The year was 1816. Europe and North America had just been through a devastating series of wars,
那是1816年。欧洲和北美洲刚刚经历过一场毁灭性的战争，
and a slow recovery seemed to be underway, but nature had other plans.
一场复苏仿佛在慢慢进行，但是自然另有安排。
After two years of poor harvests, the spring brought heavy rains and cold,
在两年的歉收之后，来年的春天带来了大雨和寒冷，
flooding the rivers and causing crop failures from the British Isles to Switzerland.
河面上涨引发洪水导致颗粒无收，从大不列颠到瑞士都发生了这样的灾难。
While odd-colored snow fell in Italy and Hungary, famine, food riots and disease epidemics ensued.
然而，意大利和匈牙利降下了颜色古怪的雪，饥荒、食品暴乱、瘟疫接连爆发。
Meanwhile, New England was blanketed by a strange fog that would not disperse as the ground remained frozen well into June.
与此同时，新英格兰被奇怪的雾笼罩，久久不得消散，因此大地保持被冻住的状态直到六月。
In what came to be known as 'the Year Without a Summer,' some thought the apocalypse had begun.
在这被称为“无夏之年”中，人们认为大灾难要开始了。
A mood captured in Lord Byron's poem 'Darkness': 'I had a dream which was not all a dream.
这种心情被拜伦勋爵写进了他的诗词《黑暗》当中：“我曾有个似梦非梦的梦境。
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space,
明亮的太阳熄灭，而星星在暗淡的永恒虚空中失所流离，
rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
无光，无路，那冰封的地球球体盲目转动，在无月的天空下笼罩幽冥，
morn came and went -- and came, and brought no day.'
早晨来而复去--白昼却不曾降临”。
They had no way of knowing that the real source of their misfortunes had occurred a year ago thousands of miles away.
他们无法了解这不幸的根源在一年前的千里之外已被埋下。
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa was what is known as a supervolcano,
1815年，在印尼的松巴哇岛上，一座名为坦博拉的火山爆发了，坦博拉火山是一座超级火山，
characterized by a volume of erupted material, many times greater than that of ordinary volcanoes.
它喷出物体的速度比普通火山快上好多倍。
And while the popular image of volcanic destruction is molten rock engulfing the surrounding land,
然而，提及火山爆发，我们最先想到的画面是岩浆环绕并吞没了小岛，
far greater devastation is caused by what remains in the air.
但是，更加深远的影响是空气中残留下来的物质。
Volcanic ash, dispersed by wind, can blanket the sky for days,
火山灰，被风带到了世界各地，可以在空气中弥留数日，
while toxic gases, such as sulfur dioxide, react in the stratosphere,
然而有毒气体，例如二氧化硫，在平流层中发生化学反应，
blocking out solar radiation and drastically cooling the atmosphere below.
阻挡了太阳的辐射，使得大气层之下的温度骤降。

The resulting volcanic winter, along with other effects such as acid rain, can effect multiple continents,
这导致了火山冬天还有其他的后果，比如酸雨，这些后果可以影响多个大陆，
disrupting natural cycles and annihilating the plant life on which other organisms, including humans, depend.
扰乱了自然界的循环，杀死了植物和其他生物，也伤害了人类。
Releasing nearly 160 cubic kilometers of rock, ash and gas,
喷出了将近160立方千米的熔岩、灰烬和气体，
the Mount Tambora eruption was the largest in recorded history, causing as many as 90,000 deaths.
坦博拉火山的爆发据记载是规模最大的一次，导致了约90000人的死亡。
But previous eruptions have been even more deadly.
但是之前一次的火山爆发更加有毁灭性。
The 1600 eruption of Peru's Huaynaputina is likely to have triggered the Russian famine, that killed nearly two million,
1600年秘鲁火山埃纳普蒂纳的爆发，很大程度上导致了俄国的饥荒，使将近两百万人失去生命，
while more ancient eruptions have been blamed for major world events,
不过更加古老的火山爆发，则被人们认为是世界上的大事件导致的，
such as the fall of the Chinese Xia Dynasty, the disappearance of the Minoan civilization,
比如中国夏朝代的覆灭，弥诺斯文明的消失，
and even a genetic bottleneck in human evolution that may have resulted from all but a few thousand human beings being wiped out 70,000 years ago.
这些70000年前消失的人类甚至导致了人类进化的基因瓶颈。
One of the most dangerous types of supervolcano is an explosive caldera,
超级火山中最危险的一种是爆发性的巨火山口，
formed when a volcanic mountain collapses after an eruption so large that the now-empty magma chamber can no longer support its weight.
一场规模巨大的火山爆发导致岩浆房变空，因此岩浆房无法再支撑自身的重量，火山坍塌便形成了巨火山口。
But though the above-ground volcano is gone, the underground volcanic activity continues.
虽然地上的火山已经消失，地下的火山活动却在依然继续。
With no method of release, magma and volcanic gases continue to accumulate and expand underground,
由于没有办法进行释放，岩浆和火山气体不断地在地下积累、膨胀，
building up pressure until a massive and violent explosion becomes inevitable.
压力不断上升，最终导致了火山突然剧烈的喷发成为不可避免的情况。
And one of the largest active volcanic calderas lies right under Yellowstone National Park.
世界上最大的巨火山口之一坐落于美国黄石公园之中。
The last time it erupted, 650,000 years ago, it covered much of North America in nearly two meters of ash and rock.
它上一次的喷发是在650000年前，喷出物如岩浆和火山灰，覆盖了大部分的北美洲，使大陆的地面上升了大约两米。
Scientists are currently monitoring the world's active volcanoes, and procedures for predicting eruptions,
科学家们如今在监测世界上的活火山，也在进行火山喷发的预测，
conducting evacuations and diverting lava flows have improved over the years.
人员疏散和改变岩浆流向的计算在过去这些年中这些都有了很大的提升。
But the massive scale and global reach of a supervolcano means that for many people there would be nowhere to run.
然而，一次规模巨大并且可以触及全球的超级火山喷发，意味着许多人将无处可逃。
Fortunately, the current data shows no evidence of such an eruption occurring in the next few thousand years.
幸运的是，目前的数据表明，在接下来的几千年中不会有这样的爆发发生。
But the idea of a sudden and unavoidable civilization-destroying apocalypse caused by events half a globe away
但理解突发与无可避免的文明摧毁大灾难是由半个地球之遥的事件引起，
will remain a powerful and terrifying vision. Less fictional than we would like to believe.
仍会是个强大且骇人的景象。比我们愿意相信的还要真实。
'The winds were withered in the stagnant air, and the clouds perish'd;
“凝滞的气流里风也断绝, 烟消云逸，
darkness had no need of aid from them -- she was the universe.'
它们留存无易，因为黑暗便是宇宙自己。”