Learn with Brilliant for 20% off by being one of the first 200 people to sign up at Brilliant.org/reallifelore

在Brilliant.org/reallifelore報名的前200名，可享受20%的優惠。

During the time that the British ruled India

在英國統治印度期間

The British Government became concerned about the number of venomous snakes around Delhi

英國政府開始關注德里周圍毒蛇的數量。

So they began offering a reward

於是他們開始懸賞

for every dead cobra that people brought them.

每一條死掉的眼鏡蛇，人們給他們帶來。

This worked out OK for a time

暫時還行

Until smart people began realizing

直到聰明人開始意識到

that you could simply breed the snakes in large numbers

你可以簡單地繁殖蛇的大量的

And turn them all in for a reward

把他們都交出來，以換取獎勵

When the British found out about this

當英國人發現了這一點

they cancelled the whole program

他們取消了整個節目

and the snake breeders let their now worthless cobras go

蛇類飼養者讓他們現在不值錢的眼鏡蛇走了。

and as a result

結果

the cobra population actually increased

眼鏡蛇數量增加

Ever since then

從此以後

whenever somebody tries to solve a problem

逢人便講

with a solution that end up making the original problem even worse

欲速則不達

the situation has been called the cobra effect

眼鏡蛇效應

And one of the worst cobra effects in history

也是歷史上最糟糕的眼鏡蛇效應之一。

took place here in the Soviet Union

在蘇聯這裡發生的

during the last half of the twentieth century

二十世紀後半期的發展

on a lake that used to be called The Aral Sea

在鹹海湖上

For all of recorded human history

在人類歷史上

The Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake

鹹海是世界第四大湖泊。

and a vital piece of the local ecosystem that surrounded it.

以及圍繞著它的當地生態系統的重要一環。

It was roughly the same size as Ireland

它的面積與愛爾蘭大致相同

And supported a thriving community of fishing towns and port cities.

並支撐起了一個繁榮的漁城和港口城市的社會。

And when you look at different world maps over the past few centuries

而當你看到過去幾個世紀的不同世界地圖時

You'll always see something there

你總會看到一些東西

and even when you look at pictures taken from airplanes in the 1960's

甚至當你看到從60年代的飛機上拍攝的照片的時候

You can clearly see that it's there

你可以清楚地看到它在那裡

But then compare all of these images with an image taken by NASA just last year

但是，再把所有這些圖片與美國宇航局去年剛剛拍攝的一張圖片進行對比。

This is the same lake in the same place today

這就是今天同一個地方的湖泊。

So, what happened to all of it?

那麼，這些東西怎麼了？

Tracing satellite images back from the past few decades can start to unravel part of the mystery

追溯過去幾十年的衛星影像，可以開始揭開部分謎團。

These pictures show that the lake began drying up in the 1960's, when it was last full

這些圖片顯示，湖水在20世紀60年代開始乾涸，最後一次滿湖的時候

So, what caused it all to start in the first place?

那麼，當初是什麼原因導致了這一切的發生呢？

The short answer is Stalin

簡而言之，就是斯大林

But there's more behind the story than just that

但背後的故事還不止於此。

During the soviet unions existence

在蘇維埃聯盟存在期間

The Aral Sea alone provided 1/6th of all the fish in the country

僅鹹海就提供了全國1/6的魚。

And employed more than 40,000 people

並僱傭了4萬多人

but a few poor decisions ended up erasing this entire natural landmark

但幾個錯誤的決定最終抹去了整個自然地標。

and all of those jobs from the surface of the Earth

以及所有這些來自地球表面的工作。

You see, this guy named Stalin became the leader of the USSR

你看，這個叫斯大林的傢伙成了蘇聯的領導人。

And he believed that his government could transform nature itself to benefit his people

而且他相信他的政府可以改造自然本身，以造福人民。

There are two rivers that used to feed the Aral Sea

有兩條河流曾經是鹹海的水源。

The Amu Darya in the south

南方的阿姆河

And the Syr Darya in the east

而東邊的錫爾達里亞

Stalin's plan was to have his engineers divert water from both of these rivers

斯大林的計劃是讓他的工程師從這兩條河裡引水過來

by digging canals towards new fields that would be planted across Uzbekistan

在烏茲別克斯坦全國各地開挖新田地的運河。

That would begin growing cotton

那將開始種植棉花

The plan was to make cotton a major Soviet export at any cost

計劃是不惜一切代價，讓棉花成為蘇聯的主要出口產品。

And little regard was given to what would happen to the Aral and the community surrounding it

而很少考慮到阿拉爾和周圍社區的情況。

And for a time, it kind of worked

有一段時間，它有點工作

By 1988, Uzbekistan became the world's largest producer of cotton

到1988年，烏茲別克斯坦成為世界上最大的棉花生產國。

And the Soviets were exporting it across the world

蘇聯人將它出口到世界各地

But it was coming at a massive cost

但這是要付出巨大代價的

Those canals that the Soviets began finishing in the 1960's

蘇聯在20世紀60年代開始整理的那些運河。

were not only taking enormous amounts of water from the lake

不僅從湖中抽取了大量的水，而且還從湖中抽取了大量的水。

but they were also insanely inefficient and leaked constantly

但它們的效率也非常低下，並且不斷地洩漏。

As a result, the fourth largest lake in the world began steadingly drying up

是以，世界第四大湖泊開始逐漸乾涸。

By 1998, it had shrunk to just 60 percent of its original size

到1998年，它的規模已經縮小到只有原來的60%。

And by 2004, it was down to only 25 percent of its original size

而到了2004年，它的規模只剩下了原來的25%。

But in addition to this, the other half of the disaster was the rapidly increasing levels of salt

