研究人员：在希腊发现了铅污染的最古老证据
📖 逐句对照翻译
Ancient Greece produced the earliest records of democracy - and, scientists now say, lead pollution.
古希腊产生了最早的民主记录——科学家现在表示，还有铅污染。
That is the finding of a study that recently appeared in Communications Earth and Environment.
这是最近发表在《通讯-地球与环境》上的一项研究的发现。
The researchers studied sediment cores removed from mainland Greece and below the Aegean Sea.
研究人员研究了从希腊大陆和爱琴海海底提取的沉积物岩芯。
They found in the cores the oldest known evidence of lead pollution in the environment dating back around 5,200 years.
他们在岩芯中发现了已知最古老的环境铅污染证据，其历史可追溯至约5200年前。
That is 1,200 years older than the former oldest evidence of lead pollution.
这比之前发现的最早铅污染证据还要早1200年。
That evidence was discovered in Serbia.
那个证据是在塞尔维亚发现的。
In ancient times, lead was released into the atmosphere as a product of copper and silver production.
在古代，铅作为铜和银生产的副产品被释放到大气中。
The toxic, or poisonous, metal turned to dust over time and settled onto the soil.
这种有毒的金属随时间化为尘埃，落定在土壤上。
Joseph Maran of Heidelberg University was a co-writer of the new study.
海德堡大学的约瑟夫·马兰是这项新研究的合著者之一。
“Silver was used for jewelry, for special objects — but it wasn't found in a pure state,” it was mined in ore combined with lead, Maran said
马兰说：“白银被用于制作珠宝和特殊物品——但它并非以纯净状态存在”，而是从与铅结合的矿石中开采出来的。
The place with the earliest signs of lead is in northeastern Greece, near the island of Thasos.
最早出现铅迹象的地方位于希腊东北部，靠近萨索斯岛。
Past evidence suggests Thasos was one of the area’s most important places for silver mining and metalwork, said Maran.
马兰表示，过去的证据表明，萨索斯岛是该地区最重要的银矿开采和金属加工地之一。
Yale historian Joseph Manning, who was not involved in the study, said “Lead released from smelting is the world’s first form of toxic or industrial pollution.”
耶鲁大学历史学家约瑟夫·曼宁没有参与这项研究，他说：“冶炼过程中释放的铅是世界上最早的有毒或工业污染形式。”
The researchers found that levels of lead contamination remained fairly low in ancient Greece.
研究人员发现，古希腊的铅污染水平相对较低。
The levels remained low throughout the Bronze Age, the Classical period and the Hellenistic period.
在青铜时代、古典时期和希腊化时期，这些水平一直保持低位。
The Classical period is famous for Athenian democracy, and the thinkers Socrates and Plato.
古典时期以雅典民主、思想家苏格拉底和柏拉图而闻名。
And the Hellenistic period saw Greek cultural influence reach its height across the Mediterranean.
希腊化时期，希腊文化的影响在地中海地区达到了顶峰。
But the new study shows that around 2,150 years ago “a very strong and abrupt increase" in lead releases caused by human activities took place across Greece, said co-writer Andreas Koutsodendris of Heidelberg University.
但海德堡大学的合著者安德烈亚斯·库措登德里斯表示，这项新研究显示，大约2150年前，希腊各地因人类活动导致的铅释放量出现了“非常强烈且突然的增长”。
Around that time, the Roman army won control of the Greek peninsula, completely changing the area’s society and economy.
大约在那个时候，罗马军队赢得了对希腊半岛的控制权，彻底改变了该地区的社会和经济。
As Roman trade, colonies and shipping grew across the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, demand for silver coins also grew.
随着罗马贸易、殖民地和航运在地中海和黑海地区的不断发展，对银币的需求也随之增长。
As a result, more smelting was required, Koutsodendris said.
库索登德里斯说，因此需要更多的冶炼。
Later the Roman Empire used lead to make tools for eating and building, including pipes.
后来，罗马帝国使用铅来制造饮食和建筑工具，包括管道。
Past research – including a study of ice cores from Greenland – had detected high levels of lead across much of the Northern Hemisphere during Roman times.
过去的研究——包括一项对格陵兰岛冰芯的研究——已经发现在罗马时代，北半球大部分地区都存在高水平的铅。
But the new study adds a more exact “and local picture to how lead levels changed,” said Nathan Chellman.
但内森·切尔曼表示，这项新研究为铅含量的变化提供了一个更精确且局部的图景。
Chellman, an environmental scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, was not involved in the research.
切爾曼是內華達大學雷諾分校的環境科學家，並未參與這項研究。
I'm John Russell.
我是约翰·拉塞尔。
Christina Larson reported on this story for the Associated Press.
克里斯蒂娜·拉森为美联社报道了这一事件。
John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.
约翰·拉塞尔为VOA英语学习频道改编了它。
