人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E16

Part 2 March 29, 2021, 2:04 p.m.

as a shapeshifter.
大历史将会揭示
Big history reveals...
水的隐形皮肤是怎样
how water's invisible skin...
将我们的水路变成全球性道路的
turns our waterways into a global highway.
而传统历史告诉我们
And while traditional history tells us
人类对水的掌控
that our mastery of water...
促使了人类文明的出现
fuels the rise of civilization...
人类大历史将从地质学层面
big history looks to geology...
讲述水的终极能量是怎样
to reveal how the ultimate power of water...
联♥系♥到
connects back...
陆地的诞生的
to the birth of the continents.
我们现在深入到
We are now deep within the Earth's core...
25亿年前的地核了
2.5 billion years ago.
熔融岩石会进行闷烧
Molten rock smolders
当温度达到2000摄氏度以上的时候
at temperatures more than 2,000 degrees Celsius...
并且会上升到表面
And rises to the surface...
它拥有足够的力量来分割并移♥动♥陆地
with enough force to divide and move the land...
能让山峰高耸入云
lifting mountains into the sky.
山峰能使气流上升从而控制气流
Mountains that control the air by driving it upwards.
而当气流上升时温度就降低了
As the air rises, its temperature drops.
而空气中的水分就有了转换形态的能力
And the water inside it becomes a shapeshifter.
在高纬度时山上的空气凝聚着
At high altitudes, mountain air condenses...
就会释放出水蒸汽
releasing water as vapor
以雾或者云的形式漂浮在空中
that hangs in the sky as fog and clouds...
并且最终会以雨水的形式回到地面
and returns to earth in the form of rain.
水具有转移的力量
Water has the power to transform.
这是地球表面唯一一种
It's the only substance on Earth's surface...
能轻松驾驭三种状态的物质
that exists naturally in all three states.
低温能让它变成固体
Cold turns it into a solid.
高温下它就是气体
Heat creates vapor.
而常温下它是液体
And in between, it's a liquid...
一种具有无限潜能的物质状态
a state of matter with potential energy...
重力激发了它的潜能
that's unlocked by gravity.
如果你将水一类的东西带入太空
If you take something like water out into space...
脱离地球万有引力
beyond Earth's gravitational pull...
宇航员都知道
as astronauts know,
水会漂浮在空中
it's gonna just float freely in the atmosphere.
但它就是不往下流
But it won't flow downhill.
而在地球上
Here on Earth...
持续的地球引力
the constant pull of gravity
意味着水往低处流
means that water always flows downhill...
当它下落的时候会获得势能
gaining power as it falls.
一种人类将会充分利用起来的势能
Power that mankind will harness.
大历史将会讲述人类第一个水利工程
Big history connects back to man's first hydro-engineering.
这得追溯到公元前300年的中东
The Middle East, 300 B.C.
早先的农民发现一条湍急的河流
An early farmer discovers that a raging river...
具有现成的动力势能
holds ready-made kinetic energy.
水流能够让轮子
The water turns a wheel...
绕着轴心转动
that spins an axle...
像齿轮一样
that turns a gear...
就把工作做好了
that gets a job done.
大历史将会讲述
Big history reveals that
水车这个决定性的发明
the water wheel is a critical innovation...
让我们进一步接近了宇宙的力量
that connects us to the energy of the cosmos.
有个想法极具吸引力
It's very tempting to think that
就是力量存在于水中
the power somehow resides in the water...
但这想法只是错觉而已
but that's really an illusion.
实际上能量来源于太阳中心
Remarkably, the power comes from the center of the sun.
因为事实是
Because what's happened is that
始终照射着地球的太阳光
sunlight peering on the surface of the Earth...
能充当大型起重机的角色
has done the heavy lifting, literally.
它能让众多水分子悬浮在空中
It's lifted water molecules up into the sky.
一旦它到了空中
Once it's up into the sky...
其余的事就该重力做了
then gravity will do the rest of the work.
重力让水分子以雨水的形式降落下来
And gravity will bring it down in the form of rain...
并且让它们往低处流
and then gravity will drive it downhill.
许多年以后相同的力量将会闪耀世界
Centuries later, this same power will light the world.
