加载中…【看纪录片学单词】之《人类消失后的世界》
(2012-12-26 20:02:26)
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【看纪录片学单词】之《人类消失后的世界》
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内容提要：几天以后，食物将会一点点腐烂，各种宠物将难以生存。5年以后，道路将会被植被覆盖，纽约中央公园将有狼群出没，林肯纪念牌前的池塘将蛙声四起。10年以后，鸽子将栖息于人类留下的高楼，小强将迎来黄金时代。100年以后。城市摩天大楼将陆续倒塌，再坚实的桥梁也无法支持。1000年后，钢铁腐蚀，混凝土崩碎，书本腐烂，一切将回归自然。
影片长度：85
分钟
词汇统计：
★ 四级词汇：234 个
★★ 六级词汇：107 个
★★★ 雅思、托福及以上词汇：208 个
学习指南：以下单词均出自影片台词，前面标一星的为四级词汇，二星的为六级词汇，三星的为雅思、托福及以上词汇。大家根据自己的考试要求选择性学习。【看纪录片学单词】可分三步进行，第一步：把影片完整看一遍，可看中文字幕，了解剧情。第二步：看一小段，然后对照下面的单词进行学习。学完以后进行第三步，即再次把影片从头到尾看一遍，注意那些重点词汇和好的口语表达，最后还需反复浏览以下这些词句（最好打印出来，或者存手机）。
在线观看：
下载地址： http://www.yyets.com/php/resource/27200
★ vanish
This isn't the story of how we might vanish, it is the story of what happens to the world we leave behind. 这不是一个人类如何消失的故事，这是一个讲述无人生活下世界的故事。
★ stretch
★★★ armageddon
★★★ apocalypse
It's no great stretch to imagine humans disappearing from the face of the earth. every generation has its tales of armageddon or apocalypse. 人类会从地球上消失这样的想法由来以久，我们的老祖宗有不少传说，像天启或圣经记载的世界末日。
★ deliberate
★★ doom
we're the first generation that could, by deliberate actions, cause its own doom. 人类通过有意识的活动，最终决定自己的命运，这是其它生物所不能的。
★★★ tantalize
★ destruction
★ notion
we're tantalized by our myths about our own destruction, but also tantalized by the notion, "hey, maybe it's the turn of someone else." what will they do if we're gone? 大家经不住好奇想问，人类到底如何灭绝，也非常好奇地想问：“嘿，或许人类的灭绝人给其它物种带来机会”，没有人类，它们会怎么生活?
★ fossil fuel
More than 70 percent of power in the united states is generated by the burning of fossil fuels. 美国超过七成的动力都来自矿物燃料。
★ nuclear power plant
★★★ reactor
★ automatically
nuclear power plants are unlikely to melt down. the average reactor holds enough fuel to keep running for two years. but without humans consuming the power generated by the plant, the reactors will automatically shut down into a safe mode in as little as two days. 核电厂不会那么容易失去燃料，一般的反应堆就有着能够用上两年的核燃料，但如果没有人来消耗这些能量，反应堆在两天内便会停止工作，而进入安全模式。
★★★ turbine
★★★ lubrication
★ maintain
Even wind generation can't last forever. the turbines require bearings and lubrication of those bearings in order to keep operating. if there's no one around to maintain the turbines, the electricity doesn't get produced. 即使是风力发电机组,也不会一直工作下去,涡轮的旋转需轴承和润滑油,如果没有人来维护，很快风力发电机组就无法工作。
★★★ outage
★★★ grid
★ contribute to
★★★ a cascade
of
As generating plants go down, outages on the power grid contribute to a cascade of failure worldwide. 由于发电机组无法正常运行,电力在传输过程中不断耗损,最终一点点的消失殆尽。
★★ plunge into
★★ huddle
★ artificial
After a few weeks, the planet is plunged into a deep darkness. it has not experienced since humans first huddled around campfires. perhaps, the last glow of artificial lights on earth will be seen in the american southwest. 几周后,整个星球就将沉寂在,无限的黑暗中,人类自从学会用火后就再也没经历过这样的黑暗。也许整个星球上还能看到的唯一的人造光出现在美国的西南部。
★★★ mighty
★★★ hydropower
plant
★ virtually
here, the mighty hoover dam hydropower plant takes little notice of the absence of humans. its source of fuel is virtually limitless. 胡佛大坝，水力发电机组，在这个人类消失的世界不起眼的默默工作着，这是一种几乎取之不尽的能源。
★ reservoir
★★★ turbine
generator
There's water in the reservoir keeps supplying the water to the hydro turbine generators. these generators are operating automatically and that would continue as long as all of the systems are functioning normally. 水库里流动的水带动涡轮发电机不停的工作，这些发电机自动工作，只要系统不出问题，他们能够一直工作下去。
★ tunnel
★★ drainage
★ cable
★ transportation
Beneath all the major cities, there's a complex network of underground tunnels, and these are there for drainage purposes or for cabling purposes, and in the case of the big cities, for transportation as well. 世界上各大城市的地底下都有复杂的地下隧道系统，有的用来作为排水系统，有些用来排线布线，在一些大城市，也是交通运输的通道。
★★★ water
table
★ pump
There are many of those sit below the level of the water table and in order to keep them dry, we have to have a system of pumps that are switched on when necessary to drain the tunnels. 大部分的隧道都在地下水位以下，为保持隧道不浸水，都会有一套抽水装置，在必要的时候抽掉隧道里的水，以保证地下隧道干燥和正常运行。
★★ rot
Food is rotting on supermarket shelves. 超市里的食物一点点腐烂
★ cabinet
★ decay
★★★ defrost
★ temporary
Home refrigerators become nothing more than cabinets for decaying food, but melt water from defrosting freezers may provide a temporary lifeline for some of the creatures we've left behind. 电冰箱也只不过是存放着一堆腐烂食物的铁皮盒子，电冰箱里融化出来的水却给一些生物提供了临时的生命保障。
★ massive
★★ debris
right from the get-go, there's gonna be a massive die off of dogs. the instance that humans are gone, they're not creating the debris or producing the food that the dogs are living on. 它们不得不走出家，这也导致大量的宠物狗死亡，人类的消失就不再会有食物的残渣，也不再生产粮，宠物狗们也就失去了赖与生存的条件。
★ landscape
★★★ whack
★★★ scavenge
The first thing that happens is that they all jump out of the windows and they are now out there in a new landscape. and the first to whack at it, it is that they go back to scavenging a whole bunch of dead things out there in the world. 宠物狗们跳出窗外，来到一片新天地，眼前的景像让他们倍受打击，似乎重新回到了一个死尸遍地世界。
★ estimate
★ breed
There are estimated to be four hundred million dogs in the world and 300 different breeds. 据统计全球共有400万只狗，分属300多个种族。
★ competitive
★ displace
★★★ coyote
★★★ hierarchy
★ prevail
★ domestic
dogs are very competitive and when you have wolves, they displace coyotes, coyotes displace foxes, and we would assume that hierarchy would prevail among domestic dogs. 犬类非常好斗和具有竞争性，狼群取代野狗，野狗取代狐狸，我们能想像在家狗当中也会出现这样的等级层次关系。
★★ handicap
In fact, many of the unique features that have been bred into dogs over the years will now become major handicaps in the fight for survival. 事实上，经过上万年的进化与演变，狗类那些独有的特征，却成了他们生存的障碍。
★★ spectrum
★★ in the long
haul
I think that the kind of the middle of the spectrum,the kind of average dog has the best chances in this. I think that they will survive in the long haul, but it's not gonna be pretty. 我想一些处于中间类型长相平凡的狗，却有着他们的优，能够长久的生存下去，当然他们不会变得漂亮。
★ term
★★★ commensal
★★★ rodent
★ literally
Rats and mice are usually termed"commensal rodents," which means that term means literally sharing the table. they're very dependent on people. 这些家鼠通常被定义为"共生啮齿科"动物，即与人类共存共亡，对人类有很大的依赖性。
★ initial
In the initial weeks after people are gone, they will raid pantries in homes, in grocery shelves in stores. 人类消失后的前几周，它们会洗劫厨房，食品厨等一切储藏有食物的地方。
★★★ predator
Eventually, these rodents will abandon homes and buildings, which will make them easy pickings for predators. 最终，这些啮齿类动物被迫走出房子，这也使他们很容易成为猎食者的囊中之物
★★ diminish
Although, rats and mice will mostly likely survive in the future, their numbers will be greatly diminished. 即使这些老鼠能够幸存下来，数量也将大为减少。
★ urban
After six months into a life after people, urban areas are already taking a turn for the wild. 人类消失后的6个月后，城市也将变成荒野。
★★★ predator
★★ suppress
★ deliberately
★ remove
The predators would return very quickly in the absence of humans because we suppress them,we create conditions that either work against them, or we deliberately go out, and remove and destroy them. they would come back very quickly. 猎食动物很快便夺回这些地方，先前由于人类故意的驱赶，捕杀这些猎食动物，一旦人类消失，他们便很快回来。
★★★ coyote
★★★ bobcat
★★ fringe
★★ colonize
Smaller predators like coyotes and bobcats always survive on the fringe of human populations. they are the first to colonize our abandoned neighborhoods. 先前生活在边缘地区的，北美野狗野猫这些小型猎食动物，会首先回归这片土地。
★★★ carnivore
★★ habitat
★ appetite
Larger carnivores will have to wait longer for the habitat to
recover enough to support their appetites. but soon enough, they,
too, will hunt in what were once our backyards.
