through the paths animals use to get from place to place.
事实上适合动物迁徙的道路 The things that make a landscape good for animal movement
通常也较为容易修成公路 Also make it easy to engineer a road in that location.
因此我们切断了动物向北美大陆迁徙的道路 So,we've cut off pretty much all major migrations in north america.
沥青和汽车对灰熊的影响极大 Asphalt and automobiles wreaked particular havoc on the grizzly bear.
灰熊的领地被公路切分成一块块 Their habitat was so carved up by roads
使他们限制在很小的范围内 That they're confined to isolated pockets,
不仅切断了灰熊觅食的道路 Cutting them off from food sources
而且也阻碍了寻找熊MM的机会 And potential mates.
人类消失后 In a life after humans,
公路便不再是灰熊的障碍了 Roads are no longer barriers for the grizzly.
相反公路成了安全通道 Instead they are pathways;
可以沿着公路顺路返回前根据地 Trails that lead them back into the heart of their former range.
人类消失后的40年 Forty years after people.
钢筋混凝土结构的建筑仍旧矗立于城市中 While cities of steel and concrete are still standing tall,
而郊区却正在遭受袭击 The suburbs are under attack.
美国大约九成的家居房子都是木质结构的 Roughly 90 percent of all homes in the united states have wood frames.
其中一些已经被野火烧毁 While some have burned,
而另一些则正在被蚕食 Others are now being devoured.
没有油漆和防腐剂的保护 Without paint and preservatives,
木质房子在白蚁面前毫抵抗力 The lumber of homes is defenseless against termites.
白蚁嗜食纤维素 Termites feast on cellulose,
而纤维素又是木材的主要成分 The basic building block of wood.
白蚁的胃口可谓无穷 And their appetites are relentless.
有些种类的白蚁一年内吃掉1000磅的木材（约454公斤） Some colonies can eat as much as 1,000 pounds of wood per year.
要实现这样的"壮举" In this destructive advance,
白蚁们必须得团结合作 The termites aren't working alone.
当木材接触到某些化学物质时 The process we know as rotting will occur
便开始腐蚀 When the wood gets exposed to the elements.
实事上腐蚀的过程是相当复杂的 And this rotting,actually, is a more complicated process.
首先被微生物侵袭 It's a process by which microbes attack the wood
接着会向大气中排放二氧化碳和沼气 And release carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere.
如果人类消失 If humans were to leave,
大约几十年后 It'd be a matter of decades
木质的大梁便开始腐蚀 Before most structures that had significant wood components would start to decay.
受到白蚁和腐蚀的双重侵袭 Faced with a two pronged attack from termites and rot,
支撑房顶的大梁开始倒塌 The beams that hold up the roof give way.
曾经对人类很重要的 And the boundary between inside and out,
家里屋外的边界已经模糊 That had once been so important to
被人类称作家的地方 The humans who called this building home,
至此永远不复存在 Is forever erased.
房子的其它材料 Other substances
比如说这些灰泥和石头 Like this mortar and rock
寿命是会更长一点 Are gonna last longer than several decades,
但还是会在自然、化学、物理、风化的作用下变成灰屑 But they'll still crumble after natural,chemical, and physical weathering processes,
最终墙壁也将倒塌 And eventually these walls will fall down as well,
不留一点痕迹 And there'll be no remnants.
现在大自然正以惊人的速度 Now,nature will act quickly
消化房屋倒塌的废墟 To swallow up these ruins.
坐落在巴尔的摩市德鲁伊德山公园的 This crumbling house
这座崩塌的房子 In baltimore's druid hill park
曾是城市动物园管理者的居住之所 Was once home to the caretaker of the city zoo.
看上去这栋楼已经被遗弃了近百年 It looks like this building has been abandoned for more than a hundred years.
事实上 But in reality,
40年前人们还在这里居住 People have been living here up till 40 years ago.
植物生长的速度是多么的惊人 It's amazing how quickly
很快便夺回了这片土地 The vegetation has reclaimed the area.
蔓生植物在墙上攀藤 The vines have started to climb up the walls.
树木长进楼里面 The trees are growing into the structure,
在两者共同作用下 大楼开始分崩离析 And they're both physically pulling the structure apart,
同样化学腐蚀也起着作用 And chemically dissolving it.
石质的结构会比木质结构 更耐久一些 Structures built entirely of stone or masonry will far outlive anything made of wood.
到底多久才崩塌取决于周边的环境 Exactly how fast they will crumble depends on their environment.
缅因州海岸边的自然环境 The coast of maine,really,
也并非对建筑很友好 Isn't very kind to buildings.
虽然并不太会腐蚀 Structures out here don't so much decay
如果置之不理却为融化 When you live them alone; they melt.
这些被闲置在缅因州黑山上的花岗岩 These structures on black island,maine
曾经是建造和装饰 Used to be part of a granite quarry whose stone was used to build
波士顿、纽约、费城这些城市之用 And decorate cities like boston,new york, and philadelphia.
1920年这些石制建筑就被遗弃在这里 It was abandoned around 1920.
经过将近90年的洗礼 Here,the buildings have all vanished within the space of 80 and 90 years.
这些建筑几乎消失的无影无踪 There's almost nothing left.
在适合的条件以及人类的照看下 In the right conditions and with human maintenance,
石制结构的建筑一般可存在上千年 Stone construction can last for thousands of years.
欧洲罗马时代的大水渠现仍在使用 In some places in europe, ancient roman aqueducts are still in use.
但如果不去维护它 But without maintenance,
这些石头会被看不见的敌人慢慢击败 Stone can fall victim to a very stealthy enemy.
这些敌人中包括盐和盐的结晶 One of the great enemies of stone is actually salts and salt crystals.
