THE NUCLEAR GENE: WHAT NOW?
核妖怪：现在怎么样了？
The Oak Ridge Laboratories were at one time the nucleus of the American nuclear program.
奥克·里奇实验室曾经是美国核计划的核心组成部分。
Splitting the atom at that time was a novel idea: all you had to do was to get a mass of uranium nuclear together, and you got a reaction.
当时原子裂变还是一个非常新颖的想法：你只需要聚集大量的铀核子，反应就可以发生了。
How much of a reaction depended on the number of nuclei you put together.
反应的大小决定于核子数量的多少。
Numerous tests were carried out over the years just to see what would happen when and how, because everyone involved was just a novice at what they were doing.
多年以来人们先后进行了众多试验来研究核反应的结果、时间和方式，因为每个人对于他们所做的试验来说还都是新手。
As it was wartime, the initial work was top secret, and everyone involved had to take an oath of secrecy and obedience.
由于当时处于战争时期，最初的工作都属于绝密一级，每一个参与核反应试验的人都必须发誓保密并绝对服从命令。
By now, the novelty has worn off, to say the least.
至少可以这样说，现在核反应这件事情的新奇度已经减退了。
Nowadays, it is well known that a great many noxious substances are released during nuclear reactions.
如今众所周知核反应过程中会释放出很多有毒物质。
More than that, any serious nuclear exchange could send most of mankind to oblivion, rendering all the achievements of human civilization over many thousands of years null and void.
但事情还远远不只如此。任何严重的核交火都会产生严重的后果：可以使大多数人类最终灰飞烟灭；可以使人类几千年文明的成就毁于一旦，变得毫无价值。
The very thought of such an eventuality is enough to make any sensitive human being feel quite numb and helpless.
一想到这种结果就足以使一个敏感的人变得非常麻木和无助。
A film was made some years ago about exactly what would happen.
多年前曾经有一部电影确切描述过将会发生什么样的情况。
It turns out that Australia would probably be the last oasis left capable of sustaining human life.
核交火的最后结果是地球上可能只剩澳洲成为最后的绿洲，只有这一块土地上才有人类生命延续。
There are plenty of nutrients in Australia’s rich soil, as well as plants of high nutritional value to provide sufficient nutriment for the animals needed to be reared to feed the last stragglers of the human race.
因为澳洲肥沃的土壤里有充足的营养物质，她更富有营养价值高的植物给动物提供其所需的足够的营养品，喂养这些动物是为了给硕果仅存的人类提供食品。
Of course, those sheep and cows would need to be carefully nurtured before they could ever be turned into nutritious steaks.
当然，那些羊和牛都必须小心饲养，这样才能被制成有营养成分的羊排扣牛排。
No problem, I think, people would have plenty of time on their hands.
在我看来，毫无疑问，人们将会有大量的时间可供自己支配利用。