当时机成熟
★★ reclaim
★★★ turf
One year into a life after people, towns and cities are still recognizable. but nature is beginning to reclaim her old turf.人类消失后的一年后，城镇虽然还可以辨认，但自然的力量正一点点的占据上风。
★★ transition
★★★ impervious
★★ abundance
One of the first great physical effects in the absence of people would be the transition of the impervious surfaces: the parking lots, the roads into places that supported and then had an abundance of plant life. 人类消失后的最大的物理效应便是，那些不透水层的变化，比如停车场、路面等，在这些地方生命重新开始显现。
★ crack
★ creep
Little seeds are gonna get stuck in the cracks and so forth and these things are all gonna start to creep. 一颗种子掉在裂缝里，便开始不断爬藤蔓延。
★ remove
★ weed
★★★ dandelion
★★★ infiltrate
★★★ pavement
★★ remnant
★★★ moss
★★★ lichen
★★★ topsoil
Without humans to remove them, weeds like dandelions infiltrate every crack in the pavement. as these weeds die, their remnants combine with ever-spreading moss and lichen to create a layer of topsoil. 没有人类的处理，像蒲公英这样的野草，便会渗透在人行道的各个角落。当野草枯萎后，其残留物以及青苔、地衣便会形成表层土。
★ nutrient
★★★ clover
★★ nitrogen
★ flourish
This sandy soil is poor in nutrients, so only plants like clover that can pull nitrogen from the air flourish at first. 这种土刚开始多沙而无营养物质，刚开始只有像苜蓿这样的植物能生存，而苜蓿能够吸收大气中的氮元素。
★★★ manicure
★★★ morph into
★★★ forage
Formerly manicured yards morph into fields for a white-tailed deer forage for food. 先前修整过的院子逐渐变成白尾鹿能在里面觅食的牧场。
★ domination
★★★ tenuous
★★ vulnerability
Man's supposed domination over nature has proven to be quite tenuous. the signs of our vulnerability have always been there. 人类自诩对自然的控制力在这个时候被证明是多么的渺小，在这里到处可见人类的对自然的无力。
★★★ ailanthus
★★★ inhospitable
★★★ crevice
This is an ailanthus tree. it seems to enjoy rooting itself in very inhospitable locations. and it likes to attach itself to crevices in buildings. and when it does so, it causes damage. 这是一株臭椿树，似乎在这片荒地中自得其乐，它喜欢攀爬在墙壁的缝隙里，正因如此会造成不少的破坏。
★★ expansive
★★★ mortar
★★ crumble
★★★ facade
The roots expand, and the expansive forces of that force out mortar and stone and cause crumbling of a facade. 巨大的膨胀力使墙壁的灰泥和石头脱落根系开始膨胀，最后导致墙壁的倒塌。
★ battle
★★★ goliath
★★★ invincible
As nature battles back, even manmade goliaths like hoover dam aren't invincible. 大自然正在一点点回击,即使像胡佛大坝这样的人造巨人,也不是不可击败的。
★ harness
★ massive
★★★ indestructible
★ generator
★ organism
★★★ thumbnail
To harness the power of this river took 21,000 men and five years of hard labor. but one year after people, its 17 massive and seemingly indestructible generators are about to be brought down by an organism the size of a human thumbnail. 5年时间21000多人的建造，才在湍急的河流上筑起大坝，然而仅仅人类消失后的1年时间内，17座巨大而几乎不可能被破坏的发电机组，被仅有人类指甲大小的生物体所击败。
★★★ infest
★ invasive
★★★ mollusk
★★★ mussel
The lake above the dam is infested with an invasive species of mollusk called the "quagga mussel." 大坝的表面到处滋生着这种叫做"斑驴贻贝"的入侵生物。
★★★ stealthy
★ invader
★★ predator
★ other
than
★★ scrap
★★ colonize
This stealthy invader from eastern europe had no natural predators in north america other than the humans tasked with scraping it from the grates and pipes it colonizes. 它们源自欧洲在北美没有天敌，得靠人来从大坝的大门和管道内，把其清除出去。
★★★ prolific
★ diameter
The mussels attach themselves to the inside wall of pipes and they're very prolific. they colonize and rapidly build up and can grow on top of each other, and eventually completely block the diameter of a pipe. 这些贻贝附在管道壁内，繁殖很快，又能够一个个叠在一起生长，最终将完全阻断管道。
★★★ clog
And in fact,those mussels could clog up the cooling water pipes, to the point where we couldn't keep these generators cool anymore. 事实上它们阻断了冷却用的水管，一旦这样，发电机组就无法进行散热。
★ sequence
And it would cause the high temperature alarm in the automatic control system. and that automatic control system would then start the shutdown sequence of that generator. well, that would happen one by one for all of the generators of hoover dam, and eventually the entire power plant would be shut down. 于是自动控制系统
便会发出过热警告，关闭过热的发电机组，紧接着大坝所有的发电机组，一个接一个都将关闭，最后整个大坝发电站便停止运转。
★★★ glimmer
★★★ relinquish
★★★ primeval
In Las Vegas, the last glimmers of manmade light on earth relinquish the night to its primeval blackness. 在拉斯维加斯,最后一点人造光也消失殆尽,回归到其最原始的黑暗。