几千年前 Even thousands of years ago,
人们就发现盐类物质 People notice the effect that salts
会使金字塔瓦解 Had on deteriorating the ancient pyramids.
盐类物质有多种方式侵蚀石制建筑和纪念碑 There are many ways salts infiltrate stone buildings and monuments:
污染的空气、海水甚至是鸟粪都有可能是元凶 Polluted air,seawater, and even bird droppings.
盐溶解于水中 Soluble salts dissolve in water,
一旦水气蒸发 And as the water evaporates,
便会在建筑材料中留下千疮百孔 It will rise up inside of porous building materials;
砖块、石头甚至是混凝土都不例外 Things like brick and stone and even concrete.
实事上盐类物质仍占据在石头的缝隙中 And what happens is the salts will continue to grow
不断滋生 Inside the pores of the stone
直到挤到岩石的表面 Until they come up against the side of the wall,
这个过程也加速了石建筑的瓦解 And they'll actually push the stone apart.
我们正看着的这段定时录像显示了 What we're seeing in this time-lapse video really shows the rapid decay
盐类物质侵蚀 以及石头瓦解的过程 Of the stone in response to this deterioration by salts.
这个实验为期三个星期 In this experiment, it took about three weeks to go
从刚开始的完好的石块 From this piece of stone
腐蚀成这样 To this piece of stone,
已完全被硫酸纳腐蚀而结晶化 Which is completely deteriorated by sodium sulfate crystallization.
在实验室三周腐化的过程 Three weeks in this accelerated aging chamber
在现实恶劣的环境中需要若干年完成 Are equivalent to a few years in the harshest of environments,
而在温和的沙漠气候中则要几十年 Or a few decades in a more benign desert climate.
如果能在金字塔内部用显微镜观察 If we could see microscopically what's going on inside the pyramids,
我相信可以同样观察到 This is what would be taking place. You can actually see
盐类物质侵蚀石壁的情形 The salts deteriorate the stone.
虽然腐蚀不可避免 Although not immune to decay,
但金字塔的大体积以及炎热的沙漠气候 The pyramids have survived for nearly 5,000 years
使之存在了5000年之久 Because of their sheer volume and their hot, dry desert environment.
由于人类和自然都无法毁灭 Too massive to be destroyed by either man or nature,
因此吉萨巨大的金字塔 The pyramids of giza
成为古代七大遗迹中 Were the only one of the seven wonders
唯一还能矗立在现代社会中的建筑 Of the ancient world to survive into the modern era.
许多古代遗迹之所有还能幸存下来 Many ancient monuments have survived only
都是因为人类千年来的不懈维护 Because of human maintenance throughout the centuries.
斯芬克斯神像在公元前1400年前重新修建 The sphinx was uncovered and restored
并一直暴露于外界 For the first time back in 1400 b.c.
专家通过研究斯芬克斯像 Modern experts who have studied the sphinx,
认为如果没有人类的维护 Predict that without human intervention,
神像经过500－1000年的盐蚀和风化 Deterioration from salts and wind erosion could render it a pile of dust
就会成为沙土 Within 500 to 1,000 years.
像胡佛大坝这样大型的混凝土建筑 The largest concrete structures like hoover dam,
将会撑的更长久 Will last even longer than that.
大坝是如此的厚实 修筑已超过70多年 Hoover is so thick that over 70 years
其内部的混凝土仍然保持干燥密封 After it was constructed the concrete deep inside was still curing.
但在美国15座大型水坝中 But of the 15 tallest dams in the united states,
只有10座是混凝土结构的 Only 10 are concrete.
其余水坝都是由岩石和泥土构成 The others are made of compacted rock or earth,
这像这座南加州大坝 Like northern california's trinity dam.
如果人类还存在 If there were humans around,
这样的渗露使会马上得到修补 This leak in the dam would get an emergency fix.
但人类早已消失水坝也无人管理 But those days are long gone.
有些水坝非常巨大 Some of these dams are absolutely enormous.
一旦决堤 And if they fail, as they will in time,
水流便即刻倾泻而下 Then the surge of water that falls in behind them and cascades
这种巨大的冲击力 Down a valley below would have a huge force,
会毁灭沿途的一切 Big enough to sweep away everything on its path.
人类消失后的第50年 Fifty years after humans,
由于缺乏照看 The strain of neglect is beginning to show
即使曾经设计最完美的人造建筑 也开始不再牢固 On even the best design of manmade structures.
几乎所有的人造建筑 Everything that man designs carries within it,
毁灭都从自身开始 The seeds of its own destruction;
比如说桥梁和大楼 That includes bridges and buildings.
布鲁克林大桥 The brooklyn bridge,
是125年来 世界是最雄伟的桥梁之一 One of the most famous bridges in the world for over 125 years.
大桥之所以能矗立不倒 The reason that bridges last so long
皆因工程师的照看和维护 Is because engineers look after them.
他们对大桥进行定期检查 They inspect them regularly,
供养大桥 给大桥上漆 They maintain them, they paint them,
以极更换老化的部件 They replace pieces that need to be replaced.
一旦人类消失 Without people, without engineers,
瓦解的速度将是相当惊人的 The deterioration process will accelerate dramatically.
一座吊桥最脆弱的部分 The most vulnerable parts of a suspension bridge
便是那些垂直悬挂的钢索 Are the steel vertical hanger cables.
这些钢索在试验室中进行过严格的测试 These have been tested in the laboratory,
但遗憾的是没有在大桥上做过实际的检测 Unfortunately not on the bridge,
现在你看到的是 But what you see
一种最常见的腐蚀 Is a classic kind of a failure that occurs in these wires.
这是一条钢索 These are the individual wires, all right? That's an individual wire.
它能承受每平方英寸20万磅的压力 That probably has a tensile strength that's maybe 200,000 pounds per square inch.
非常能承压 That's a very high strength steel.
