So Africa, as a continent has obviously not been the most fortunate of all the 54 countries that exist here today, none were dealt a favorable hand from either a historical or a geographic perspective after being conquered by Europeans, having their borders all arbitrarily drawn up and then occupied for generations.

是以，非洲作為一個大陸顯然不是今天所有54個國家中最幸運的，在被歐洲人征服後，沒有一個國家從歷史或地理角度得到有利的手，他們的邊界都是任意劃定的，然後被佔領了好幾代。

Most of Africa's modern countries became independent throughout the 19 fifties, sixties and seventies.

在整個19世紀50年代、60年代和70年代，大多數非洲的現代國家都獲得了獨立。

And ever since then some have fared better than others, specifically when it comes to access to one of the most critical resources of modern civilization.

從那時起，一些人的情況就比其他人好，特別是在獲得現代文明最關鍵的資源之一時。

Electricity.

電力。

There is a stark contrast between the arab states of North Africa where access to electricity is nearly universal and the dozens of countries beneath them in sub Saharan Africa, where electricity is significantly more spotty.

北非的阿拉伯國家與撒哈拉以南非洲的幾十個國家之間存在著鮮明的對比，前者的電力供應幾乎是普遍的，而後者的電力供應則明顯更加零散。

Some countries deep in the continental interior like chad the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have less than 10% of their populations with electricity access.

一些深入大陸內陸的國家，如中非共和國、南蘇丹和剛果民主共和國，只有不到10%的人口能夠用上電。

But of all the countries within sub Saharan Africa, there are five who currently stand out as having significantly more access to electricity than any of the others.

但是，在撒哈拉以南非洲的所有國家中，有五個國家目前在電力供應方面比其他任何國家都要突出。

With at least 85% of their populations being hooked up.

他們中至少有85%的人口被掛上了鉤。

South Africa, s Bottini kenya gabon and the highlight of this video Ghana, There are many interesting reasons as to how each of them managed to pull this off that almost always have involved some kind of sacrifice or compromise, but none are as wild as Ghana who in order to do so sacrificed more than 3.5% of her total land area where more than 80,000 people once lived by flooding it and in so doing, also created humanity's largest artificially made lake.

南非，博蒂尼，肯亞，加蓬，以及本視頻的亮點加納，有很多有趣的原因來說明他們每個人是如何做到這一點的，幾乎都涉及到某種犧牲或妥協，但沒有人像加納那樣瘋狂，為了做到這一點，她犧牲了超過3.5%的總土地面積，8萬多人曾經生活在那裡，把它淹沒，這樣做也創造了人類最大的人工湖。

Allow me to explain the british showed up in the 19th century and basically carved out a colony with Ghana's rough modern boundaries that they called at the time the Gold Coast because they were primarily interested in using it as a trading post for gold.

請允許我解釋一下，英國人在19世紀出現了，並基本上在加納粗略的現代邊界上劃出了一塊殖民地，他們當時稱之為黃金海岸，因為他們主要是想把它作為一個黃金貿易站。

Coming in from the west african interior naturally as with all african colonies, the british created these artificial borders across a multitude of people with a multitude of languages, religious faiths and ethnic identities.

與所有非洲殖民地一樣，英國人從西非內陸自然而然地來到這裡，在擁有多種語言、宗教信仰和種族身份的眾多人群中創造了這些人工邊界。

Then, after more than a century of british colonial rule in what became known as Ghana eventually achieved independence in 1957 and was led by this man, Kwame Nkrumah who set out as chief goals as president as abolishing Ghanian poverty, ignorance and disease and despite the various disadvantages and nerves that Ghana had immediately upon independence after centuries of colonialism, they did have a few advantages that many other sub Saharan african countries did not.

然後，經過一個多世紀的英國殖民統治，被稱為加納的地方最終在1957年實現了獨立，並由這個人上司，誇梅-恩克魯瑪，他作為總統的主要目標是廢除加納的貧困、無知和疾病，儘管加納在幾個世紀的殖民主義之後，一獨立就有各種不利因素和神經，但他們確實有一些其他撒哈拉以南非洲國家沒有的優勢。

First of all, they had a nice long coastline that could provide direct access to the gulf of guinea and the world ocean, enabling them free access to conduct international maritime trade.

