時差N小時:再見芝加哥 Farewell Chicago

Don:Yael, I'm going to take some vacation time so Ican visit Chicago before it sinks and disappears.

唐:雅艾爾,我要休假,這樣我就能在芝加哥下沉，消失之前去這個地方看看了。

I mean, I'd like to see the Sears Tower and eat somedeep-dish pizza before it goes.

我想看看西爾斯大廈，還要吃一些加厚比薩餅。

Yael:Relax, Don. Although Chicago is sinking, we'reonly talking one millimeter a year—

雅艾爾:冷靜點,唐。雖然芝加哥正在下沉,但我們所講的是一年一毫米的速度。

Don:But that's four inches in a century!

唐:但一個世紀就是4英寸!

Yael:But only until the land in North America brings itself back into equilibrium.

雅艾爾:但只要北美的土地恢復平衡后就會好了。

Don:What do you mean?

唐:此話怎講?

Yael:Well, when glaciers coveredCanada and the northern Great Lakes tens of thousands of years ago, their weight pushed downon the Earth's surface and caused it to sag.

雅艾爾:嗯,數萬年前冰川覆蓋加拿大和北方的大湖時,其體積造成地球表面下沉。

And this pressure forced the Earth's mantle, the layer of hot, plastic rock that's locatedbeneath the Earth's crust, to give way and ooze out and sideways.

而這種壓力迫使地球地殼中的熱層地幔層的塑性巖石垮掉并移到一邊。

Don:Oh! It's like the Earth is a giant waterbed.

唐:哦!這就像地球是一個巨大的水床。

When you lie down on it, the surface of the mattress under you sinks, forcing the water intoother parts of the mattress.

當你躺下,床墊的表面隨你下沉而迫使水到床墊的其他部分。

Yael:You have a water bed?

雅艾爾:你有張水床?

Don:But of course.

唐:當然。

Yael:Anyway. In the twelve thousand years since the glaciers receded, the Earth's crust hasbeen slowly returning to its original shape.

雅艾爾:不管怎樣。在一萬二千年,自從冰川消退后,地殼開始逐漸恢復到原來的形狀。

So the land in Canada and the northern Great Lakes is slowly rising, while the rest of NorthAmerica is slowly sinking, like a seesaw, enabling the mantle to flow back north.

所以加拿大和北部五大湖的土地慢慢上升,而北美的其他地方在慢慢下沉,這就像個蹺蹺板,使地幔向北移動。

And as the Lake Michigan floor north of Green Bay rises, all that water sloshes south towardsChicago.

而隨著密西根湖樓格林貝北部的上升,水也朝向芝加哥南部。

Don:Kind of like tilting a bathtub.

唐:有點像傾斜的浴缸。

Yael:Yep.

雅艾爾:是的。

Don:Hmm! So even if I don't have to rush out for pizza, it does sound like an issue from aGreat Lakes management perspective.

唐:嗯!所以即使我不用急著去那里吃披薩,這聽起來確實是五大湖管理面臨的管理前景問題。

Yael:It sure is.

雅艾爾:的確是這樣。