宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E09

Part 3 April 25, 2021, 12:40 p.m.

美洲从欧洲和非洲中分离了出来
from Europe and Africa by earthquakes and floods.
但是奥特柳斯的观察
But Ortelius's observation
比起下两个世纪的发现
remained nothing more than a hunch
仅仅称得上预感而已
for the next couple of centuries...
直到二十世纪早期
until an early 20th century
一位德国天文学家和气象学家
German astronomer and meteorologist
收集了证据
amassed the evidence
才为其建立起了系统的理论
to build the scientific case for it.
阿尔弗雷德·魏格纳在一战期间完成了初稿
Alfred Wegener had been drafted during the First World War,
但是不久以后他就受了伤
but was wounded soon after.
他在战地医院恢复的时候
As he recovered in a field hospital,
他在科学文献中搜寻地球的过往
he scoured scientific literature for clues to the Earth's past.
多年以前
Years before,
魏格纳在大学图书馆
Wegener had happened upon an intriguing paper
偶然发现一篇有趣的论文
in the stacks of his university library.
论文中提到大西洋的两岸
It puzzled Wegener
曾发现同一种已灭绝的蕨类植物化石
that fossils of the same species of a now-extinct fern
这使魏格纳感到困惑
were reported to be found on both sides of the Atlantic.
更令人感到好奇的是在两个大♥陆♥上
Even more curious were the discoveries of fossils
发现了同一种恐龙的化石
of the same dinosaurs on both continents.
在二十世纪早期
In the early 20th century,
地质学家猜想大♥陆♥间曾有一座陆桥
geologists explained how life crossed the oceans
这就解释了生物是如何跨越海洋的
by imagining that land bridges had once existed between them.
他们认为很久以前这些陆桥
It was thought that these land bridges gradually disintegrated
在海浪的冲刷下逐渐分解消失
and vanished beneath the waves long ago.
但有一个证据使魏格纳确信
But there was one piece of evidence that convinced Wegener
这种公认的科学观点肯定是错的
that the prevailing scientific view must be wrong...
这个证据就是地球本身
the Earth itself.
一座山脉为什么会跨过大洋
Why would a mountain range cross the oceanic divide
在另一块大♥陆♥上继续呢
to continue on another continent?
为什么你在巴西和南非的岩层中
And why would you find the same unique pattern
找到相同的特有结构
in the layers of rocks in both Brazil and South Africa?
此外
And another thing...
在什么样的情形下热带植物会大量生长在
under what circumstances could tropical plants have flourished
冰天雪地的北极
in the frozen wastes of the Arctic?
魏格纳的结论是
Wegener concluded that
这些疑问只有一个合理的解释
there was only one logical solution to this puzzle...
地球上曾经只有一块超大♥陆♥
There had once been a single supercontinent on Earth.
他将其命名为盘♥古♥大♥陆♥
He named it Pangaea.
所以魏格纳成了科学界家喻户晓的人物对吗
So Wegener becomes the toast of the scientific world, right?
也不是
Not exactly.
大多数地质学家都嘲笑魏格纳的
Most geologists ridiculed Wegener's hypothesis
大♥陆♥漂移假说
of continental drift.
他们更倾向于用他们虚构的天然陆桥
They preferred their imaginary natural land bridges
来否定魏格纳的证据
to explain away Wegener's evidence.
他们问大♥陆♥是怎么通过
How, they asked, could a continent plow through
洋底的坚石的
the solid rock of the ocean floor?
魏格纳拿不出令人信服的证据
Wegener had no convincing answer.
他变成了科学界的笑柄
He became the laughingstock of the field;
成了科学会议中的下等公民
a pariah at scientific conferences.
尽管如此魏格纳还继续坚持他的看法
Despite this, Wegener continued to fight for his ideas,
进行了大胆的调查以收集证据
conducting daring research expeditions to gather evidence.
在某一个调查中他发现他的同事们
On one of these, he learned that colleagues were
被困在了冰盖并且没有食物
trapped on an ice cap without food.
在他完成任务回去的路上
On his way back from the mission,
他在暴风雪中迷路了
he became lost in a blizzard.
在他五十岁生日的一两天后
A day or two after his 50th birthday,
他失踪了
he disappeared,
但他永远也不会知道不久以后
never knowing that, in time,
他会被证明是正确的并被看作是
he would be vindicated and come to be viewed
历史上最伟大的地质学家之一
as one of the greatest geologists in history.
科学家们也是人
Scientists are human.