但除此之外，災難的另一半是鹽分的急劇增加。

that the lake was getting

湖水越來越多

What remained of the lake in 2004 was five times saltier than it was back in the 1960's

2004年，湖水中殘留的鹽分是上世紀60年代的5倍。

Which meant that basically the entire ecosystem and the creatures that once lived in and around it

這意味著，基本上整個生態系統和曾經生活在其中的生物和周圍的生態系統

were gone

消失了

the larges coastal port town named Heralsk

沿海最大的港口城市Heralsk。

That was the center of the lake's fishing economy

那是湖區漁業經濟的中心地帶。

was now located over a hundred kilometers away from the water

現在位於距離水面一百多公里的地方。

and was surrounded by dried up, worthless land

四周都是乾涸的不值錢的土地。

As the lake receded further, it created a new gigantic desert

隨著湖水的進一步退去，它形成了一個新的巨大的沙漠。

instead, covered in salt that made it worthless for things like agriculture

而不是用鹽來代替，使它不適合做農活等事情

But that's still not the end of the tragedy

但是，這還不是悲劇的結束。

Because the lake was often used as a dumping ground for toxic chemicals and weapons for decades, too

因為幾十年來，該湖也經常被用作有毒化學品和武器的傾倒場。

Now with the lake bed exposed

現在湖床已經露出來了

those chemicals and weapons were just sitting out in the open

這些化學品和武器只是坐在外面的開放。

and the winds have began kicking all of this up into huge toxic dust storms

風開始把這些東西踢成巨大的有毒沙塵暴

that ravage across the landscape

漫天飛舞

Life around the former Aral Sea today, is a harsh one.

如今，前鹹海一帶的生活，是很殘酷的。

Infant moratlity is very high, at 75 deaths per 1,000 births

嬰兒死亡率非常高，每1 000名新生兒有75名死亡；

If the Aral Sea region were its own country, that would be the fifth worst rate in the world

如果鹹海地區是自己的國家，那將是世界上第五個最差的比率。

Even worse than countries like Nigeria or Mali

甚至比尼日利亞或馬裡等國家還糟糕

The cotton boom that was once exploding in Uzbekistan

烏茲別克斯坦曾經爆發的棉花熱潮

has been challenged by the rampant dust storms that deposity salt and toxins across their fields

已受到沙塵暴肆虐的挑戰，鹽分和毒素沉積在他們的田地裡。

Even more water is being used from the Aral Sea rivers to wash away the salt

更多的水從鹹海的河流中被用來洗去鹽分。

and the lake is just a fraction of what it once was

而湖水只是它曾經的一小部分。

Down to only 10% of its original size now

現在只剩下原來的10%了

There are plans to revive the lake

有計劃恢復該湖的活力

In both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

在哈薩克斯坦和烏茲別克斯坦

but so far the legacy of bad soviet engineering policy still looms high

但至今為止，蘇聯劣質工程政策的遺留問題仍舊高高在上

over the lives of those who still live here

對那些仍然生活在這裡的人的生活的影響

and haven't fled from one of the worst cobra effects in history

並沒有從歷史上最嚴重的眼鏡蛇效應中逃出來。

If you want to become an engineer that will hopefully work on more successful projects in the future

如果你想成為一名工程師，希望將來能在更多的成功項目中工作。

Two things you absolutely need a solid grasp on are math and physics

你絕對需要紮紮實實地掌握兩樣東西，就是數學和物理。

And Brilliant is a great place to quickly learn about both

而輝煌是一個很好的地方，可以快速瞭解到這兩點

because their courses breakdown concepts into their intuitive principles

因為他們的課程將概念分解為他們的直觀原理。

and then build them back up

然後再把它們建起來

so you aren't simply memorizing things

所以你不是簡單的記憶力

You're understanding them instead

你在理解他們，而不是

Whether you want help with understanding the way engineers think

無論你是想了解工程師的思維方式，還是想得到幫助。

through courses like calculus, classical mechanics, or you're interested in other interesting stuff

通過微積分、古典力學等課程，或者你對其他有趣的東西感興趣。

like logic, probablility, computer science, or more

如邏輯學、概率學、計算機科學，或更多的

They really put a ton of effort into making each and every class as perfect as can be

他們真的付出了大量的努力，讓每一節課都儘可能的完美。

and best of all, you can sign up for brilliant at brilliant.org/RealLifeLore

最重要的是，你可以在 brilliant.org/RealLifeLore 上註冊輝煌。

and get access to some courses for free

並免費獲得一些課程

and then, by being one of the first 200 people

然後，通過成為首批200人中的一員。

to use that same link in the description

在描述中使用相同的鏈接

you'll also get 20% off whenever you upgrade to premium

只要您升級到高級會員，您還將獲得20%的折扣。

And you'll also be helping to support RealLifeLore at the same time

同時，您還可以幫助支持RealLifeLore。

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you again next week

謝謝你的觀看，我們下週再見