首先，他們有一條漂亮的長海岸線，可以直接進入幾內亞灣和世界海洋，使他們能夠自由地進行國際海上貿易。

Second Ghana is rich in a wide variety of natural resources but was specifically blessed by an abundance of box site, a sedimentary rock that contains a relatively high amount of aluminum and as a result is the world's primary source of aluminum, one of the world's most important metals used in nearly everything from aircraft to automobiles, to cars, computers and dozens of other things.

第二 加納擁有豐富的自然資源，但特別受到豐富的箱型場地的眷顧，這種沉積岩含有較多的鋁，是以是世界上鋁的主要來源，鋁是世界上最重要的金屬之一，幾乎用於從飛機到汽車，再到汽車、計算機和其他幾十種東西。

If Ghana could develop its aluminum production capability, then it could kickstart the young country's economic growth towards the future President Nkrumah and the Ghanian government knew all of this of course.

如果加納能夠發展其鋁的生產能力，那麼它可以啟動這個年輕國家的經濟增長，走向未來 恩克魯瑪總統和加納政府當然知道這一切。

But the problem was the refining box site into a workable aluminum is a very energy intensive process and Ghana lacked the electricity infrastructure that was required to power a smelter that could turn bauxite into aluminum at a truly industrial scale.

但問題是，將箱體場地提煉成可使用的鋁是一個非常耗能的過程，而加納缺乏電力基礎設施，而這些基礎設施是為能夠以真正的工業規模將鋁土礦變成鋁的冶煉廠提供動力所需要的。

But luckily Ghana had another geographic advantage that their new and ambitious government could turn towards the Volta River beginning within landlocked Burkina faso, the many tributaries of the Volta all converge in Central Ghana before emptying out into the gulf of guinea and recognizing the potential of the river for hydroelectric power.

但幸運的是，加納還有一個地理優勢，他們雄心勃勃的新政府可以把目光轉向沃爾塔河，沃爾塔河從內陸的布基納法索境內開始，許多支流都在加納中部匯合，然後排入幾內亞灣，並認識到該河的水電潛力。

A scheme began being worked out for the construction of a hydroelectric dam.

一個建造水力發電大壩的計劃開始制定。

But the Volta River is huge and so in order to actually dammit the dam itself was going to have to be enormous and that meant that it was going to cost a lot of money.

但沃爾塔河很大，是以為了真正築壩，大壩本身必須是巨大的，這意味著它將花費大量的資金。

And as a freshly independent former colonial country, Ghana was pretty short on cash and so with an estimated price tag of $258 million in 19 sixties money, Ghana managed to secure investments from the World Bank, the United States in the United Kingdom to get the project rolling off the ground and then from there, the plan was relatively straightforward by the town of Akosombo on the river's banks, A massive concrete dam 660 m long and 114 m high would be built to hold back the waters of the Volta for context.

作為一個剛剛獨立的前殖民地國家，加納相當缺乏現金，是以，以1960年代的貨幣計算，估計價格為2.58億美元，加納設法從世界銀行、美國和英國獲得投資，使該項目開始啟動，然後從那裡開始，計劃相對簡單，在河岸的阿科松博鎮，將建造一個660米長、114米高的巨大混凝土大壩，將沃爾塔河的水擋在後面。

That is more than three times as wide as the hoover dam in the U.

這比美國的胡佛大壩寬三倍還多。

S.

S.

State of Nevada.

內華達州。

At the same time, an aluminum smelter and processing facility would be constructed in the nearby town of TEM.

同時，在附近的TEM鎮將建造一個鋁冶煉廠和加工設施。

A.

A.

That would be powered by the electricity generated from the dam.

這將由大壩產生的電力來驅動。

Now, in order for all of this to work, they needed to flood a portion of the Volta river basin behind the dam in order to create a big reservoir of water that they could use to flood through the dam to generate the electricity.