这么硬实的钢索也有着致使的缺陷 As strong as they are, these cables have a fatal flaw:
缺陷来自于制造它们的材料 It's the stuff they're made of.
钢是由铁矿炼成的 Steel is a mineral that comes from the earth that's mostly iron,
含铁量在95%－98%左右 So it's probably 95,98 percent iron.
当暴露在潮湿的环境中 Exposed to moisture in the environment,
这些铁便会回复到其铁矿的原始状态 Iron will start to revert back to the minerals it came from.
只不过是一堆尘土 Ashes to ashes,dust to dust. It's gonna go back home.
人类把铁从其各种氧化物中提炼出来 It came from the earth as iron oxide of some form,
当然它们会重新氧化 And it's gonna go back.
这个氧化的过程就是大家熟知的 This is the process we know
生锈腐蚀 As corrosion,
任何在潮湿环境下的铁 都能见到这种现象 And you see it wherever steel is exposed to moisture.
因而钢的宿敌也是锈蚀 The enemy of steel is corrosion.
问题的关键是必须得远离水分子 The problem is keeping the water out.
依靠人类的维护可以解决这一问题 Part of that is maintenance.
一旦失去人类腐蚀便开始 If you don't maintain them, you will get corrosion.
始建于1883年的布鲁克林大桥 Completed in 1883, the brooklyn bridge cost
耗资1500万美元 $15 million to build.
在过去的20年内 Over the last two decades,
用在保养布鲁克林大桥和东河上其它大桥的花费 $3 billion have been spent maintaining it
就高达30亿美元 And the other bridges over the east river.
在人类时代 In the time of humans,
布鲁克林大桥需要不断的维护 The brooklyn bridge was continually maintained
每隔10多年还要重新喷一次漆 And fully repainted, roughly,every dozen years.
在旧金山的金门大桥 While across the country in san francisco,
一只由17个烙铁工人和38个油漆工 组成的队伍 The golden gate bridge was protected at all times
每天对大桥进行维护 By a vigilant brigade of 17 iron workers and 38 painters.
他们每天都在做些什么 What do they do all the time?
"我们要不断的为大桥上漆" They will tell you,"we paint this bridge continuously."
不那么做又会发生什么 What happens when that stops?
我可以告诉你 I can tell you what happens when that stops.
缆绳会开始生锈 The cables begin to rust,
油漆脱落 钢索开始断裂 The paint peels off, the wires begin to break,
一旦达到临界点 And they'll come to a point
整座大桥便会倒塌 When the bridge is gonna come down.
人类消失后的75年 Seventy-five years after people.
曾经在全球行驶的6亿多台汽车 Most of the 600 million cars that once traveled the roads of the world
被腐蚀只剩下铁壳子 Are now just rusted remnants of the human past.
遗弃的汽车随着遗弃地环境的不同 Abandoned cars will behave differently depending
命运也有所不同 On the environment that they're in.
遗弃在莫哈韦沙漠的汽车 A car left in the mojave desert,
可能会坚持得更久一些 For example, is gonna last a long time.
而一部在苏格兰本土遗弃的汽车 A car abandoned in my native scotland
则面临着完全不同的命运 Is gonna have a very different fate.
遗弃在海边的汽车 Any cars in a coastal environment
由于空气中存在大量的盐分 With salt in the atmosphere,
20-30年便不成形 They might not last more than 20,30 years.
虽然橡胶和一些人工合成材料 可以保存近千年 Tires deflate within a few years,
但气体仍然从轮胎中溢出 Although the rubber and synthetics they're made of will remain intact for centuries.
油漆很快脱落 Paint deteriorates quickly.
当完全没有油漆后 And once it flakes away,
车身便以每年每英寸5000ths的速度腐蚀 Rust corrodes the car's body at a rate of 5,000ths of an inch per year.
在没有人类的75年时间内 Seventy-five years after humans,
即使在良好环境下保存的汽车 Most cars, even in the most forgiving of environments,
也只剩下一具车架 Will be reduced to skeletons.
100年后家用汽车就成为一堆废铜烂铁 难以辨认 After a century,the family car is a barely recognizable heap of metal.
现在是人类消失后的第100年 It's now 100 years into a life after people.
曾经在人的照看下矗立达125年之久的布鲁克林大桥 The brooklyn bridge, which had stood for over 125 years with people,
在百年无人照看的时间内 开始倒塌 Can't survive even a century without them.
钢索断裂 As the cables fail,
桥板和桥栏开始弯曲并摇摆 The deck and railings begin to warp and sway.
当桥板支撑不住时 The deck pulls free,
桥面便倒向河底 And the roadway spills into the east river.
身为一个工程师 As an engineer,
要想像这样一个地标式建筑 It's very sad to contemplate that
走向其生命的终点 This beautiful iconic
是一件非常痛苦的事 Structure has got an end to its life.
但是如果没有人的维护 But without maintenance,
这样的命运必然会发生 An end to its life it certainly has.
大桥的倒塌究竟是如何发生的？ How exactly do bridges fail?
当锈蚀开始 Once corrosion starts,
钢索开始裂开 The wires begin to crack.
当钢索还没有完全断裂时 大桥便开始倒塌 And the wire doesn't have to have a very big crack before it breaks.
实事上只要1/3的钢索裂开 大桥就完了 Maybe a third of the way through.
或许你会问钢索到底发生了什么？ You may wonder what happens when they fail.
仅仅是断掉还是怎么样 How do they fail? Do they just break and what do they do?
事实上 And the answer
这些内部的细钢索先开始断裂 Is they tend to shred and fail, with individual strands starting to fail
然后断裂的内部钢索越来越多 And then,kind of,cascading,
最后整根钢索便断裂开 And a whole series of wires then begin to break.