高速水流能发动涡轮还能推动螺旋桨
Speeding water can drive turbines, it can drive propellers...
还能用于发电
and it can generate electrical energy.
但是为了发挥出那种能量
But in order to create that power...
我们就得控制自然界的原始能量
we have to control the raw power of nature...
为了让水听我们的指挥就得和重力抗争
and fight gravity to move water where we want it to go.
我们修建大坝沟渠运河
We build dams, aqueducts, canals.
大量的人造水利工程
A massive man-made water infrastructure...
揭示了一个神秘的模式
that reveals a mysterious pattern-
一个将地球运作方式和
a secret that connects the way the Earth works...
拯救人类联♥系♥起来的秘密
to the salvation of mankind...
还有一个统治着万物的隐形发动机
and the invisible engine that rules us all.
人类大历史之前向我们展现了
Big history has shown us...
地球表面最普遍的物质有着怎样
how the most common substance on Earth's surface...
不一般的化学结构
has an uncommon chemistry...
才能推动人类历史
that drives the history of mankind.
水具有变形能力和隐形皮肤
Water is a shapeshifter with an invisible skin...
还拥有无尽的动力
and the power of continuous motion.
每一个生物体不管是阿米巴变形虫还是大象
Every living organism, from an amoeba to an elephant...
都因为水的永恒运动才赖以存活
relies on the perpetual motion of water.
人类每天需要大概一夸脱的水
Humans use about a quart every day
来进行新陈代谢
to circulate waste out of our bodies.
地球也是一样的模式
We see the same pattern on Earth...
当水蒸发并且以新鲜雨水形式回来的时候
when water evaporates and gets recycled as fresh rain...
就是为了地球持续运转
to keep the planet running.
但是为什么水只进不出呢
But what happens when the water flows in but not out?
和任何有机体都一样
Like any organism...
水循环也是一座城市必不可缺的
a city needs to circulate water to survive.
最早一批人类城市
Man's earliest cities
依靠河流或者原始沟渠来提供水源
rely on rivers or primitive aqueducts to bring water in.
但是却缺少排出污水的设施
But there's no system for flushing dirty water out.
细菌都喜欢水
Bacteria loves water.
微生物也喜欢水它们可以在水中恣意驰骋
Small microorganisms love water. They can go anywhere in it.
就因为生物的这个特点
Because of organisms like these...
跟其他原因相比
more people die throughout history
历史上更多的人死于
from drinking contaminated water...
喝了被污染的水
than any other single cause...
直到微生物学上有了重大突破
until a breakthrough in microbiology.
大历史联♥系♥到
Big history connects forward...
19世纪的伦敦
to 19th-century London...
在那儿爆发了霍乱病
where an outbreak of cholera
霍乱病一种急性肠道传染病
一晚上要了成千上万人的命
claims hundreds of lives in one neighborhood.
医生发现污染源头是一个水泵
Doctors trace the contamination to a single water pump.
这是人类第一次意识到
It's the first time we recognize that
水也可能是个隐藏的杀手
water can carry a silent killer.
在那时你会开始意识到
At that point, you begin to realize...
水也会传播疾病而且范围会很广
that water can breed disease, it can be spread anywhere.
所以你会开始想
So you start noticing that, you know,
挖一个灌溉水渠
digging a simple irrigation ditch...
或者一个污水隧♥道♥
or a sewer tunnel...
这样能对世界
can bring a whole host of
带来不同有益的效果
different beneficial aspects to the world.
伦敦修建了世界上第一套现代排污系统
London builds the world's first modern sewer system.
并且通过重建城市
And by reengineering our cities
来达到和地球运转原理一样的效果
to work the same way the Earth does-
就是通过水循环达到新陈代谢
circulating clean water in and dirty water out-
人类的平均寿命至少提升了30年
we increase the average human life span by up to 30 years.
水是生命之源无论是对人体
Water is the lifeblood of our bodies...
还是人类文明甚至是地球
our civilization and our planet.
水不仅是在地球上所有物质中独一无二的
And while water is unique among all the substances on Earth...
还在整个太阳系中独树一帜
it's also unique in our solar system.
地球是唯一一个已知的
Earth is the only known planet
能让水从固体
where water can cycle from solid...
转变为液体或气体的
to liquid to gas.