現在，為了使所有這些工作發揮作用，他們需要在大壩後面淹沒沃爾塔河流域的一部分，以創造一個大的水庫，他們可以用它來淹沒大壩來發電。

The reservoir they ended up creating here became Lake Volta, the largest man made lake in history, with a surface area of just over 8500 square kilometers, which equated to about 3.6% of the entire territory of Ghana going underwater.

他們最終在這裡創建的水庫成為沃爾特湖，這是歷史上最大的人工湖，其表面積剛剛超過8500平方公里，這相當於加納整個領土的3.6%被淹沒。

For the sake of comparison, the lake is about twice the size of the U.

為便於比較，該湖約為美國的兩倍大。

S.

S.

State of Rhode island.

羅得島州。

And we're the lower 48 US States.

而我們是美國48個州的下游。

To make a similar sacrifice of 3.6% of their total land, it would be like plunging the entirety of Nevada beneath a sea of water.

如果要做出類似的犧牲，犧牲他們總土地的3.6%，這就像把整個內華達州陷入一片汪洋大海。

after the dam was finished in the land sacrificed.

在大壩完工後，在犧牲的土地上。

And now provides 1000 and 38 megawatts of electric power, which is not only enough to power Ghana's entire aluminum industry, but almost all of Ghana's entire domestic electricity demand as well.

而現在提供1000和38兆瓦的電力，這不僅足以為加納的整個鋁業提供電力，而且幾乎也是加納整個國內的電力需求。

The dam produces so much power for Ghana that they now export a lot of the energy into neighboring countries to like Togo and Benin, who themselves now received the majority of their own electricity needs from the Volta Dam in Ghana as well.

大壩為加納生產瞭如此多的電力，以至於他們現在向多哥和貝寧等鄰國出口大量的能源，而這些國家自己現在也從加納的沃爾塔大壩獲得了自己的大部分電力需求。

And now, with around 85% of the population having access to electricity, Ghana has the highest rate of electricity access in West africa and one of the highest rates on the entire continent.

而現在，大約85%的人口可以用上電，加納是西非地區用電率最高的國家，也是整個非洲大陸用電率最高的國家之一。

But none of this came very easy because there were other sacrifices and penalties that Ghana had to pay for this incredible level of success.

但這一切都來之不易，因為加納還必須為這種令人難以置信的成功水準作出其他犧牲和懲罰。

Besides for flooding, 3.6% of her land.

除了洪水，她的土地有3.6%。

For one thing, there were around 80,000 people who used to live in that 3.6% of land that eventually got flooded, which was around 1% of Ghana's entire population at the time, they all had to be evacuated and displaced prior to the flooding often through force.

首先，有大約80,000人曾經生活在最終被淹沒的3.6%的土地上，這大約是加納當時全部人口的1%，他們都必須在洪水來臨之前被疏散和遷移，往往是通過武力。

And it didn't really go all that well.

而且它並不真的那麼順利。

These 80,000 people lost their primary sources of income from fishing and agriculture.

這80,000人失去了他們的主要收入來源，即漁業和農業。

They lost their homes, lost their communities and they've always struggled ever since.

他們失去了他們的家園，失去了他們的社區，從那時起，他們一直在掙扎。

And then there's the fact that most Ghanians didn't even reap any benefits from the dam either.

還有一個事實是，大多數加納人甚至也沒有從大壩中獲得任何好處。

Despite the fact that Ghana was obligated to pay for 50% of the dam's construction themselves.

儘管加納有義務自己支付50%的大壩建設費用。

The terms for the foreign investment they received, covering the remaining 50% of the construction costs, only gave the Ghanian government the rights to just 20% of the dam's total electricity output, while the remaining 80% was strictly allocated for the aluminum plant in Te MMA, which was at the time privately owned by an american company, which led to widespread accusations of neocolonialism being practiced in Ghana.

他們獲得的外國投資的條件，包括其餘50%的建設費用，只給了加納政府大壩總髮電量的20%的權利，而剩下的80%被嚴格分配給當時由一家美國公司私人擁有的Te MMA的鋁廠，這導致了對加納實施新殖民主義的廣泛指責。

In the years since though, the american owned company was nationalized by the Ghanian government and the aluminum production there has declined and now the vast majority of the dam's additional electric capacity is used to power Ghana's own growing domestic demand as well as neighboring Togo and Benin.

