宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E07

Part 5 April 25, 2021, 12:40 p.m.

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