評論
打印
Science and technology
科學技術
Deep-sea exploration
深海探索
The age of Aquarius 1
寶瓶時代1
Inner space is almost as hard to explore as outer space
探太空難，察深海亦不易
Have you seen Cameron's latest?
卡梅隆的新作你看了嗎？
JAMES CAMERON knows how to make a splash.
詹姆斯·卡梅隆知道怎么制造轟動。
Literally.
確實是這樣。
On March 25th the director of The Terminator, Titanic and Avatar plunged into the Challenger Deep2 of the Mariana Trench, 500km from Guam.
3月25日，這位執導過終結者、泰坦尼克和阿凡達的導演來到了距關島500千米的馬里亞納海溝，一頭扎進了挑戰者深淵。
When he reached the bottom, he sent a self-congratulatory tweet, and then tootled about for a couple of hours before taking Deepsea Challenger, his lime-green one-man submarine, back up the 11km to the surface.
當他到達海底的時候，他發了一條慶祝自己的推特，接著又嘮叨了大概兩個小時，才上浮11千米將他石灰青色的單人潛艇-深海挑戰者號帶出海面。
This venture certainly scores high in the jaw-dropping department.
這次冒險在勁爆度這方面當然是拿下高分。
The only other people to plumb the Challenger Deep—as its name suggests, the most profound point in the ocean—were Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, who did so in 1960, in a vessel called Trieste.
此外只有雅克·皮卡和唐納德·沃爾什探索過挑戰者深淵—正如其名，它是海洋的最深點—他倆于1960年駕駛里雅斯特號深海潛艇下潛至此處。
The latest dive, however, was not very successful on the scientific front.
然而，這新近一潛在科學層面卻并不那么成功，
It brought back no specimens.
因為它沒有帶回任何標本。
This was in sharp contrast to a less publicised mission, to the paltry depth of 2.5km, where the pressure is a mere 250 times that of the atmosphere.
這與一項不太為人所知的行動形成了鮮明對比，后者只下潛到區區2.5千米，承受了250個大氣壓。
This was organised by Ifremer, France's oceanographic institute.
這次行動是由法國海洋開發研究院組織實施，
Its three-man craft, Nautile, not only brought back samples, but brought them back alive.
派出三人潛艇鸚鵡螺號，不僅帶回了標本，而且個個活蹦亂跳。
That is no mean feat. Because creatures of the deep ocean have evolved to tolerate so much pressure, their cell membranes tend to liquefy when that pressure is released.
那可真不簡單。因為深海生物已經進化得能夠耐受如此高壓，一旦壓力消失，它們的細胞膜就會溶解。
To stop this happening Nautile's samples were transported in a special chamber called PERISCOP.
為了不讓這種情況發生，鸚鵡螺號上的標本被置于一個叫做潛望鏡的特殊腔體中進行運輸。
This chamber, designed by Bruce Shillito and Gerard Hamel, of Pierre and Marie Curie University, in Paris, is a tank with a capacity of 2.7 litres which is capable of containing a pressure of more than 200 atmospheres.
這個腔體由巴黎居里大學的布魯斯?希利托和杰拉德·哈默設計，就是一個容量2.7升的水罐，能夠承受200個大氣壓的壓強。
In 2008 PERISCOP was used to reel in a live fish from a then-record depth of 2.3km.
2008年，潛望鏡曾被用來從深海打回一條活魚，2.8千米的深度在當時創了記錄。
The fish had been living near an underwater hot spring, known as a hydrothermal vent, in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
那條魚生活在中大西洋海脊的一個水下熱泉附近，也就是所謂的深海熱液噴口。
This time, Nautile's mother ship, L'Atalante, had spent three weeks trawling around a similar vent in the East Pacific Ridge as part of the MESCAL project, a collaboration between a dozen American and European oceanographic research institutions.
這一次，鸚鵡螺號的母船亞特蘭大號在東太平洋海脊一處相似的熱泉附近網了三個星期魚，這也是歐美十幾個海洋研究所合作項目龍舌蘭的一部分。
On March 26th she sailed into Manzanillo, in Mexico, bearing a trove of specimens including a dozen or so Pompeii worms.
3月26日，亞特蘭大號滿載著捕魚所獲—包括大約十幾只龐貝蟲在內的眾多標本，駛入了墨西哥的曼薩尼略港。
These polychaetes are the most heat-tolerant animals known.
這些多毛類環蟲是已知最耐熱的動物。
They are able to live at 60C. Biologists would like to understand how they do it.
它們能在60攝氏度的環境中生存。生物學家想要了解它們如何做到這點的。
To help them find out L'Atalante has been fitted with a second chamber, BALIST, into which PERISCOP's catch can be transferred.
為了幫助生物學家找出所以然，亞特蘭大號安裝了一個附加的腔體十字弓，潛望鏡捕獲的生物可以轉移進去。
Researchers on board ship were thus able to study the worms alive for several weeks.
這樣，載駁船上的研究人員就能夠在數周時間中研究活體蟲子。
For the unfortunate worms, however, Manzanillo was the end of the line.
但是，對于這些不幸的蟲兒來說，曼薩尼略就是它們生命的終點。
They were killed, frozen and transported back to France.
它們被殺死，冷凍后運回到法國。
Future trophies may be luckier.
以后的戰利品也許不會這么倒霉。
Ifremer's researchers are searching for a way to keep deep-sea animals alive indefinitely, so that their entire life cycles can be studied.
法國海洋開發研究院的研究人員們正在尋求一種能使深海動物無限期存活的方法，如果成功，動物的整個生命周期都可以加以研究。
This means building high-pressure, onshore fish tanks.
這意味著需要建造若干陸基的、能耐高壓的養魚水罐。
On April 7th the Océanopolis, a big aquarium in Brest, will unveil two such chambers.
4月7日，在法國布雷斯特的大型水族館-海洋之都，兩個這樣的腔體就將揭幕。
Each Abyss Box3 , as the contraptions are known, costs 100,000 and contains 16 litres of seawater held at 180 atmospheres.
這些精巧的設計被叫做箱中深淵3，每個耗資10萬歐元，能以180個大氣壓容納16升海水。
Crucially, each has a window: a glass visor 15cm across and 8cm thick.
最為重要的是，每個箱子都有一個15厘米寬、8厘米厚的玻璃盔甲觀察窗。
At the moment, one of the boxes is inhabited by 43 deep-sea shrimps.
此時此刻，一個箱子里面住了43只深海蝦，另一個里面是3只螃蟹。
The other houses three crabs. Both come from Atlantic vents located around 1.8km below the surface.
這些住客都是來自大約1.8千米深處的大西洋海底泉口。
It will be the first time members of the public who are not James Cameron have had a chance to behold such creatures alive.
對于詹姆斯·卡梅隆之外的公眾而言，將首次有機會目睹這些生物的活體。