但在此後的幾年裡，這家美國人擁有的公司被加納政府收歸國有，那裡的鋁生產已經下降，現在大壩的絕大部分額外電力容量被用來為加納自己日益增長的國內需求以及鄰國多哥和貝寧供電。

The construction of the reservoir behind the dam has also forever disrupted the once rich agricultural productivity along the former river's banks.

大壩後面的水庫建設也永遠破壞了前河兩岸曾經豐富的農業生產力。

What was once fertile land for growing crops surrounding the river is now flooded and submerged beneath the modern lake.

河流周圍曾經是種植農作物的肥沃土地，現在被洪水淹沒，淹沒在現代湖泊之下。

And then further downstream, the Volta from the dam, the soil has now completely lost its former fertility as well without the periodic floods that were once the norm before the dam was built.

再往下游走，就是大壩的沃爾塔河，現在土壤也完全失去了以前的肥力，沒有了大壩建成前曾經的定期洪水。

As with every major decision in life, there are always tradeoffs and opportunity costs to consider in the case of Ghana and the Akosombo dam.

與生活中的每一個重大決定一樣，在加納和Akosombo大壩的情況下，總是要考慮權衡利弊和機會成本。

There unfortunately isn't ever a free lunch especially for former colonial e occupied countries and time will tell if the decision they made to flood 3.5% of their land in exchange for the highest rate of electricity in West Africa was worth it now after watching all of that.

不幸的是，沒有免費的午餐，特別是對於前殖民地和被佔領的國家，時間會告訴我們，在看到這一切之後，他們做出的淹沒3.5%的土地以換取西非最高電價的決定，現在是否值得。

Are you curious how electricity and dams actually work?

你是否好奇電力和水壩究竟是如何工作的？

I certainly was after writing all of this and that's why I immediately checked out brilliant since they have an entire course on electricity and magnetism as well as sections covering water pressure and flow in their scientific thinking course that easily helped me as someone with zero background in science or stem subjects easily understand what I was talking about.

在寫完這些之後，我當然也是如此，這就是為什麼我立即查看了輝煌，因為他們的科學思維課程中有一整門關於電和磁的課程，以及涵蓋水壓和水流的部分，這很容易幫助我這個沒有科學或幹學科背景的人輕鬆理解我在說什麼。

If you're like me, stem subjects were always challenging to understand during school but brilliant became the breakthrough that I needed because it will actually give you fun and engaging puzzles to solve like this one where you actually get to apply and test the knowledge that you've been learning instead of just listening to lectures or reading huge blocks of text without any active engagement, brilliant is the hands on learning platform that helps you master new concepts and skills and stem and of learning about how everyday physics works and things like damsel electricity isn't exactly your thing.

如果你像我一樣，在學校期間，莖類科目總是難以理解，但輝煌成為我需要的突破口，因為它實際上會給你提供有趣和吸引人的謎題來解決，就像這個，你實際上可以應用和測試你所學的知識，而不是僅僅聽講座或閱讀巨大的文本塊，沒有任何主動參與，輝煌是動手學習的平臺，幫助你掌握新的概念和技能，莖和學習日常物理學如何工作和像達姆塞爾電的事情並不完全屬於你。

They've got tons of other fantastic courses on stuff like computer science, probability, Cryptocurrency or everyday math, all of which are presented in approachable, engaging bite sized chunks and best of all you can try out brilliant for free by being one of the 1st 200 people to click the button that's here on screen right now, or by signing up using the link down below in the description.

他們有大量其他奇妙的課程，如計算機科學、概率、加密貨幣或日常數學，所有這些課程都以平易近人、引人入勝的小塊形式呈現，最重要的是，你可以免費試用，只要成為點擊螢幕上的按鈕的前200人之一，或者使用下面描述中的鏈接註冊。

It's a great way to learn some cool subjects in stem and help support this channel at the same time.

這是一個很好的方式來學習一些很酷的主題，同時幫助支持這個頻道。

And as always, thank you so much for watching.

像往常一樣，非常感謝您的觀看。