★★ reclaim
★★★ supremacy
★ trigger
★★★ valiantly
★ rage
Unchecked, nature's most powerful elements reclaim their supremacy on earth. triggered by lightning strikes, the wildfires that humans once battled so valiantly now rage unchecked. 在没有人类的世界,强大的自然力量正在一点点夺回其主宰地位, 闪电引起了森林大火,这在以前人类会毫不犹豫的进行扑救,而现在大火肆虐。
★★★ char
★ timber
★ nutrient
★★ nitrogen
★ thrive
As structures burn to the ground, charred timbers release nutrients into the soil, providing the next wave of plant life, with the nitrogen it needs to grow and thrive. 建筑烧塌倒地，烧焦的木材给土壤中注入了植物生长不可或缺的氮元素，给下一次的枝繁叶茂创造了条件。
★★★ relentless
Five years after people, the roads of the world are disappearing beneath a green map that spreads like some relentless monster. 人类消失后的第五年，全球的公路逐渐隐没于一片绿色之下，犹如被无情的怪兽吞噬一般。
★ boundary
★★ breach
★★★ vine
★★★ moss
The advance of nature knows no boundaries. the gates of london's buckingham palace are easily breached by vines and moss. in Moscow, Red Square is becoming very green. 大自然无边界，英国白金汉宫的大门，被蔓生植物和苔藓轻易毁坏，莫斯科红场变成绿色的海洋。
★ illusion
★★★ cambodian
★★★ angkor
★★★ indiscriminately
★★★ entangle
Man's mastery over nature has always been just an illusion. when the cambodian city of angkor and its temple complexes were abandoned in 15th century, jungle trees grew indiscriminately over its stone structures. entangling them in their roots. 人类对自然的掌控常常只是种幻想，这座柬埔寨人的古城和古庙在15世纪前就被遗弃在这里，多年来丛林在其石制结构中肆意生长中，把它们的根深深扎入其中。
★★ revenge
Now, without armies of gardeners and repairmen, modern cities are laid bare to nature's revenge. 现在没有人的照看，现代城市孤立在大自然面前，接受大自然的复仇。
★ lawn
★★★ sprout
★★★ sapling
In New York's central park, the great lawns, now untended, sprout with saplings. five years without humans leaves the park looking more like a forest. 这里是纽约的中央花园，无人照料的草坪中长满了大树，人类消失后的5年时间里，中央公园更像是一片森林。
★★★ confinement
★ capable
Zoo animals are really the great unknown. depending on whether or not they could escape from their confinement, then things change dramatically because you might have lions, you might have tigers; both of which would be perfectly capable of surviving in a post-human period. 动物园里的动物是一个不确定因素，这要取决于它们是否能离开笼子，如果它们都能出来，那将出现翻天覆地的变化。可能会有狮子，还有老虎，而它们都是在后人类时代生存的高手。
★ concrete
★★ crumble
★ maintenance
★★★ eerie
It's 20 years into a life after people. without humans to apply fresh paint and fill in cracks, even concrete buildings have already begun to crumble. lack of maintenance turns cities into eerie ghost towns.
这是人类消失20年后的景像，由于没人粉饰墙壁和修补裂缝即使是钢筋混凝土建筑也开始瓦解。无人照看的城市活生生的变成一座废弃的鬼城。
★ decay
Animals that have long avoided human population centers now return to make new homes among the decaying walls. 动物们重新回归这片曾是人类生活中心的地方，在断垣残壁上安家筑巢。
★★ evacuate
Evacuated after the chernobyl nuclear disaster, pripyat went from a city of 50,000 to ghost town overnight. 切尔诺贝利事件后人们开始撤离这座城市，原先拥有5万多人口的城市一夜之间成为空城。
★★ vegetation
★★★ pry
★★★ masonry
★ crawl
Vegetation pries apart masonry as it crawls over buildings. 植物在大楼上肆意的攀爬，挤满在砖与砖的缝隙里。
★ amusement park
★★★ ferris wheel
★ rust
An amusement park scheduled to open four days after the date of the accident remains never used. the park's ferris wheel accumulates rust rather than riders. 这是一座游乐场，还有四天就将开张，却发生了核泄露事故，永远的沉寂下去。观光转轮还未有游客，便已开始生锈。
★ concrete
★★★ facade
★★ imposing
★★★ frigid
This concrete soviet facade may look imposing but it's no match for the frigid ukranian winters. 这坐苏联混凝土建筑看上去很雄伟，但在乌克兰寒冷的冬天就不是那么回事了。
★ exert
★★★ masonry
As the temperature drops below freezing, water that has accumulated in cracks expands, exerting bursting pressure that pulls apart the masonry. 一入冬温度就降到零度以下，大楼缝隙里的水份结成冰，不断膨胀，巨大的压力使砖与砖之间的缝隙越来越大。
★★ vegetation
★ unchecked
★ moisture
★★★ miniature
★★★ hydraulic
jack
As vegetation grows unchecked, the roots spread through foundations and stairs. these roots suck in moisture that makes them expand and grow. like miniature hydraulic jacks, over time, they slowly push apart the concrete. 大量植物放任生长，根系扎入到大楼的根基地下，根系吸收水份不断膨胀，就像一部微缩千斤顶一样，时间一久，慢慢就把混凝土分裂开去。
★ facility
This is only 20 years. can you imagine what this facility will look like after 200 years? 这还仅仅是20年的时间，你能想像200年后这些东西会是什么样呢?
