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0Episode: The Great Molasses Flood: A Sticky Tsunami
Subtitle: 大糖蜜洪灾：一场黏糊糊的海啸
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Level: B1
PubDate: 2026-11-05
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[Mike]: Welcome back to Learn English with Podcasts. Sarah, quick question. What do you think is the deadliest wave that ever hit the city of Boston?
zh:欢迎回到 Learn English with Podcasts。Sarah，问你一个快问题。你觉得有史以来袭击波士顿的最致命的"浪"是什么？
[Sarah]: A wave? Like a tsunami from the ocean? Boston is on the coast, but I don't remember any big tsunami there.
zh:浪？像海里的海啸那样？波士顿确实靠海，但我不记得那里有过大海啸。
[Mike]: Exactly. There was no ocean wave. The deadliest wave in Boston's history was made of... molasses.
zh:没错。没有海浪。波士顿历史上最致命的"浪"，是用……糖蜜做的。
[Sarah]: Molasses? You mean that thick, sweet, dark syrup? Like the stuff in baked beans?
zh:糖蜜？你是说那种浓稠、甜甜的、深色的糖浆？就像烤豆子里那种？
[Mike]: The same stuff. On January 15, 1919, a giant tank of molasses burst open in Boston's North End. It sent a sticky wave through the streets that killed 21 people and hurt about 150 more.
zh:就是那种。1919年1月15号，波士顿北区一个巨大的糖蜜罐爆开了。一股黏糊糊的浪冲过街道，造成21人死亡，大约150人受伤。
[Sarah]: 21 people? From molasses? That sounds like a joke, but I can tell from your voice it is not.
zh:21个人？因为糖蜜？这听起来像玩笑，但从你的语气听得出不是。
[Mike]: It is tragically real. So let's go back to that morning. The tank stood 50 feet tall and 90 feet wide. It held 2.3 million gallons of molasses. To picture it, that is about three Olympic swimming pools.
zh:这是悲惨的真实事件。我们回到那天早上。那个罐子有50英尺高、90英尺宽。里面装着230万加仑糖蜜。打个比方，大约是三个奥运会泳池的量。
[Sarah]: That is huge. And who owned it?
zh:那太大了。谁拥有它？
[Mike]: A company called Purity Distilling. They were part of a bigger company, United States Industrial Alcohol. They turned molasses into industrial alcohol, which was used to make weapons during World War I.
zh:一家叫 Purity Distilling 的公司。它是一家更大的公司"美国工业酒精公司"的下属。他们把糖蜜变成工业酒精，一战期间用来制造武器。
[Sarah]: So it was not just for food. And why so much, right before 1919?
zh:所以不单是吃的。为什么在1919年前要存这么多？
[Mike]: Good question. At that time, the United States was about to ban alcohol. The law was ratified the very next day, January 16. So companies rushed to store as much as they could before the rules changed.
zh:好问题。当时美国正要禁酒。法律就在第二天，1月16号获批。所以各家公司在规则改变前拼命囤货。
[Sarah]: Panic buying, a hundred years ago. But a tank that big, it must have been built carefully, right?
zh:一百年前的恐慌性囤货。但那么大的罐子，肯定是小心建造的吧？
[Mike]: You would think so. But this one was built fast, in 1915, and it was flawed from the start. It leaked on day one. People nearby said it groaned and shuddered every time it was full.
zh:你这么想很合理。但这个罐子是1915年赶工建起来的，从一开始就有毛病。第一天就漏。附近的人说，每次装满它都会发出呻吟般的嘎吱声、还会震动。
[Sarah]: If it groaned and leaked, someone must have noticed. What did the company do?
zh:如果它会响又会漏，肯定有人注意到了。公司怎么做的？
[Mike]: This is the part that makes me angry. Children from the neighborhood used to bring pails to collect the sweet leak. Instead of fixing it, the company painted the tank brown, to hide the leaks.
zh:这部分最让我生气。附近的孩子会拿小桶来接漏出来的甜浆。公司没有去修，而是把罐子刷成棕色，把漏点藏起来。
[Sarah]: Paint over the problem. Classic. So the tank was basically an accident waiting to happen.
zh:把问题刷上一层漆盖住。典型。所以这罐子基本上就是一颗定时炸弹。
[Mike]: At about 12:30 in the afternoon, it happened. The tank did not explode like a bomb. It tore itself apart. Witnesses said the rivets popped out like gunfire.
zh:下午大约12点半，事情发生了。罐子不是像炸弹那样爆炸，而是自己裂开了。目击者说铆钉像枪声一样噼啪飞出。
[Sarah]: And then the molasses came out?
zh:然后糖蜜就涌出来了？
[Mike]: Fast. The wave was about 15 to 40 feet high and moved at 35 miles per hour. That is as fast as a car in the city. In seconds, it covered the street in a thick, knee-to-waist-deep layer.
