BBC Ideas｜如果地球上所有人类都消失了会怎么样？

What if all humans on Earth disappeared? | BBC Ideas
 
Here's a thought experiment. Every single human on the planet has gone. We don't know how - that doesn't matter. What we'd like to know is what happens next? What would a world without humans be like?
这是一个思想实验。地球上的每一个人都消失了。我们不知道为何如此——但那不重要。我们想知道的是接下来会发生什么？没有人类的世界会是什么样子?

Within days, the electricity grid fails as fuel supplies run out and there's nobody to override the powerstation's failsafe mechanisms. Within a week the subways we've built under the water table flood. The 47 million litres of water that was pumped out of the London Underground every day inundates tunnels. Without heating or air conditioning mould flourishes on moist surfaces in homes and offices and ice bursts pipes. Within weeks, plants begin to take over buildings as the strongest species compete for space. No-one's there to cut them back.
没过几天，由于燃料供应耗尽，电网瘫痪，而又没有人能够操作发电站的故障安全机制。一周之内，我们建在地下水位下的地铁将被淹没。每天从伦敦地铁抽出的4700万升水淹没了隧道。在没有暖气或空调的情况下，霉菌在家庭和办公室潮湿的表面滋生，水管结冰爆裂。几周之内，植物开始占据建筑物，因为最强壮的物种在争夺空间。没有人去阻止它们。

Fast forward in time. The lines between city and countryside are blurred. Windows fall out of rotten frames and wildlife recolonises towns. Farmland is blanketed by scrub and then trees, and scattered on the surface are the things that will never degrade. Metals corrode. Plastics start to break down and disperse. But stainless steel pans, stranded granite work tops and billions of car tyres remain.
时光加快推进。城市和乡村的界限变得模糊。窗户从腐烂的框架中脱落，野生动物重新占领城镇。农田被灌木丛和树木覆盖，地表散落着永不会自然分解的东西。金属开始腐蚀。塑料开始分解、消散。但不锈钢平底锅、搁浅的花岗岩台面和数十亿个汽车轮胎依然存在。

Nuclear facilities fail as their fabric degrades. Some explode, irradiating the local ecosystem and causing many animals to die. The radiation leads to mutations in others creating new evolutionary lines. Meanwhile, the tiniest of plants are stubbornly breaking up even the motorways.
随着结构的退化，核设施将失效。一些核设施会爆炸，辐照当地的生态系统，导致许多动物死亡。辐射会导致其他物种发生突变，从而产生新的进化系。与此同时，最微小的植物也在顽强地破坏着高速公路。

Mosquitos are having a great time. They've lost their enemy in us but they've moved on to other animals. And they're busy pollinating plants as they love nectar as well as blood. Endangered animals have a chance and space to multiply again. Lions and elephants could even reach Europe, the strongest swimming across the Suez Canal.
蚊子们过得很愉快。它们失去了我们这个敌人，但它们已经转向其他动物。它们忙着为植物授粉，因为它们既喜欢花蜜，也喜欢鲜血。濒危动物有了再次繁衍的机会和空间，狮子和大象甚至可以到达欧洲 ，最强壮的可以游过苏伊士运河。

Massive whirlpool islands of plastic carry on spinning in our oceans. Each piece of plastic is ground down until microscopic grains of it are everywhere. Bacteria may evolve to digest plastic, but this will take millions of years. Could the Earth ever recover? Atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by the vegetation that carpets the land. Global temperatures and sea levels begin to fall. As chemical pollutants break down and sink into the earth, rivers become cleaner. Animals and plants flourish. Is this a new Eden? Perhaps.
巨大的塑料漩涡岛在我们的海洋中不断旋转。每一块塑料都被磨碎，直到微小的颗粒随处可见。细菌可能会进化出消化塑料的能力，但这需要数百万年的时间。地球还能恢复吗？大气中的二氧化碳被陆地上的植被吸收。全球气温和海平面开始下降。随着化学污染物分解并沉入地下，河流变得更加清洁。动物和植物蓬勃生长。这是新伊甸园吗？也许吧。

The Earth is a breathing organism that has lived with us for a fraction of its life. Our human ingenuity has led to extraordinary changes to the world. The planet would survive, indeed thrive, without us. But it would never be able to forget us. We'd have left our mark.
地球是一个会呼吸的有机体，它与我们共存的时间只占它生命的一小部分。人类的智慧给世界带来了非凡的变化。没有我们，地球也能生存，甚至茁壮成长。但它永远无法忘记我们。我们已经留下了我们的印记。

词汇表
electricity grid 供电系统，电网
fuel supply 燃料供应
override （尤指为改变运作方式而）操控，控制
powerstation 电站，发电厂
failsafe mechanism 故障安全机制（一种设计用于在系统出现故障时自动保护系统的机制）
water table 地下水面，潜水面
litre （度量单位）升
pump out  抽出，排出
inundate 泛滥，淹没
mould 霉，霉菌
moist 潮湿的，湿润的
fast forward 快进
blurred 模糊的，难以区分的
recolonise （动植物）回迁，重新占领
blanket / carpet 覆盖，笼罩
scrub 矮树丛，灌木丛
degrade 降解，自然分解
corrode  腐蚀，侵蚀
disperse 扩散，分散
stainless steel pan 不锈钢平底锅
granite work top 花岗岩台面
tyre 轮胎
fabric 结构，构造
irradiate 辐射
mutation 变异，突变
evolutionary line 进化线，演化路径
motorway 高速公路
pollinate plant 给植物授粉
nectar 花蜜，甘露
multiply 繁殖，增生
Suez Canal 苏伊士运河
whirlpool 漩涡，涡流
grind 碾碎，磨碎
microscopic grain 微观颗粒
atmospheric 大气层的
vegetation 植物，植被
Eden 伊甸园，乐土
a fraction of 一小部分
ingenuity 聪明才智，创造力

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