★★★ outweigh
★ initial
★ nightmare
But incredibly, the effect of the absence of humans for 20 years has outweighed the initial damage caused by the nuclear nightmare. 然而不可思议的是，没有人类的20年间，大自然渐渐修复了这片曾经笼罩着核威胁的土地。
★★★ radioactivity
★ sufficient
★★★ resurgence
The original amounts of radioactivity were sufficient to kill all of the wildlife in the region as well. but now we see a resurgence of the wildlife. 起初的辐射水平足以毁灭本区域的一切生命，现在却可见生命的复苏。
★ prosper
★★★ antler
As an example of how wildlife has prospered here, we see, here, we have an antler from a red deer and, obviously, a fairly large and healthy red deer. 这是生命在此复苏的见证，这是一个鹿角，红鹿的，很明还很大很健壮。
★★ vulnerable
★★★ radioactive
fallout
★★ evacuation
even trees which had proven especially vulnerable to radioactive fallout. are finding new homes in the evacuation zone. 树木对核辐射沉降物的抵抗力较弱，即使这样它们也找到了生存方式。
★★★ discernable
★★ succession
★★★ mixed deciduous forest
the activity on the field which 20 years later is barely discernable. the soccer field now is going through succession as you would expect in returning to what it was originally hundreds of years ago which was a mixed deciduous forest. 20年后足球场几乎已经无法辨认了，如今球场已被一片落叶林所替代，正如大家估计的那样，回到了百年前的原始状态。
★★★ resilient
★ thrive
★★★ legacy
One that says that life is much more resilient than what we thought possible. that in the absence of man, that life will continue and that life will thrive and that the legacy of life will always be here. because we are a part of life. even if we disappear, our legacy of life will continue. 有哲人说过,生命比我们想像的更具弹性,虽然没有人类的踪迹,但生命仍在延续,万物兴盛,生命的轨迹也将继续下去,我们仍属于这里,因为我们人类也是万物的一部分。即使我们消失了,生命的延续却不因此改变。
★★ erase
It's 25 years into a life after people out in the country nature is beginning to erase all evidence of man人类消失25年后，在外面的乡村，自然正在抹掉所有的人类足迹。
★ suburb
★ pack
★★★ roam
in the suburb， packs of fellow dogs roam through decaying neighborhoods in search of their next meal. 在郊区，许多野狗穿梭于不断腐烂的邻里，寻找下一顿饱餐。
★ surge
★★★ retractable
in the time of humans, london was protected from tidal surges by 10 retractable steel gates that could be raised during storms to seal off the thames river from the north sea. 在人类居住的时代，伦敦有10个可回收的巨型钢铁大门来保护其不受涨潮的干扰，在暴风雨来临前，这些钢铁大门能够封闭泰晤士河，而不受北大西洋潮水的影响。
★ frame
★★ verge
★ destruction
In a New York city high rise, some windows have already cracked and slipped loose from their frames and many more are on the verge of destruction. 即使像纽约这样地势较高的城市，窗户开始破损并慢慢滑落，正濒临毁灭的边缘。
★ exposure
★ moisture
★★★ sealant
★ rigid
after a quarter century of exposure to moisture and heat without maintenance, the normally flexible window sealant has become rigid, locking this window to its frame. 25年过后，由于长期的潮气侵蚀和阳光的暴晒，又无人维护，正常情况下柔软的窗户密封剂变得僵硬，使窗玻璃和窗架连在了一起。
★ contract
★ induce
★ stress
★★★ plummet
★ sidewalk
as the metal frame expands and contracts with changes in
temperature, it induces stresses on the glass. it cracks and
plummets to the sidewalk below. 一旦温度变化
★ external
★★★ suction
★★ aggravate
★ panel
After a few of the windows fall out of a building like this, then the wind pressure effect changes dramatically. as well as external pressure coming on to the building, you also get suction. and that aggravates the problem so more of the panels are likely to fall out. 当玻璃窗户不断损坏，就像这栋大楼的情形一样，风吹过带来的压力就会产业巨大的压力，不仅外部会有压力，大楼内部同样会产业压力，这种来自内部的压力使问题更加严重，也因如此，大部分的面板都会向外倒塌。
★★ debris
through these gaping holes, the building fills with windswept debris. 大楼千疮百孔，到处充满着狂风括来的各种碎片。
★ roll in
★★★ deterrent
★★ corrode
★★★ a lightning
bolt
★ raging
★★★ inferno
a summer storm rolls in. on top of the structure, the copper-lightning deterrent system that once protected thousands of office workers is now corroded and useless. a lightning bolt turns the tower into a raging inferno. 夏日风暴正在袭来，大楼顶上有着铜制的避雷系统，曾经保护着这里工作的人们，但现在避雷系统已生锈，毫无用处。一道闪电劈在楼顶，瞬间变成了一场人间炼狱。
★ pigeon
★★★ edifice
★★ artifact
★ artificial
★ adapt
★ cliff
pigeons are survivors. they can live in the wild; they do live in the wild still. and in a period where there were no people but there still were edifices and artifacts,our buildings, they would do very well because they would adopt these as kind of artificial cliff faces, which is what they really are adapted to. 鸽子能够幸存下来，它们曾经生活在野外，现在仍在野外生存，虽然人类消失了，但遗留下来的建筑房屋仍在。鸽子们很快适应了这种环境，它们把这些遗弃物当作是人造悬崖而栖居。
★★★ cockroach
★★ gorge
★ surplus
★★ mourn
think of the poor cockroach after they gorge upon our surplus when we're gone, they'll mourn us they'll be sorry. 因为没有人类，蟑螂也就无法找到食物，可怜的蟑螂会在那缅怀我们。
★ thrive
★★ scrap
★★ rot
but the morning won't last for long. while cockroaches thrived on our scraps, they can also eat bookbindings, and cardboard, and any rotting organic matter including dead leaves and roots. 但缅怀不会持续很久，当它们吃完人类留下来的食物后，便开始啃食书本、纸板，还可以吃任何腐烂的有机物，包括腐叶和根。
★ mild
the first winter after humans did witness the die-off of some cockroaches, but many more moved underground to find warmth until milder temperatures returned. 人类消失后的第一个冬天，的确见证了不少冻死的蟑螂，然后大部分都移居于地底下，等待来年气温的回升。
★★★ devoid
★★★ insecticide
★★ vegetation
★★★ water table
in an abandoned downtown devoid of insecticides, overrun by vegetation and with a rising water table, this former pest is now enjoying a golden age. 在这个遗弃的城市，没有杀虫剂的困扰，到处都是植物，地下水位也逐步上升，这些先前的害虫迎来一个黄金时代。
★★ nuisance
★★★ mercilessly
cockroaches were only a nuisance to humans, but wolves were a terror. so man hunted them mercilessly. 蟑螂对人类来说只是个讨厌的家伙，而狼群则是令人畏惧的野兽，因此人类毫不手软的猎杀它们。
★ battle
★ multiply
★★★ roam
now, with no humans left to battle them, wolf populations multiply by as much six times each year. within 25 years of our disappearance, there could easily be half a million of them roaming the united states again. 现在没有人类的捕杀，狼群的数量每年以6倍的速度增长，在人类消失后的25年内，很快又会有50万头狼在北美大陆猎食。
★ release
★ boundary
★★ persecution
in 1995, biologists released a few dozen wolves within the
boundaries of yellow stone national park; a place where they would
be protected from persecution by humans.