像金门大桥这样的吊桥 A suspension bridge like the golden gate
能够承受其中一根钢索的断裂 Can survive the weakening of one of its vertical cables.
但是当断裂的钢索越来越多时 But once two or three start to go,
整座大桥便处于危险之中 The whole bridge is in jeopardy.
最终倒向河面 Twisted steel crashes into the waters below.
大桥将不复存在 It's gonna be gone.
200年？ Two hundred years?
我很怀疑大桥是否能撑过200年 I doubt it will last 200 years.
会像醉了酒一样轰然倒塌 The bridge is gonna be in the drink.
100年后这些大型建筑都会消失 If some of our largest structures have already failed after 100 years,
人类到底能否留下一点永恒的痕迹 Can there be any hope that our civilization
来证明其曾经的辉煌文明呢？ Will leave a permanent mark after we're gone?
人类消失的百年后 What will remain of the records
还能有什么东西能遗留下来 见证曾经的历史和文化？ Of our history and culture a hundred years after people?
保险柜里藏着人类历史上最珍贵的材料 Our vaults contain our most precious materials,
其面临的最大敌人则是温度和湿气 And their biggest enemies are temperature and humidity.
如果这些材料被保存在这样的环境下 As long as their long-term storage is kept at these very controlled settings,
我能确信将延续很久 We feel assured that the materials will be lasting a long time.
纸制文件和影像资料如果保存环境良好 Stored under ideal conditions, paper and film both have
它们能有200-300多年的寿命 An estimated shelf life of 200 to 300 years.
但如果环境不理想 But expose them to the rigors of an uncontrolled environment
它们的寿命会缩短一半 And that lifespan is cut at least in half.
如果没有电力供应 If all the power went off,
一周内温度和湿气就将上升 Probably within a week, we'd see very big spikes in the temperature and humidity.
在这样的环境下 In this hostile environment,
醋酸纤维素 开始起泡变形 Cellulose acetate, the most common material
而这种物质在20世纪时 是制作电影胶片和照片的主要材料 Used for films and photographs throughout the 20th century begins to bubble and warp.
所有的历史和文化 All of that culture and history,
无论是诺曼底登陆、是好莱坞电影 From the landings on d-day to hollywood films
又或是你私人珍藏的影像资料和照片 And even your cherished home movies and photographs,
都将化为泡影 寿命不足百年 Won't last a century without the care of humans.
所以这些珍贵的照片 So,those precious images,
在时间的侵蚀下 Given time,
最终的命运就是这样 Are going to end up like this.
这些都是以纤维素为材料的胶片 All of these are examples of various stages in the decay of cellulose acetate-based film
长期暴露于高温的环境下 就变成这样 Exposed to very high amounts of humidity.
事实上这些资料已经无法使用了 Essentially, these materials are finished.
图书馆 In libraries,
人类知识的宝库 The great repositories of our collective knowledge,
破坏从微生物开始 The damage comes from microscopic invaders.
虽然肉眼无法看到它们 Although we can't see them,
真菌孢子无处不在 Mold spores are on all the surfaces around us,
它们在等待时机反击 Lying dormant, biding their time for the right conditions to strike.
高温度的环境给它们提供了良好的生长空间 High humidity creates the right conditions.
它们大量滋生 And so, the situation is set up for the mold to really boom.
有些书籍和文件可以幸免于难 Some books and documents will avoid this fate.
死海古卷 The dead sea scrolls
被保存于沙漠的洞穴中长达2000多年 Survived 2,000 years in caves in the judean desert,
正是由于低湿气和避免了阳光的直射 Owing their longevity to the arid climate
才有这么长的寿命 And lack of damaging sunlight.
但这仅仅是一个罕见的特例 But these are rare exceptions.
因此在没有人类的干涉之下 So without human intervention,
这样一本书顶多能保存100年 A book like this might last, at best,another hundred years.
即使是数字媒界也不能长存 Even our digital media won't last forever.
如果在理想的保存环境之下 Estimates for the lifespan of cds and dvds range
光盘的寿命也就在几十年到百年之间 From a few decades to a few centuries under ideal conditions.
我们之所以能了解古埃及 We know about the ancient egyptians
是因为古人在石壁上留下了各种图案 Because what they left behind was engraved in stones.
而这种古老的保存信息、文化、历史的方式 Our form of capturing knowledge, information,our history, our advancement is typically
现在看来只不过一张CD或是一份打印资料 Either in a computerized form, in a cd,or in a printed paper like this.
这样的保存方式经不起时间的考验 What we have here is something that will degrade over time.
不可能像老祖宗的石画一样 延续千年 It will not last for thousands of years like what the ancient egyptians left behind.
很具讽刺意味的是 It seems pretty ironic
这就是我们所谓的先进技术 That with all of our advances,
我们现在仍未能找到一种比石刻更经久的 We still have not come up with anything as durable
保存信息的方式 As clay tablets and stone tools.
人类消失后的150年 150 years after humans,
在首个36小时内即以进水的隧道 The subways that had started to flood in the first 36 hours
现在以成为一条地下暗流 Are now flowing subterranean streams.
支撑用的桁条和拱道 The beams and archways that hold up the roofs of these tunnels
正处于崩塌的边缘 Are on the verge of collapse.
现在隧道已离街面很近了 Now,these tunnels are not far below street level.
圆柱形大梁不仅支撑着隧道和顶面 These columns are supporting not just the roof of the tunnel,
同样支撑着街道 But the street above.
当隧道完全被淹没时 And in time that these tunnels are inundated, flooded with water,
腐蚀便会开始 大梁倒塌也是必然的 Corrosion will start to take hold and we'll start to see collapses.
隧道内回荡着钢筋和水泥开裂的声音 The tunnels echo with the sound of cracking steel and cement
街道也开始塌向深渊 As the streets above are sucked into the underground.
