1934.Darkness falls across America.

1934年 黑暗笼罩着整个美国

The worst environmental disaster in American history.

这是美国历史上最严重的一次环境灾害

Dust storms hit New York, Chicago and Boston.

沙尘暴侵袭纽约芝加哥和波士顿

In Manhattan, the streetlights come on at midday.

曼哈顿区正午都不得不点亮路灯以照明

A monstrous dust storm 1,800 miles wide from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Ocean.

这场沙尘暴祸及1800英里土地，从大平原直到大西洋

The air turns to earth.

空中满是沙尘

The storm carries 3 tons of dust for every American alive.

这场沙尘暴为每个美国人带来3吨沙尘

Ships stop off the Eastern Seaboard,not sure what is happening.

船只只能滞留在东海岸，不清楚岸上的情况

The cloud reminds the captain of the ship "The Deutschland"of the sands of the Sahara blowing out to sea.

滚滚的沙尘让"德意志"号的船长以为是撒哈拉沙漠的狂沙被吹来了海里

But now the clouds are devouring the Statue of Liberty.

而现在沙尘暴正吞噬着自由女神像

Dust storms were born out of a 100 million-acre dead zone 2,000 miles away in Oklahoma,Texas, Kansas and Colorado.

这场沙尘暴产生于一片100万英亩的死亡地带，就在两千英里之外的俄克拉荷马、德克萨斯 堪萨斯与科罗拉多州一带

The Great Plains had once been the most fertile grasslands on earth.

中央大平原曾是世界上最富饶的草原地带

The topsoil was 6 feet deep,

土壤耕种层深达6英尺

but it has been plowed up and used up by four generations of farmers.

但经过四代美国农民的耕作，这片土地已然贫瘠

Now the sun has dried it up.

而太阳的烘烤又使它干透

What really did the farmers in was an environmental cataclysm

真正使农民严重受损的是一场环境灾变

that involved an extended drought, high winds,and the loss of millions and millions of tons of topsoil.

包括大范围干旱、强风以及损失上百万吨耕种层土壤

It was almost as though the heavens themselves had turned against the farmers.

就仿佛上天都在和农民作对