1995年生物学家
★ territory
the wolves quickly spread out from their release point to occupy territory throughout the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. 狼群越出国家公园，在怀俄明州、蒙大纳州、爱达荷州都开辟了新领地。
★★ hem in
★ roughly
★★ coincidence
animals haven't just been hunted by humans; they've also been hemmed in. there are roughly three million miles of paved road in the united states alone. and it's no coincidence that many of them cut right through the paths animals use to get from place to place. 动物不仅被人类捕杀，也被人类圈起来。美国境内就有长达300万公里的公路，其中不少公路挡住了动物的迁徙道路。
★ landscape
★ migration
the things that make a landscape good for animal movement also make it easy to engineer a road in that location. so, we've cut off pretty much all major migrations in north america. 事实上适合动物迁徙的道路通常也较为容易修成公路，因此我们切断了动物向北美大陆迁徙的道路。
★★★ asphalt
★ automobile
★★★ wreak
★★★ havoc
★★★ grizzly
bear
★★ habitat
★ confine
★ isolated
asphalt and automobiles wreaked particular havoc on the grizzly bear. their habitat was so carved up by roads that they're confined to isolated pockets, cutting them off from food sources and potential mates. 沥青和汽车对灰熊的影响极大，灰熊的领地被公路切分成一块块，使他们限制在很小的范围内，不仅切断了灰熊觅食的道路，而且也阻碍了寻找熊对象的机会
★ barrier
★ trail
in a life after humans, roads are no longer barriers for the grizzly. instead they are pathways; trails that lead them back into the heart of their former range. 人类消失后，公路便不再是灰熊的障碍了，相反公路成了安全通道，可以沿着公路顺路返回前根据地。
★ concrete
★ suburb
★ frame
★★★ devour
forty years after people. while cities of steel and concrete are still standing tall, the suburbs are under attack. roughly 90 percent of all homes in the united states have wood frames. while some have burned, others are now being devoured. 人类消失后的40年，钢筋混凝土结构的建筑仍旧矗立于城市中，而郊区却正在遭受袭击，美国大约九成的家居房子都是木质结构的，其中一些已经被野火烧，而另一些则正在被蚕食。
★★★ preservative
★★★ lumber
★★★ termite
without paint and preservatives, the lumber of homes is defenseless against termites. 没有油漆和防腐剂的保护，木质房子在白蚁面前毫抵抗力。
★★ feast
★★★ cellulose
★ appetite
★★★ relentless
termites feast on cellulose, the basic building block of wood. and their appetites are relentless. some colonies can eat as much as 1,000 pounds of wood per year. 白蚁嗜食纤维素，而纤维素又是木材的主要成分。白蚁的胃口可谓无穷，有些种类的白蚁一年内吃掉1000磅的木材。
★★ rot
★ decay
★★ microbe
★ carbon dioxide
★★★ methane
★ component
and this rotting, actually, is a more complicated process. it's a process by which microbes attack the wood and release carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. if humans were to leave, it'd be a matter of decades before most structures had significant wood components would start to decay. 实事上腐蚀的过程是相当复杂的，首先被微生物侵袭，接着会向大气中排放二氧化碳和沼气，如果人类消失，大约几十年后，木质的大梁便开始腐蚀。
★★★ two pronged
★★★ beam
★★ erase
faced with a two pronged attack from termites and rot, the beams that hold up the roof give way. and the boundary between inside and out, that had once been so important to the humans who called this building home, is forever erased. 受到白蚁和腐蚀的双重侵袭，支撑房顶的大梁开始倒塌，曾经对人类很重要的家里屋外的边界已经模糊，被人类称作家的地方，至此永远不复存在。
★ substance
★★★ mortar
★★ crumble
★★ remnant
other substances like this mortar and rock are gonna last longer than several decades, but they'll still crumble after natural, chemical, and physical weathering processes, and eventually these walls will fall down as well, and there'll be no remnants. 房子的其它材料，比如说这些灰泥和石头，寿命是会更长一点，但还是会在自然、化学、物理、风化的作用下变成灰屑。最终墙壁也将倒塌，不留一点痕迹。
remnant
★★ reclaim
★★★ vine
★ dissolve
it's amazing how quickly the vegetation has reclaimed the area. the vines have started to climb up the walls. the trees are growing into the structure, and they're both physically pulling the structure apart, and chemically dissolving it. 植物生长的速度是多么的惊人，很快便夺回了这片土地。蔓生植物在墙上攀藤，树木长进楼里面，在两者共同作用下，大楼开始分崩离析，同样化学腐蚀也起着作用。
★★★ granite
★★★ quarry
these structures on black island, Maine used to be part of a granite quarry whose stone was used to build and decorate cities like Boston, New York, and philadelphia. it was abandoned around 1920. 这些被闲置在缅因州黑山上的花岗岩，曾经是建造和装饰波士顿、纽约、费城这些城市之用，1920年这些石制建筑就被遗弃在这里。
★ vanish
here, the buildings have all vanished within the space of 80 and 90 years. there's almost nothing left. 经过将近90年的洗礼，这些建筑几乎消失的无影无踪。
★ maintenance
★★★ aqueduct
★★★ stealthy
in the right conditions and with human maintenance, stone construction can last for thousands of years. in some places in europe, ancient roman aqueducts are still in use. but without maintenance, stone can fall victim to a very stealthy enemy. 在适合的条件以及人类的照看下，石制结构的建筑一般可存在上千年，欧洲罗马时代的大水渠现仍在使用，但如果不去维护它，这些石头会被看不见的敌人慢慢击败。
★ crystal
★★ deteriorate
one of the great enemies of stone is actually salts and salt crystals. even thousands of years ago, people notice the effect that salts had on deteriorating the ancient pyramids. 这些敌人中包括盐和盐的结晶，几千年前人们就发现盐类物质会使金字塔瓦解。
★★★ infiltrate
★ monument
★★ bird dropping
there are many ways salts infiltrate stone buildings and monuments: polluted air,seawater, and even bird droppings. 盐类物质有多种方式侵蚀石制建筑和纪念碑，污染的空气，海水甚至是鸟粪都有可能是元凶。
★★★ soluble
★★ evaporate
★★★ porous
soluble salts dissolve in water, and as the water evaporates, it will rise up inside of porous building materials; things like brick and stone and even concrete. 盐溶解于水中，一旦水气蒸发，便会在建筑材料中留下千疮百，砖块、石头甚至是混凝土都不例外。
★★ deteriorate
★★★ sodium sulfate
★★★ crystallization
in this experiment, it took about three weeks to go from this piece of stone to this piece of stone, which is completely deteriorated by sodium sulfate crystallization. 这个实验为期三个星期，从刚开始的完好的石块，腐蚀成这样，已完全被硫酸纳腐蚀而结晶化。
★ accelerate
★ chamber
★ equivalent
★ harsh
★★★ benign
three weeks in this accelerated aging chamber are equivalent to a few years in the harshest of environments, or a few decades in a more benign desert climate. 在实验室三周腐化的过程，在现实恶劣的环境中需要若干年完成，而在温和的沙漠气候中则要几十年。
★ immune
★ sheer
★ volume
★ massive
★ era
although not immune to decay, the pyramids have survived for nearly 5,000 years because of their sheer volume and their hot,dry desert environment. too massive to be destroyed by either man or nature, the pyramids of giza were the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world to survive into the modern era. 虽然腐蚀不可避免，但金字塔的大体积以及炎热的沙漠气候使之存在了5000年之久，吉萨巨大的金字塔，人类和自然都无法将其毁，成为古代七大遗迹中唯一还能矗立在现代社会中的建筑。
★★★ sphinx
★★★ intervention
★ erosion
★ render
modern experts who have studied the sphinx,predict that without human intervention, deterioration from salts and wind erosion could render it a pile of dust within 500 to 1,000 years. 专家通过研究斯芬克斯像，认为如果没有人类的维护，神像经过500－1000年的盐蚀和风化就会成为沙土。