回到地面 Above ground,
城市又一次充满生机 Life in the city is once again bustling.
蔓生植物在遗弃的摩天大楼上生长 Vines have grown up the sides of abandoned skyscrapers,
吸收藏在墙壁裂缝之间的水分 Adapting to feed off rainwater that pools in crevices and on ledges.
蔓生植物很少长有分枝 These vines all start up. And the vines have little branches. It'd be nice
如果它们结出果实或者任何能吃的东西 If they produce a fruit or something that was edible.
就能给动物们提供能量的来源 You gotta have a plant with some fruit or,you know, some source of energy for animals.
这便形成了一个垂直生态系统 And then you would get this vertical ecosystem out there,
鸟类在上面筑巢 And you would get birds nesting in there.
会有动物在上面捕食 You get things hunting in through there.
又或出现几条蛇 You could have snakes there.
俨然万物都出现在这个系统里 You could have all kinds of things.
当昆虫和一些小型动物在此定居 As insects and smaller animals get established,
猫也随之而来 Cats move in.
有一个很有趣的例子 And there's some interesting examples of that around the world.
如果你去过罗马角斗场 If you go to the colosseum--
往里一看 You just look in it--
里面到处都是猫 It's just loaded with cats.
古老的墓穴成了它们的蔽身之所 And the old tombs and old catacombs and so on get loaded with cats that use this as a living space from which,then,
一到白天便出来活动 They radiate out during the day.
这些猫儿 These felines
是家猫的后代 Are the descendants of our former house cats.
在人类消失后 Immediately after people were gone,
他们开始捕食造老鼠和小鸟为生 They replaced their human-supplied diets with field mice and small birds.
在开阔地捕猎相当困难 Hunting out in the open was hard work.
然在这里捕食却非常简单 But up here, the pickings are easy.
现在这些猫都生活在城市的高处 Now,they live their whole lives high above the city,
不用爬到地底上就能找到食物 Finding all that they need to survive without ever having to touch the ground.
它们现在处于食物链的顶端 是统治者 They are the kings of the new high altitude food chain,
又可以在花百万美元修建成的摩天大楼上 With million-dollar views of a bizarrely
欣赏城市奇异的景观 Altered cityscape.
我可以想像所有纽约大楼都被植物覆盖的景像 I could picture new york city with all the buildings covered with vines,you know?
雄鹰在上空盘旋 Hawks sailing around.
肯定很美 It'd be lovely.
简直是美极了 It would be absolutely lovely.
对于猫类来说 For cats,
生活在这样一个新环境中 Life in this new environment
可能最终会进化出 某些奇特的特性 Could eventually lead to some strange adaptations.
我猜想... I suppose,
如果你真的要往那方面想的话 If you wanted to be really imaginative about it,you could say that,
最终他们可能会进化成像鼯鼠一样 Eventually,they could be like flying squirrels and so on.
能够像滑翔般的移动 They could glide from places.
在那种奇特的环境条件下 The possibility is always there
一切都有可能 For some imaginative responses to this unusual environment.
猫类也许会向前进化一大步 While some cats have made a great leap forward,
但许多犬类或许会回归到 Many dogs have reverted
其先祖的那种生活方式 To the ways of their ancestors.
有些犬类和狼杂交 Some that have interbred
其后代皆具两者优点 With wolves now fall in packs
它们向大型猎物发起冲击 To bring down larger prey.
我认为 I think our dogs,
曾经安详的躺在人类起居室的狗 As placid as they may seem when they're in our homes
其本性尚存 Lying on the living room floor,
那是一种为了生存而战的本能 Still posses the instinct to survive,
它们仍有能力追赶猎物 Enough that they would be able to do whatever it took in bringing down prey
而不会灭绝 In order to live.
人类消失后的150年 150 years after people,
海洋生命同样郁郁葱葱 The oceans are teeming with life.
这些海洋生物非常庆幸人类的消失 The creatures of the sea have welcomed the disappearance of mankind.
从历史的角度来看 Historically,
我们对海洋有两种截然不同的态度 We've treated the oceans in two strange ways at the same time:
既是食物的来源地 又是人类的垃圾厂 A pantry and a toilet.
随着时间的推移 And over time,
人类破坏海洋的能力 越来越强大 Our ability to damage the ocean has grown and grown and grown.
当人类不再捕鱼 也不再污染海水 With humans no longer fishing and polluting the sea,
海洋的回复速度相当惊人 The path was cleared for this astonishing recovery.
这是有例子证明的 It has happened before.
在二战时期 During world war II,
捕鱼船被禁止进入北大西洋 Allied fishing trawlers avoided the north atlantic,
那里的鱼类也得以迅速繁殖 And populations of fish there skyrocketed.
生物的本能就是繁殖 In here,the basic biology of these kinds of animals
这些动物正在为我们工作 Is working in our favor
像这样一条翻车鱼 Because animals like this sunfish can
一年能有数百万的后代 Produce millions of offspring in a year,
相比同体积下的陆地生物来说 Much more than an equivalent-sized
比如说奶牛 繁殖多得多 Terrestrial animal like a cow.
正是由于如此巨大的繁殖潜力 And because of that prodigious potential to reproduce,
人类一旦消失 The oceans could come back pretty quickly
海洋生命很快便会回复生机 If the human population were suddenly to disappear.
有研究表明 Research has shown
在人类还未开始污染海洋前 也就是18世纪左右 That in the 18th century, before the havoc caused by humans,
海洋孕育着大量的各种生物 The oceans were capable of sustaining massive amounts of life.
鲸鱼浮出海面呼吸 So many whales that they stink up the air;
金枪鱼群在海洋中游弋 So many tunas that they froth the ocean;
大量的海龟 So many turtles
你甚至可以踩着它们的背越过大洋 That you could walk across the sea on their backs.
