It's 1872 and Andrew Carnegie,a 5-foot-3 Scottish immigrant iron millionaire, is in Sheffield, England.
1872年,安德魯·卡內基,5英尺3英寸高的蘇格蘭移民,鋼鐵大王正在英國謝菲爾德
He's looking at the future.
他看到了未來
A revolutionary way to make steel.
一種革命性的煉鋼方式
Steel has been around for thousands of years,but so expensive to produce, it's always been a luxury item.
鋼已有幾千年的歷史,但制造成本高昂,所以鋼通常是一種奢侈品
2,000 years ago it's used in Oriental swords.
2000年前,東方用鋼來鑄劍
It is even used in designer jewelry.
甚至用于珠寶設計
But America stands at the brink of a new age.
但是美國人正處于新時代的開端
To build it, they need steel-- and lots of it.
為了大興土木,他們需要大量的鋼
It's the only material strong enough for the towers that will touch the sky.
鋼是唯一一種夠堅固,足以支撐起摩天大樓的材料
An English bullet maker is showing Carnegie a new but simple method of producing steel.
一家英國的子彈制造廠向卡內基,展示了一種新穎而簡單的煉鋼方式
He's stunned.
他大為震驚
Blast hot air through molten iron.
用熱空氣猛吹融化了的鐵
Carbon impurities burn off.
使碳之類的雜質燒盡
You get the wonder material. Steel.
便可得到這一非凡之物,鋼
For the first time, it can be produced quickly and inexpensively.
有史以來第一次,使得快速和低成本煉鋼成為現實
If Carnegie can use this Bessemer process to mass-produce it...he'll own the future.
如果卡內基能夠把貝塞麥煉鋼法用于大規模生產,他將掌握未來
Carnegie returns to the States, to Pittsburgh,to start building the biggest steel plant in the world.
卡內基回到美國匹茲堡著手籌建世界上最大的煉鋼廠
It'll be larger than 80 football fields.
比80個足球場還要大
It's a massive gamble.
這是一場豪賭
Carneg risks everything he's got on the new plant.
卡內基把全副身家都押在這個新煉鋼廠上
But only months into construction...disaster.
但才建了幾個月,災難降臨
A catastrophic stock-market collapse.
股市全面崩潰
The economy is in free fall.
經濟大幅衰退
He has to borrow even more money and barely scrapes through.
他不得不借更多的錢勉強度過難關
August 1875.Against all odds, Carnegie's giant furnaces are ready to test.
1875年8月,歷經千辛萬苦卡內基的巨型煉鋼熔爐準備進行測試
Steel production is phenomenally dangerous.
煉鋼的危險性極高
Inside, 5 tons of molten metal.3,000 degrees.Hot enough to vaporize a man in seconds.
熔爐里是5噸融化的金屬,溫度高達3000華氏度,足以把一個人在數秒內化為蒸汽
If it works,it will make Carnegie one of the richest men in the world.
如果能成功煉鋼,卡內基將成為世界首富
But there's a lot more at stake.
但此事意義重大,遠不止于此
Skyscrapers, cars, washing machines, airplanes, even space travel.
摩天大樓、汽車、洗衣機、飛機甚至太空旅行
None of it can happen if steel can't be mass-produced.
如果不能實現鋼的大規模生產,這一切都無從談起