★ leak
★ emergency
if there were humans around, this leak in the dam would get an emergency fix. but those days are long gone. 如果人类还存在，这样的渗露使会马上得到修补，但人类早已消失水坝也无人管理。
★ enormous
★ surge
★★★ cascade
★ valley
★ sweep
some of these dams are absolutely enormous. and if they fail, as they will in time, then the surge of water that falls in behind them and cascades down a valley below would have a huge force, big enough to sweep away everything on its path. 有些水坝非常巨大，一旦决堤，水流便即刻倾泻而下，这种巨大的冲击力会毁灭沿途的一切。
★ strain
fifty years after humans, the strain of neglect is beginning to show on even the best design of manmade structures. 人类消失后的第50年，由于缺乏照看，即使曾经设计最完美的人造建筑也开始不再牢固。
★ inspect
★ maintain
the reason that bridges last so long is because engineers look after them. they inspect them regularly, they maintain them, they paint them, they replace pieces that need to be replaced. 大桥之所以能矗立不倒，皆因工程师的照看和维护，他们对大桥进行定期检查，供养大桥，给大桥上漆，以极更换老化的部件。
★★ deterioration
★ accelerate
without people, without engineers, the deterioration process will accelerate dramatically. 一旦人类消失，瓦解的速度将是相当惊人的。
★★ vulnerable
★★ suspension
bridge
★ vertical
★ cable
the most vulnerable parts of a suspension bridge are the steel vertical hanger cables. 一座吊桥最脆弱的部分，便是那些垂直悬挂的钢索。
★★★ tensile strength
that's an individual wire. that probably has a tensile strength that's maybe 200,000 pounds per square inch. that's a very high strength steel. 这是一条钢索，它能承受每平方英寸20万磅的压力，非常能承压。
★★ corrosion
★ maintenance
the enemy of steel is corrosion. the problem is keeping the water out. part of that is maintenance. if you don't maintain them, you will get corrosion. 因而钢的宿敌也是锈蚀，问题的关键是必须得远离水分子，依靠人类的维护可以解决这一问题，一旦失去人类腐蚀便开始。
★★★ vigilant
★★★ brigade
while across the country in San Francisco, the golden gate bridge was protected at all times by a vigilant brigade of 17 iron workers and 38 painters. 在旧金山的金门大桥，一只由17个烙铁工人和38个油漆工组成的队伍，每天对大桥进行维护。
★ rust
★★ peel off
what happens when that stops? I can tell you what happens when that stops. the cables begin to rust, the paint peels off, the wires begin to break, and they'll come to a point when the bridge is gonna come down. 不那么做又会发生什么，我可以告诉你，缆绳会开始生锈，油漆脱落，钢索开始断裂，一旦达到临界点，整座大桥便会倒塌。
★★ rusted
★★ remnant
seventy-five years after people. most of the 600 million cars that once traveled the roads of the world are now just rusted remnants of the human past. 人类消失后的75年，曾经在全球行驶的6亿多台汽车，被腐蚀只剩下铁壳子。
★★★ deflate
★ rubber
★ synthetic
★ intact
tires deflate within a few years, although the rubber and synthetics they're made of will remain intact for centuries. 虽然橡胶和一些人工合成材料，可以保存近千年， 但气体仍然从轮胎中溢出。
★★ deteriorate
★★★ flake away
★★ corrode
paint deteriorates quickly. and once it flakes away, rust corrodes the car's body at a rate of 5,000ths of an inch per year. 油漆很快脱落，当完全没有油漆后，车身便以每年每英寸5000ths的速度腐蚀。
★ skeleton
★ heap
seventy-five years after humans, most cars, even in the most forgiving of environments, will be reduced to skeletons. after a century, the family car is a barely recognizable heap of metal. 在没有人类的75年时间内，即使在良好环境下保存的汽车，也只剩下一具车架，100年后家用汽车就成为一堆废铜烂铁，难以辨认。
★ cable
★ deck
★★★ railing
★★★ warp
★ sway
as the cables fail, the deck and railings begin to warp and sway. 钢索断裂，桥板和桥栏开始弯曲并摇摆。
★ spill
the deck pulls free, and the roadway spills into the east river. 当桥板支撑不住时，桥面便倒向河底。
★★ contemplate
as an engineer, it's very sad to contemplate that this beautiful iconic structure has got an end to its life. but without maintenance, an end to its life it certainly has. 身为一个工程师，要想像这样一个地标式建筑走向其生命的终点，是一件非常痛苦的事，但是如果没有人的维护，这样的命运必然会发生。
★★★ shred
★★ strand
★★★ cascade
and the answer is they tend to shred and fail, with individual strands starting to fail and then,kind of,cascading, and a whole series of wires then begin to break. 事实上，这些内部的细钢索先开始断裂，然后断裂的内部钢索越来越多，最后整根钢索便断裂开。
★ vertical
★★★ jeopardy
★★ twisted steel
★ crash
a suspension bridge like the golden gate can survive the weakening of one of its vertical cables. but once two or three start to go, the whole bridge is in jeopardy. twisted steel crashes into the waters below. 像金门大桥这样的吊桥,能够承受其中一根钢索的断裂,但是当断裂的钢索越来越多时，整座大桥便处于危险之中，最终倒向河面。
★ permanent
if some of our largest structures have already failed after 100 years, can there be any hope that our civilization will leave a permanent mark after we're gone? 100年后这些大型建筑都会消失，人类到底能否留下一点永恒的痕迹，来证明其曾经的辉煌文明呢?
★★★ vault
★ precious
★★ humidity
our vaults contain our most precious materials, and their biggest enemies are temperature and humidity. 保险柜里藏着人类历史上最珍贵的材料，其面临的最大敌人则是温度和湿气。
★ ideal
★ estimate
★★ shelf life
★ lifespan
★★★ rigor
stored under ideal conditions, paper and film both have an estimated shelf life of 200 to 300 years. but expose them to the rigors of an uncontrolled environment and that lifespan is cut at least in half. 纸制文件和影像资料如果保存环境良好，它们能有200-300多年的寿命，但如果环境不理想，它们的寿命会缩短一半。
★★★ spike
★★ humidity
if all the power went off, probably within a week, we'd see very big spikes in the temperature and humidity. 如果没有电力供应,一周内温度和湿气就将上升.
★ hostile
★★★ cellulose acetate
★★ bubble
★★★ warp
in this hostile environment, cellulose acetate, the most common material used for films and photographs throughout the 20th century begins to bubble and warp. 在这样的环境下，醋酸纤维素，开始起泡变形，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。
★★★ repository
★ collective
★★★ microscopic
★★ invader
in libraries, the great repositories of our collective knowledge, the damage comes from microscopic invaders. 图书馆，人类知识的宝库，破坏从微生物开始
★★★ mold
★★★ spore
★★★ dormant
★★ bide one’s time
although we can't see them, mold spores are on all the surfaces around us, lying dormant, biding their time for the right conditions to strike. 虽然肉眼无法看到它们，真菌孢子无处不在，它们在等待时机反击。
★★★ scroll
★★★ judean
★★★ longevity
★★★ arid
★ exception
the dead sea scrolls survived 2,000 years in caves in the judean desert, owing their longevity to the arid climate and lack of damaging sunlight. but these are rare exceptions. 死海古卷，被保存于沙漠的洞穴中长达2000多年，正是由于低湿气和避免了阳光的直射，才有这么长的寿命，但这仅仅是一个罕见的特例。
★★ intervention
so without human intervention, a book like this might last, at best, another hundred years. 因此在没有人类的干涉之下，这样一本书顶多能保存100年。
★★★ engrave
we know about the ancient egyptians because what they left behind was engraved in stones. 我们之所以能了解古埃及，是因为古人在石壁上留下了各种图案。
★ capture
★★ degrade