如果人类彻底消失 So,if people were to vanish off the face of the earth,
这样的情形就有可能成为现实 Then that's the kind of ocean it could be.
海鸥也欣欣向荣 Seagulls are also flourishing,
但它们还要经历一段 未来不明确的旅程 But it has been a treacherous flight.
由人类提供的丰盛的午餐 The abundance of food from humans
使海鸥的数量远远超过自然能承受的限度 Had allowed gull populations to explode beyond what nature could normally support.
我们人类其实是很卑鄙的生物 We humans are pretty messy species.
在很长一段时间内 我们把不能再食用的东西丢弃到 And for a very long time, we had open landfill dumps
能想到的最远的地方 Where,as far as we were concerned,
形成了一个个大型露天垃圾场 All the stuff that wasn't fit to eat was just thrown out.
而在海鸥眼里 这些都是它们的美餐 But from the gulls' point of view, this was an amazing free lunch counter.
因此如果让这些海鸥自己出去觅食的话 So,you had a lot of birds that probably wouldn't have made it through their first winter
很有可能就熬不过头一个冬天 If they've had to feed for themselves.
幸运的是人类为其提供了大量的食物 Suddenly,they had all these free food available to them.
这样人类消失后的直接后果便是 An immediate consequence of a world without people
饥饿的海鸥不得不自己去觅食 Would be some very hungry gulls who would be very voraciously looking for other things to eat.
在起初的死亡后 After an initial die-off,
剩下的海鸥 开始重新利用起海洋的资源 The remaining gulls took advantage of the recovering oceans,
海洋里丰富的鱼类 Where plentiful schools of fish
使它们忘记了曾经依靠人类生活的时代 Erased any memories of the human-manufactured feasts they used to enjoy.
人类消失后的200年 Two hundred years after people,
从纽约到芝加哥 From new york to chicago,
西雅图到巴黎 Seattle and paris,
钢铁结构的标志建筑物 Our iron and steel icons
也处于崩溃的边缘 Are on the verge of collapse.
虽然埃菲尔铁塔比金门大桥更耐久些 While it has outlived our great suspension bridges,
但也并非不可征服 The eiffel tower is not invincible.
在人类时代 In the time of humans,
为防止锈蚀 铁塔每隔七年就要进行一次喷漆 Its iron superstructure was painted once every seven years to protect it from corrosion.
宾夕法尼亚州300英尺高的 金祖铁路高架桥 In both age and structure, the eiffel tower has a lot in common
与埃菲尔铁塔建于同一时期 结构也一样 With the 300-foot high kinzua railroad viaduct in pennsylvania.
两者有很多相同点 Was a bridge that was wrought iron originally.
桥身最初是用熟铁制造的 It was reconstructed
在世纪之交的时候 用钢铁重新修筑 About the turn of the century in steel.
尽管有人不断的维护 And what happens here of course is that unless it's maintained,
锈蚀在这里依然会发生 Corrosion occurs.
后果又会怎样呢？ And what happens with the corrosion?
连接点开始结合起来 The connection points freeze up.
不能够自由活动 They are not allowed to move.
这个就是取自高架桥的钢铁 And here are some pieces from that viaduct.
正如你所见 You can see
整块钢块都已锈蚀 That there's corrosion all over the place.
已经不能再称之为钢铁了 That's no longer steel.
如果连接点不能自由活动 A structure with frozen connection points
就无法吸收来自狂风的压力 Can't absorb the stress of high winds.
最终在强风暴的袭击下 Eventually, in this strong wind storm,
就会逐个倒向一边 It literally fell over.
一段段 一片片 Section by section, piece by piece,
高架桥最终倒向其傲立百年之久的峡谷 It fell over into the valley where it had spanned the valley for over a hundred years.
仅仅是没有人的维护 Just not maintained.
其它同时代的建筑的命运也将如此 You can think of many structures that are coming from that same era
比如说埃菲尔铁塔 Like the eiffel tower,
虽然非常有名 Its iconic structure.
但名气大不能使其脱离易锈蚀的环境 That doesn't shield it from the fact that's it in a corrosive environment.
一旦没人维护 时间一长 And so in time if you do not do anything for that structure,
终逃不过倒塌的命运 It will fail.
在人类消失后的100-300年这个时间段内 And it will come down.
全球各地的建筑纷纷倒地 The time between one and 300 years after people
是一个名副其实的"大倒塌时代" Will likely be the era of the great collapses worldwide.
西雅图 In seattle,
地标性建筑太空针塔 The iconic space needle
其设计强度能经受每小时10公里的狂风 而仅摇摆1英寸 Was designed to sway one inch for every 10 miles per hour of wind,
但当钢铁都锈蚀后 But with its steel weakened by corrosion,
一阵较强的微风就能把它刮倒 It takes little more than a strong breeze
为1962年世博会献礼的标志性建筑 For the symbol of the 1962 world's fair
至此在蓝天下消失 To crash down from the skyline.
人类消失后海平面也不断的上升 When humans disappeared, sea levels were already on the rise.
在曼哈顿 In manhattan,
海水经过百年的渗透 Over the centuries, saturated soil
帝国大厦地基的泥土已非常潮湿 Around the empire state building's foundation pilings
导致大厦开始倾斜 Have allowed the building to lean.
一旦大楼不再垂直 Once a building strays from the vertical,
重力的作用会使大楼底部 Then gravity forces are also acting against the structure,
承受更多的压力 Increasing the stresses at the base of the building,
摩天大楼的倒塌同树木的倒塌不一样 Now we're unlikely to see a skyscraper fall like a tree in the forest.
在重力的作用下 Once it does start to incline, gravitational force will cause
大楼上部一段段自己向下倒塌 The top of the building to collapse downward on top of itself.
