Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill | A Short Documentary | Disaster Diaries · Disaster Diaries
讲述2010年墨西哥湾深水地平线漏油事件，分析其成因与影响，适合练习英语阅读理解与词汇积累。
The night of April 20th, 2010 is one that will never be forgotten in a hurry.
2010年4月20日的那个夜晚，注定会成为人们永远难以忘怀的时刻。
For this was the night when the worst disaster international waters had ever witnessed changed the world forever.
因为就在那个夜晚，国际海域有史以来遭遇的最严重灾难永远改变了世界。
Barely two hours to midnight an oil rig exploded into ghoulish flames that incinerated everything in its wake.
距离午夜仅剩两个小时时，一座石油钻井平台突然燃起了熊熊大火，将沿途的一切都烧成了灰烬。
But what everyone thought to be the
但是，大家都认为那是……
worst thing that could happen turned out to be just the beginning of a cataclysmic tragedy that would continue to ravage the world till today.
本可能发生的最糟糕的事情，实际上只是这场灾难性悲剧的开始；这场悲剧至今仍在继续肆虐着这个世界。
This is the story of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest marine oil spill in world history.
这就是“深水地平线”号石油泄漏事件的故事——这是世界历史上规模最大的海洋石油泄漏事故。
The Gulf of Mexico is every oil drillers dream.
墨西哥湾是所有石油钻探公司的梦想之地。
The region alone provides the United States with more than one -fifth of all its oil and gas needs,
仅这个地区就为美国提供了其所需石油和天然气总量的五分之一以上。
according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
根据美国能源信息署（United States Energy Information Administration）的数据……
Needless to say, there is an overabundance of oil in the Gulf of Mexico,
不用说，墨西哥湾的石油资源非常丰富。
and that is why oil companies trip over themselves trying to set up their oil rigs in this region.
这就是为什么石油公司竞相在这个地区建立自己的钻井平台的原因。
Everyone wants their share of the black gold that has become the lifeblood of our global economy.
每个人都想分得那份“黑金”——这种资源如今已成为全球经济的命脉。
It's not quite clear why the Gulf of Mexico is so rich in oil.
目前尚不清楚为什么墨西哥湾的石油资源如此丰富。
The best geologists can tell us is that the conditions are just perfect over there for the production of oil.
最优秀的地质学家也只能告诉我们：在那个区域，形成石油的条件简直堪称完美。
Millions of years ago, before there was a Mexico or Gulf of Mexico, ancient plants and animals inhabited the region.
数百万年前，在墨西哥或墨西哥湾尚未形成的时候，这片地区生活着古老的植物和动物。
However, all living organisms die according to the circle of life.
然而，所有生物最终都会按照“生命循环”的规律走向死亡。
So, these plants and animals eventually died off, leaving their remains trapped underground.
这些植物和动物最终都灭绝了，它们的遗骸被埋在了地下。
Soon, heat and pressure stepped in and began to work on these decomposing molecules.
很快，高温和高压就开始对那些正在分解的分子产生影响。
Simultaneously, the force is decomposed and now dead organic matter into hydrocarbons, which, according to chemistry, provides the source material for oil and gas.
与此同时，这些有机物质被分解成碳氢化合物；根据化学原理，碳氢化合物正是石油和天然气的原始来源。
As oil and gas started to form under the earth of the region we've come to know as the Gulf of Mexico,
当石油和天然气开始在该地区（后来被称为墨西哥湾的地方）的地底下形成时……
they accumulated in underground rocks.
它们在地下岩石中积累了起来。
Specifically, the oil and gas molecules seeped
具体来说，石油和天然气分子会逐渐渗出（或：石油和天然气分子会从相关结构中扩散出来）。
into the cracks and pockets between the layers of rock and made their home there for thousands of years before humans came on the scene.
它们钻进了岩石层之间的裂缝和缝隙中，在那里安家落户，度过了数千年的时间——直到人类出现。
When humans finally arrived, they discovered these underground packets of oil, which they called pay zones.
当人类最终抵达这里时，他们发现了这些埋藏在地下的石油藏层，并将这些区域称为“产油层”（即石油开采的潜在区域）。
They then built multi -billion dollar companies to drill and explore these pay zones for oil.
随后，他们创立了价值数十亿美元的公司，专门在这些富含石油的区域进行钻探和勘探工作。
Today's statistics show that energy companies have drilled over 2 ,000 wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
今天的统计数据显示，能源公司在墨西哥湾已经钻探了超过2000口油井。
One of such companies is BP, the oil company involved in the oil spill disaster of the Gulf of Mexico.
其中一家公司就是英国石油公司（BP）——这是一家曾卷入墨西哥湾石油泄漏灾难的石油企业。
BP used to be known as the British Petroleum Company Limited.
BP（英国石油公司）的全称是 British Petroleum Company Limited。
Now it is simply known as BP, one of the wealthiest and largest oil companies in the world.
如今，这家公司被简称为“BP”，它是全球最富有、规模最大的石油公司之一。
As a matter of fact, BP is the fourth largest investor owned oil company in the world after ExxonMobil,
事实上，BP是全球第四大石油公司，其所有者是投资者，排在埃克森美孚（ExxonMobil）之后。
Shell and total energies.
壳层能量与总能量。
An impressive feat considering that many were almost certain that the disaster of April 2010 would mark the end for this company.
这一成就实在令人印象深刻；因为许多人几乎都认为，2010年4月发生的那场灾难将会标志着这家公司的终结。
2001 was the year that BP started to set its sights on the Gulf of Mexico, the land flowing with oil and gas.
2001年，英国石油公司（BP）开始将目光投向墨西哥湾——这片蕴藏着丰富石油和天然气的海域。
Producing oil at this site was going to be a massive project, so BP made big plans.
在这个地点开采石油将是一个规模庞大的项目，因此英国石油公司（BP）制定了详细的计划。
The Gulf of Mexico was the big leagues.
墨西哥湾可真是“顶级舞台”啊。
First, the company needed the most sophisticated oil drilling rig to find.
首先，该公司需要使用最先进的石油钻井设备来寻找目标油藏。
After doing its due diligence, BP decided on the Deepwater Horizon rig, so it reached out and leased the rig from Transocean,
在完成了必要的尽职调查后，BP公司选定了“Deepwater Horizon”钻井平台，并从Transocean公司租用了该平台。
the world's biggest oil rig contractor.
全球最大的石油钻井平台承包商。
In the world of oil drilling and exploration, one could say that Deepwater Horizon was the titanic of the industry,
在石油钻探和勘探领域，可以说“深水地平线”（Deepwater Horizon）是该行业的“巨无霸”级存在。
huge, sophisticated, and at the time thought to be a miracle of drilling.
这台钻机体积庞大、技术先进，在当时被认为是钻井技术领域的奇迹。