our form of capturing knowledge, information, our history, our advancement is typically either in a computerized form, in a CD, or in a printed paper like this. what we have here is something that will degrade over time. it will not last for thousands of years like what the ancient egyptians left behind. 而这种古老的保存信息、文、历史的方式，现在看来只不过一张CD或是一份打印资料，这样的保存方式经不起时间的考验，不可能像老祖宗的石画一样，延续千年。
★★★ ironic
★ durable
★ clay
★★ tablet
it seems pretty ironic that with all of our advances, we still have not come up with anything as durable as clay tablets and stone tools. 很具讽刺意味的是，这就是我们所谓的先进技术，我们现在仍未能找到一种比石刻更经久的，保存信息的方式。
★★★ subterranean
stream
★★★ beam
★★★ archway
★ tunnel
★★ verge
★ collapse
150 years after humans, the subways that had started to flood in the first 36 hours are now flowing subterranean streams. the beams and archways that hold up the roofs of these tunnels are on the verge of collapse. 人类消失后的150年，在首个36小时内即以进水的隧道，现在以成为一条地下暗流，支撑用的桁条和拱道，正处于崩塌的边缘。
★ column
★★★ inundate
★★ corrosion
now, these tunnels are not far below street level. these columns are supporting not just the roof of the tunnel, but the street above. and in time that these tunnels are inundated, flooded with water, corrosion will start to take hold and we'll start to see collapses. 现在隧道已离街面很近了,圆柱形大梁不仅支撑着隧道和顶面,同样支撑着街道,当隧道完全被淹没时,腐蚀便会开始,大梁倒塌也是必然的。
★ echo
★ cement
the tunnels echo with the sound of cracking steel and cement as the streets above are sucked into the underground. 隧道内回荡着钢筋和水泥开裂的声音，街道也开始塌向深渊。
★★★ bustling
★★★ vine
★★★ skyscraper
★★★ crevice
★★★ ledge
above ground, life in the city is once again bustling. vines have grown up the sides of abandoned skyscrapers, adapting to feed off rainwater that pools in crevices and on ledges. 回到地面，城市又一次充满生机，蔓生植物在遗弃的摩天大楼上生长，吸收藏在墙壁裂缝之间的水分。
★★ edible
★ vertical
these vines all start up. and the vines have little branches. it'd be nice if they produce a fruit or something that was edible. you gotta have a plant with some fruit or, some source of energy for animals. and then you would get this vertical ecosystem out there. 蔓生植物很少长有分枝,如果它们结出果实或者任何能吃的东西,就能给动物们,提供能量的来源,这便形成了一个垂直生态系统。
★★★ colosseum
★★★ catacomb
★★ radiate
there's some interesting examples of that around the world. if you go to the colosseum-- you just look in it--it's just loaded with cats. and the old tombs and old catacombs and so on get loaded with cats that use this as a living space from which, then, they radiate out during the day. 有一个很有趣的例子，如果你去过罗马角斗场，往里一看，里面到处都是猫，古老的墓穴成了它们的蔽身之所，一到白天便出来活动。
★★★ feline
★★ descendant
these felines are the descendants of our former house cats. immediately after people were gone, they replaced their human-supplied diets with field mice and small birds. 这些猫儿，是家猫的后代，在人类消失后，他们开始捕食造老鼠和小鸟为生。
★ altitude
★★ bizarrely
★ alter
★★★ cityscape
they are the kings of the new high altitude food chain, with
million-dollar views of a bizarrely altered cityscape.
它们现在处于食物链的顶端，是统治者，又可以在花百万美元修建成的摩天大楼上，欣赏城市奇异的景观。
★★★ squirrel
★★ glide
I suppose, if you wanted to be really imaginative about it,you could say that, eventually, they could be like flying squirrels and so on. they could glide from places. 我猜想...，如果你真的要往那方面想的话，最终他们可能会进化成像鼯鼠一样，能够像滑翔般的移动。
★★ revert
★ ancestor
★★★ interbreed
★★★ pack
★ prey
while some cats have made a great leap forward, many dogs have reverted to the ways of their ancestors. some that have interbred with wolves now fall in packs to bring down larger prey. 猫类也许会向前进化一大步，但许多犬类或许会回归到，其先祖的那种生活方式，有些犬类和狼杂交，其后代皆具两者优点，它们向大型猎物发起冲击。
★★★ placid
★ possess
★ instinct
I think our dogs, as placid as they may seem when they're in our homes lying on the living room floor, still possess the instinct to survive, enough that they would be able to do whatever it took in bringing down prey in order to live. 我认为，曾经安详的躺在人类起居室的狗，其本性尚存，那是一种为了生存而战的本能，它们仍有能力追赶猎物，而不会灭绝。
★★★ teem with
150 years after people, the oceans are teeming with life. 人类消失后的150年，海洋生命同样郁郁葱葱。
★★★ pantry
historically, we've treated the oceans in two strange ways at the same time: a pantry and a toilet. 从历史的角度来看，我们对海洋有两种截然不同的态度，既是食物的来源地，又是人类的垃圾厂。
★★★ allied
★★★ trawler
★★★ skyrocket
during world war ii, allied fishing trawlers avoided the north atlantic, and populations of fish there skyrocketed. 在二战时期，捕鱼船被禁止进入北大西洋，那里的鱼类也得以迅速繁殖。
★★ offspring
★ equivalent
★★ terrestrial
animal
★★★
★ potential
★ reproduce
in here, the basic biology of these kinds of animals is working in our favor because animals like this sunfish can produce millions of offspring in a year, much more than an equivalent-sized terrestrial animal like a cow. and because of that prodigious potential to reproduce, the oceans could come back pretty quickly if the human population were suddenly to disappear. 生物的本能就是繁殖，这些动物正在为我们工作，像这样一条翻车鱼，一年能有数百万的后代，相比同体积下的陆地生物来说，比如说奶，繁殖多得多，正是由于如此巨大的繁殖潜力，人类一旦消失，海洋生命很快便会回复生机。
★★★ havoc
★ be capable
of
★ sustain
★ massive
research has shown that in the 18th century, before the havoc caused by humans, the oceans were capable of sustaining massive amounts of life. 有研究表明，在人类还未开始污染海洋前，也就是18世纪左右，海洋孕育着大量的各种生物。
★★★ stink up
★★★ tuna
★★ turtle
★ vanish
so many whales that they stink up the air; so many tunas that they froth the ocean; so many turtles that you could walk across the sea on their backs. so, if people were to vanish off the face of the earth, then that's the kind of ocean it could be. 鲸鱼浮出海面呼吸，金枪鱼群在海洋中游弋，大量的海龟，你甚至可以踩着它们的背越过大洋，如果人类彻底消失，这样的情形就有可能成为现实。
★★★ seagull
★ flourishing
★★★ treacherous
★★ abundance
seagulls are also flourishing, but it has been a treacherous flight. the abundance of food from humans had allowed gull populations to explode beyond what nature could normally support. 海鸥也欣欣向荣，但它们还要经历一段未来不明确的旅程，由人类提供的丰盛的午餐，使海鸥的数量远远超过自然能承受的限度。
★★★ voracious
an immediate consequence of a world without people would be some very hungry gulls who would be very voraciously looking for other things to eat. 这样人类消失后的直接后果便是，饥饿的海鸥不得不自己去觅食。
★★ icon
★★ on the verge of
★ collapse
★★★ outlive
★ suspension
bridge
★★★ invincible
★★★ superstructure
★★ corrosion
two hundred years after people, from New York to Chicago, seattle and paris, our iron and steel icons are on the verge of collapse. while it has outlived our great suspension bridges, the eiffel tower is not invincible. in the time of humans, its iron superstructure was painted once every seven years to protect it from corrosion. 人类消失后的200年,从纽约到芝加哥,西雅图到巴黎,钢铁结构的标志建筑物也处于崩溃的边缘。虽然埃菲尔铁塔比金门大桥更耐久些，但也并非不可征服。在人类时代，为防止锈蚀，铁塔每隔七年就要进行一次喷漆。