腐烂也已经占领了 摩天大楼的发源地 Decay has also overtaken the city of chicago,
芝加哥城 The birthplace of the skyscraper.
西尔斯大楼 The sears tower,
北美最高的人造建筑 The tallest man-made structure in north america,
也迈入了其辉煌的终点 Has reached the end of its reign.
人类消失后的500年 The first 500 years after people
是一个腐蚀和毁灭的时代 Has been an era of decay and destruction.
混凝土的结构可以保存最长的时间 Our concrete structures have lasted the longest.
古罗马人首先发明了混凝土 The ancient romans invented the first form of concrete.
当时的一些建筑经过2000多年仍保存完好 And some of their structures remained intact for over 2,000 years.
但现代混凝土却并不那么经久 But modern concrete isn't nearly as durable.
有相当高的水分在里面 It has a higher water content
而且内部结构也很松散 And is more loosely packed,
这样的结构使其内部 产生气泡和裂缝 Which leads to more air pockets and cracks.
而且现代混凝土还有另外一个致命缺陷 Modern concrete structures have another fatal flaw.
为了加强混凝土的强度 Below the surface of reinforced concrete structures,
我们都会加上一些钢筋网 There is a mesh of steel reinforcing bars
这些钢筋不会腐蚀 And they don't corrode
因为它们处在碱性环境下 Because the concrete maintains an alkaline environment around them.
但随着时间的推移 碱性下降 Now,when that alkalinity breaks down, as it will in time,
钢筋便开始锈蚀 Then the steel will start to corrode.
一旦钢筋生锈 As the steel rebar rusts,
体积会膨胀到原来的三倍 It expands to three times its original volume
混凝土内部产生巨大的压力 Creating an outward pressure
最终完全粉碎 That causes the concrete to crumble.
换种眼光看问题 50年后 In very broad terms, after 50 years
混凝土表面就将出现裂缝 We'd start to see surface cracking on concrete.
100年后 After a hundred years,
裂缝变大脱落成块状 Flaking of the concrete surface.
500年后 After maybe 500 years,
再坚固的混凝土也将不复存在 Most reinforced concrete structures will be gone.
看着这些文明破碎的片段 We look at these images of our fallen civilization,
联系到古希腊古埃及的倾崩 It helps us to identify with the past, with the greeks and the romans,
联想到乌尔古城的倒塌 With the crumbled mud brick cities of ur.
我们都知道 Each of us knows
人死后身体会逐渐腐蚀而回归自然 That our bodies are going to fall apart;
我们的城市又何尝不是呢？ Why not our cities too?
千年之后 A thousand years ago,
有65亿的人把这个星球称作家园 6 1/2 billion people called this planet home.
在21世纪初他们中的一半 都生活在城市中 At the early 21st century, more than half of them lived in cities.
现在这些所谓的城市已经无法辨认 Now those cities are unrecognizable.
大约一千年以后 After maybe a thousand years
我身后这些城市的景像 Or so,the scene behind me
将变得大为不同 Would be very,very different.
难以寻觅大楼的踪迹 There'll be very little evidence of buildings,
也无法找到人类活动过的痕迹 Very little evidence of the activities of man.
我们所见的除了丛林外 What we would see
什么都没有 Would be a jungle of vegetation.
人类消失后城市的未来是什么样的？ The future of cities in a life after people
我们可以通过回顾过去来找到答案 Can be best imagined by looking to the past.
这里格林威治镇的内特街 This is minetta street in greenwich village.
许多来自纽约的游客都会问 Most new yorkers might come here
为什么街道会这样弯曲 And wonder why it curves like this.
这是因为这里曾经是一条溪流 It curves because once upon a time there was a stream here,
溪流就是这样弯曲走向的 And then a brook.
在曼哈顿岛曾经有超过40条的河流 There were more than 40 streams on manhattan island.
所有小河集满雨水后都流向大海 All flowing down and carrying the rainwater down to the sea.
而现在雨水雪水 So what happens today, the rain falls,the snow melts,
都沿着街道 But it flows right along the street
流入下水道 And down into that storm drain there.
假如人类消失 If there weren't people here
人行道、街道都不再有人管理 Anymore,there'll be no one here to maintain the sidewalks and maintain the streets.
开始裂开毁坏 They'd start to crumble up.
树木重新在此生长 They'd start to break apart.
植物也会回归 Trees would come back, vegetation would come back,
最终水循环系统也得以重新构建 And eventually the hydrological cycle would reestablish itself.
到时候谁又能知道 And who knows,
内特街是不是又会变成内特河呢 Maybe minetta street might once again become minetta brook.
运用历史地图资料和计算机模型 Using historic maps and computer modeling,
科学家们试图一探曼哈顿岛本来的面貌 Scientists with the manahatta project are rediscovering what manhattan island
那是1609年亨利.哈德逊发现曼哈顿前的面貌 Looked like when explorer henry hudson first sailed around its shores in 1609.
这里是福利广场 Here we are in foley square,
纽约的行政中心 The administrative center of new york city
我背后是你常在电视上看到的政府大楼 And location to the famous courthouses you see on tv.
这些大楼 石街道并非一直在这 This place hasn't always had such colossal buildings and stony streets.
400年前这儿有个池塘 Once upon a time,400 years ago, the collect pond was here,
是整个纽约城的水源地 The freshwater source for new york city.
我身后是一条流向哈得孙河的小溪 Right behind me, there was a stream that drained down to the hudson river shore,
还有一条则流向红河 Another stream to the east river.
这是一幅多么漂亮的山水画 And there was this beautiful pond that was nestled in an amphitheater of hills.
那么 如果人类都消失后 So what would happen if all
会发生些什么呢？ The people were to disappear?
当然大楼倒塌 The buildings, they would tumble down.