我们也有盲点和偏见
We have our blind spots and prejudices.
科学的目的
Science is a mechanism
在于找出它们
designed to ferret them out.
问题是对于科学的核心价值
Problem is, we aren't always faithful
我们不总是忠实的
to the core values of science.
在这方面玛丽·撒普感触最深
Few people knew this better than Marie Tharp.
1952年玛丽忍♥受着地质学部的
It's 1952, and Marie is patiently enduring the slights
同事对她的轻视
of her fellow members of the geology department.
跟他们在一起她的地质学和数学学历
Her degrees in geology and mathematics
变得无足轻重
count for little with them.
布鲁斯·希曾一名来自爱荷华州的研究生
Bruce Heezen, a graduate student from Iowa,
刚从漫长的考察中回来
has just returned from a lengthy expedition
考察旨在用声呐绘制洋底的地图
to map the ocean floor using sonar.
你要对这些做点什么吗
Will you do something with these?
布鲁斯看
Bruce, look.
它们都聚集到了一起
It's-- it's all come together.
这是贯穿大西洋底部的
There's this giant rift valley
巨大裂谷
that runs through the bottom of the Atlantic.
天哪玛丽算了吧
Aw, geez, Marie, come on.
又是这些无稽之谈
This is just more girl talk.
你在这找的麻烦还不够多吗
You're not in enough trouble with everyone here already?
这听上去很像大♥陆♥漂移说
This sounds too much like continental drift.
你想像魏格纳一样结束吗
You want to end up like Wegener?
但玛丽不会被劝阻
But Marie would not be dissuaded.
多年以后当玛丽和布鲁斯
Years later, when Marie and Bruce placed a map of
把海洋震中地图放在她的海底地图上
oceanic earthquake epicenters on a light table
在看片台上观看时
over her seafloor map,
地震正好落在
the earthquakes fell right along
裂谷处
the rift valley.
这就是魏格纳的大♥陆♥漂移学说的
This was the smoking gun
确凿证据
for Wegener's moving continents.
希曾现在知道
Heezen now knew
玛丽一直是正确的
that Marie had been right all along.
同时他们绘制了第一张真正的地球地图
Together, they created the first true map of the Earth,
也包含洋底的地图
including the ocean floor.
我们终于能阅读
We were at last ready to read
地球的自传了
the autobiography of the Earth.
让我们乘着想象号♥飞船
Let's take the Ship of the Imagination...
去到只有很少人
to a part of the world that has been off-limits
知道的地方
to all but a few of us.
地球的三分之二
Two-thirds of the Earth
都在超过300米的水下
lies beneath more than 1,000 feet of water.
广阔且大部分未被探索
It's a vast and largely unexplored frontier.
每个人都知道阿尔卑斯山和落基山
Everybody knows the Alps and the Rockies,
但是世界上许多令人叹为观止的山脉
but some of the world's most amazing mountain ranges
都不人所知
are hidden from view.
在一千米下面我们到了一个
Below 1,000 meters, we enter a world
没有阳光的世界
where there is no sunlight.
隐藏在黑暗中一个充满了奇迹的世界
Hidden in the darkness, a world of wonders.
这是世界上最长的海底山脉
This is the longest submarine mountain range in the world,
大西洋中脊
the Atlantic Mid-Ocean Ridge.
它就像棒球的接缝一样环绕着地球
It wraps around our globe like the seam on a baseball.
地球的过去与现在不同
The past is another planet,
但大多数人连现在的地球都不了解
but most of us don't really know this one.
我们看不到水中的山
We don't see the mountains for the water.
玛丽·撒普是第一个想象出这个世界的人
This is the world that Marie Tharp was the first to imagine.
山脉的最高峰
The highest peaks of the ridge
比洋底高四千米
rise over four kilometers above the ocean floor.
这里也有连绵的山脉和峡谷
There are sprawling mountain ranges and canyons, too.
我们现在进入了马里亚纳沟
We've now entered the Marianas Trench,
地球上最深的峡谷
the deepest canyon on Earth,
有十几千米深
more than ten kilometers deep.
构造力将海床推倒了相邻的大♥陆♥板块下
It formed when tectonic forces pushed the seabed
形成了峡谷
under the adjoining continental plate.
潜入这里的人
More people have walked on the Moon
比上过月球的人还少
than have ever been down here.
这里的压力高达一吨♥每平方厘米
The pressure here is a crushing eight tons per square inch.
潜到这么深
Being this deep in the ocean