★★★ saturated
★★★ piling
★ lean
in manhattan, over the centuries, saturated soil around the empire state building's foundation pilings have allowed the building to lean. 在曼哈顿，海水经过百年的渗透，帝国大厦地基的泥土已非常潮湿，导致大厦开始倾斜。
★★ stray
★ vertical
★ gravity
★ stress
★★★ skyscraper
★ incline
★★★ gravitational
force
★ collapse
once a building strays from the vertical, then gravity forces are also acting against the structure, increasing the stresses at the base of the building, now we're unlikely to see a skyscraper fall like a tree in the forest. once it does start to incline, gravitational force will cause the top of the building to collapse downward on top of itself. 一旦大楼不再垂直，重力的作用，会使大楼底部承受更多的压力，摩天大楼的倒塌，同树木的倒塌不一样，在重力的作用下，大楼上部一段段自己向下倒塌。
★ decay
★ overtake
★★★ skyscraper
★★ reign
decay has also overtaken the city of Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper. the sears tower, the tallest man-made structure in north America, has reached the end of its reign. 腐烂也已经占领了摩天大楼的发源地芝加哥城，西尔斯大楼，北美最高的人造建筑，也迈入了其辉煌的终点。
★ era
★ decay
★ destruction
the first 500 years after people has been an era of decay and destruction. 人类消失后的500年,是一个腐蚀和毁灭的时代。
★ concrete
★ intact
our concrete structures have lasted the longest. the ancient romans invented the first form of concrete. and some of their structures remained intact for over 2,000 years. 混凝土的结构可以保存最长的时间，古罗马人首先发明了混凝土，当时的一些建筑经过2000多年仍保存完好。
★ durable
★★★ air
pocket
but modern concrete isn't nearly as durable. it has a higher water content and is more loosely packed, which leads to more air pockets and cracks. 但现代混凝土却并不那么经久，有相当高的水分在里面，而且内部结构也很松散，这样的结构使其内部产生气泡和裂缝。
★★ fatal
flaw
★ reinforce
★★★ mesh
★★ corrode
★ maintain
★★★ alkaline
modern concrete structures have another fatal flaw. below the surface of reinforced concrete structures, there is a mesh of steel reinforcing bars and they don't corrode because the concrete maintains an alkaline environment around them. now, when that alkalinity breaks down, as it will in time, then the steel will start to corrode. 而且现代混凝土还有另外一个致命缺陷，为了加强混凝土的强度，我们都会加上一些钢筋网，这些钢筋不会腐蚀，因为它们处在碱性环境下。但随着时间的推移，碱性下降，钢筋便开始锈蚀。
★ radically
★ transformation
★★★ onslaught
New York city, like the rest of the planet, has changed radically. the transformation is most shocking in times square as the once beating heart of the city is silenced by nature's onslaught. 纽约同世界其他地方一样，被彻底的改变，曾经是纽约市中心的时代广场，在大自然的冲击改变下，发生着不可思议的转变，最终慢慢沉静下来。
★★★ millennium
★ vanish
★ trace
it's 10,000 years after people. could it be possible after only 10 millennia that humanity has vanished without a trace? 人类消失后的一万年，仅仅是在一千年后多加个零么?
★ predict
★ infinite
human scientists once predicted that our history and culture would live on through our radio and television broadcasts, which carry on through the universe toward the infinite, perhaps to be tuned in by an intelligent species on a distant planet. 人类的科学家曾预测，我们的文化和历史可以通过，无线电波和电视广播永远继续下去，向着广袤的宇宙无限延伸，或许某个星球的智慧生物就会接收到。
★ alert
★★★ extraterrestrial
★★★ dissipate
some people think that there's an expanding shell of radio and
television from earth, expanding outward alerting the universe,
"here we are and this is our culture." unfortunately, recent
calculations by of all people, the seti, search for
extraterrestrial intelligence group, has shown that all of this
dissipates within one and two light-years into noise.
有人认为应该向宇宙发送电波"我们在这里
★★ corrode
★★ crumble
★ decay
so what will remain 10,000 years after people to tell the story of the once great civilizations that walked the earth? iron corrodes, concrete crumbles, wood and paper decay. still, some of what man built on earth remains. 那么一万年后，到底还有什么能够，证明我们曾经生活在这个星球之上，并创造过辉煌的文明? 钢铁锈蚀，混凝土崩碎，木材和书本腐烂，仍然会有一些人造物遗留在这个星球。
★★★ colossal
★ massive
★ subject to
★ scale
★★★ eon
the most colossal of our stone structures like the great wall of china have aged like mountains, subject to erosion, but at such slow time scales, they will still be recognizable in some form for eons. the great pyramid at giza is so massive that it lasts long enough to be swallowed up by the desert sands. 历史悠久的巨大的石建筑，像中国的万里长城，虽然也逃不过侵蚀，但侵蚀过程相当缓慢，即使万年之后仍清晰可辨，吉萨的金字塔，是如此巨大，虽然不断被沙漠吞噬，但仍可矗立很长一段时间。
★ tough
★★★ canyon
★ collapse
the hoover dam built to be as tough as the canyon walls around it is one of the last man-made structures still standing. but now thousands of years in the future, earth is about to be visited by the last of the great collapses. 建造得像峡谷一样坚硬的胡佛大坝，是还能矗立不倒的最后一件人造建筑，再过几千年，地球又将经历最后的大崩塌。
★ exception
★★★ granite
★★★ ecologically
★★★ pellet of
rain
★★★ awe
it's the environment that eventually wins. earthquakes, sandstorms, rain. but there are a few exceptions. I would have to say that mount rushmore, carved out of solid granite in an ecologically stable place, the only enemy it has is wind-driven pellets of rain. I think that mount rushmore may be around a hundred thousand years, possibly 200. possibly even in time to be looked at in awe by the earliest of our replacements. 自然最终取得胜利,地震、沙暴、暴雨。但也有几处例外，拉什莫尔山的石刻雕像，用坚硬的花岗岩雕刻而成，化学性质非常稳定，唯一的敌人是，由风刮来的水滴。我认为拉什莫尔山的雕像能存活万年以上，很有可能坚持上2万年，甚至还能赶上人类早期继任者的出现，他们也会用敬佩的眼光看着这些雕像。
★★★ chimpanzee
★ leap
and who or what might those replacements be? perhaps chimpanzees might somehow make the leap. 那么这些人类的继任者会是什么呢? 或许黑猩猩会有较大的进化。
★ stare
★★ contemplate
★ sheer
★ leap
★ humanity
but we have to consider this: some scientists believe that it's easy for nature to bring animals up to a clever level where they might use tools, they might become masters of their environment. but the leap to being able to stare at the sky and imagine a cosmos, to be able to contemplate yourself, to be able to contemplate your own role in the earth, this may be a leap that was a sheer accident for humanity. 但值得思考的是：一些科学家认为，自然把动物演化成智慧生物并不难，它们会使用工具，会成为环境的主宰。但要进化成能想像宇宙，能独立思考，能思考自己所处位置的，这样一群智慧生物，则可能是一种偶然。
★ condense
★ fraction
★ abandon
if earth's 4.5 billion years of existence were condensed into 24 hours, the passage of 10,000 years would be a fraction of a second. man's time on the planet so far would be about half a minute long so, like an abandoned village on a global scale the earth will move on without us there was life before people. there will be life after people. 如果把地球45亿年的历史压缩成24个小时，一万年的时间也只不过是零点几秒，人类存活在这个星球上的时间，也仅有半分钟长。就像是在世界范围内一座遗弃的小村庄，地球没有人类依然会旋转，人类之前有生命。
附：许泽传老师【看纪录片学单词】系列作品集
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