泥土开始更新 The soil would start to reform.
树木在生长与其中 Trees would start to grow out of them.
有可能重新形成小山 They would become the new hills,
新的环形山又一次出现在这片土地上 The new amphitheater around this place.
大自然会重掌这块土地 Nature would reestablish itself
慢慢地赋予其绿色的心脏 And slowly bring this place
这才是行星地球存在的真正意义 Back into the green heart of what it means to be here on planet earth.
纽约同世界其他地方一样 New york city, like the rest of the planet,
被彻底的改变 Has changed radically.
曾经是纽约市中心的时代广场 The transformation is most shocking in times square
在大自然的冲击改变下 发生着不可思议的转变 As the once beating heart of the city
最终慢慢沉静下来 Is silenced by nature's onslaught.
人类消失后的一万年 It's 10,000 years after people.
仅仅是在一千年后多加个零么？ Could it be possible after only 10 millennia that humanity has vanished without a trace?
人类的科学家曾预测 Human scientists once predicted
我们的文化和历史可以通过 That our history and culture
无线电波和电视广播永远继续下去 Would live on through our radio and television broadcasts,
向着广袤的宇宙无限延伸 Which carry on through the universe toward the infinite,
或许某个星球的智慧生物就会接收到 Perhaps to be tuned in by an intelligent species on a distant planet.
有人认为应该向宇宙发送电波 Some people think that there's an expanding shell of radio and television
并传达这一样个信息 From earth,expanding outward alerting the universe,
"我们在这里 这是我们的文明" "here we are and this is our culture."
不幸的是 Unfortunately,
一群来自寻找外星智能生物组织的人们 Recent calculations by of all people,the seti,
曾经计算过 Search for extraterrestrial intelligence group,
这些电波在经过2光年后会永远变成噪音 Has shown that all of this dissipates within one and two light-years into noise.
如果计算准确的话 If this is true,
我们的电波 Our signals won't even make it
都到达不到离太阳系最近的新星 Out to the newest star beyond the sun.
那么一万年后 So what will remain 10,000 years
到底还有什么能够 After people to tell the story
证明我们曾经生活在这个星球之上 Of the once great civilizations
并创造过辉煌的文明？ That walked the earth?
钢铁锈蚀 混凝土崩碎 木材和书本腐烂 Iron corrodes, concrete crumbles, wood and paper decay.
仍然会有一些人造物遗留在这个星球 Still,some of what man built on earth remains.
历史悠久的巨大的石建筑 The most colossal of our stone structures
像中国的万里长城 Like the great wall of china
虽然也逃不过侵蚀 Have aged like mountains, subject to erosion,
但侵蚀过程相当缓慢 But at such slow time scales,
即使万年之后仍清晰可辨 They will still be recognizable in some form for eons.
吉萨的金字塔 是如此巨大 The great pyramid at giza is so massive that it lasts
虽然不断被沙漠吞噬 但仍可矗立很长一段时间 Long enough to be swallowed up by the desert sands.
建造得像峡谷一样坚硬的 胡佛大坝 The hoover dam built to be as tough as the canyon walls around it
是还能矗立不倒的 最后一件人造建筑 Is one of the last man-made structures still standing.
再过几千年 But now thousands of years in the future,
地球又将经历最后的大崩塌 Earth is about to be visited by the last of the great collapses.
自然最终取得胜利 It's the environment that eventually wins.
地震、沙暴、暴雨 Earthquakes,sandstorms,rain.
但也有几处例外 But there are a few exceptions.
拉什莫尔山的石刻雕像 I would have to say that mount rushmore,
用坚硬的花岗岩雕刻而成 Carved out of solid granite
化学性质非常稳定 In an ecologically stable place,
唯一的敌人是 The only enemy it has
由风刮来的水滴 Is wind-driven pellets of rain.
我认为拉什莫尔山的雕像能 I think that mount rushmore
存活万年以上 May be around a hundred thousand years,
很有可能坚持上2万年 Possibly 200.
甚至还能赶上人类 早期继任者的出现 Possibly even in time to be looked at in awe
他们也会用敬佩的眼光看着这些雕像 By the earliest of our replacements.
那么这些人类的继任者会是什么呢？ And who or what might those replacements be?
或许黑猩猩会有较大的进化 Perhaps chimpanzees might somehow make the leap.
但值得思考的是： But we have to consider this:
一些科学家认为 Some scientists believe
自然把动物演化成智慧生物并不难 That it's easy for nature to bring animals up to a clever level
它们会使用工具 Where they might use tools,
会成为环境的主宰 They might become masters of their environment.
但要进化成能想像宇宙 But the leap to being able to stare at the sky and imagine a cosmos,
能独立思考 To be able to contemplate yourself,
能思考自己所处位置的 To be able to contemplate your own role in the earth,
这样一群智慧生物 This may be a leap
则可能是一种偶然 That was a sheer accident for humanity.
在这样的情形下 In which case,
我们不谈完全恢复 以前的智慧文明 You're not talking about a complete recovery.
只谈地球智慧生命的延续 You're talking about a planet that may continue,
却不谈或许在此之前 有更加文明的生命出现过 But nobody to talk about it,
也没人会想过这样的问题 Nobody to think about it.
如果把地球45亿年的历史压缩成24个小时 If earth's 4.5 billion years of existence were condensed into 24 hours,
一万年的时间 The passage of 10,000 years
也只不过是零点几秒 Would be a fraction of a second.
人类存活在这个星球上的时间 Man's time on the planet so far
也仅有半分钟长 Would be about half a minute long
就像是在世界范围内 一座遗弃的小村庄 So,like an abandoned village on a global scale
地球没有人类依然会旋转 The earth will move on without us
人类之前有生命 There was life before people.
人类之后依然会有生命 There will be life after people.