zh:非常快。那股浪大约15到40英尺高，以每小时35英里的速度前进。相当于城里汽车的速度。几秒钟内，街道就被一层厚厚的、没过膝盖到腰部的糖蜜覆盖。
[Sarah]: 35 miles per hour? But people say slow as molasses. This was the opposite.
zh:每小时35英里？但人们总说"慢得像糖蜜"。这完全反了。
[Mike]: I know. We will come back to that saying. Now picture the scene: a nearby train was riding on an overhead track. The wave bent the track. The train stopped just in time.
zh:我知道。那个说法我们待会儿再说。现在想象一下那个画面：一列火车正在高架上行驶。那股浪把轨道弄弯了。火车刚好及时停住。
[Sarah]: The train survived, but the people on the ground did not. Why was it so deadly? Molasses is just sugar.
zh:火车逃过一劫，但地上的人没有。为什么这么致命？糖蜜不就是糖吗？
[Mike]: Two reasons. First, it was a cold January day. The molasses cooled and got thicker as it spread. People got stuck like flies on sticky paper. Many could not breathe.
zh:两个原因。第一，那天是一月的冷天。糖蜜一边蔓延一边变冷变稠。人们像粘蝇纸上的苍蝇一样被粘住。很多人无法呼吸。
[Sarah]: So they were not crushed, they were trapped and suffocated. That is horrible.
zh:所以他们不是被压死，是被困住、窒息而死。太可怕了。
[Mike]: Second, it was heavy and fast. It crushed buildings, flipped trucks, and swept people into the harbor. Rescue workers could not even walk through it. One rescuer pulled so hard on a trapped man that he pulled the man's arm off by accident.
zh:第二，它又重又快。它压垮房屋、掀翻卡车，把人卷进港口。救援人员甚至没法在里头走。一名救援者用力拉一个被困的人，结果不小心把那人的胳膊拉断了。
[Sarah]: Oh no. That image will stay with me. Who came to help?
zh:天哪。这个画面我会记很久。谁赶来救援？
[Mike]: Police, firefighters, the Red Cross, and even Navy cadets from a ship called the USS Nantucket. They worked for days, in the cold, digging people out of the goo.
zh:警察、消防员、红十字会，甚至一艘叫 USS Nantucket 的军舰上的海军学员。他们在寒冷里干了好多天，把人从那团黏糊里挖出来。
[Sarah]: And the horses? I heard animals died too.
zh:那些马呢？我听说动物也死了。
[Mike]: Yes. A newspaper said horses died like so many flies on sticky fly paper. The number of dead animals was never counted fully.
zh:对。一家报纸说，马像粘蝇纸上的苍蝇一样成片死去。死掉动物的数量从没被完全统计。
[Sarah]: After something this big, someone must pay. What happened to the company?
zh:这么严重的事故之后，总得有人负责。公司后来怎样了？
[Mike]: 119 people sued the company. The company's first defense? They blamed anarchists. They said someone blew up the tank on purpose.
zh:119人把公司告上了法庭。公司的第一套说辞？他们怪无政府主义者。说有人故意炸了罐子。
[Sarah]: Of course they did. And what did the court say?
zh:他们当然会这么讲。法院怎么判的？
[Mike]: After years of hearings, a court ruled the company was negligent. In 1925, they paid 628,000 dollars. That would be about 11.7 million dollars today.
zh:经过多年的听证，法院裁定公司疏忽大意。1925年，他们赔了62万8千美元。放到今天大约是1170万美元。
[Sarah]: 11.7 million. That is a lot, but the lives were worth more. Did anything good come from this?
zh:1170万。是一大笔钱，但那些生命更值钱。这件事有带来什么好事吗？
[Mike]: Actually, yes. Before this, the tank was built with almost no oversight. After this, engineers had to sign and seal their plans. Building inspectors had to check the work. It changed safety rules across the country.
zh:其实有。在这之前，那个罐子几乎没人监管就建起来了。在这之后，工程师必须签字盖章自己的图纸。建筑检查员必须来查验工程。它改变了全美的安全法规。
[Sarah]: So 21 deaths forced a whole country to take safety seriously. Sad that it took a disaster.
zh:所以21条命逼着整个国家认真看待安全。可惜要用一场灾难来换。
[Mike]: That is the hard truth. And here is the detail I love. People say slow as molasses, meaning very slow. But this molasses moved at 35 miles per hour, in January, through a major city.
zh:这就是残酷的真相。还有个我很喜欢的细节。人们说"慢得像糖蜜"，意思是极慢。但这次的糖蜜，是在一月、在一座大城市里、以每小时35英里的速度冲过去的。
[Sarah]: So after this day, the saying feels almost wrong. The one time molasses moved fast, it killed people.
zh:所以经过这一天，这个说法几乎显得不对了。糖蜜唯一一次跑得快，却害死了人。
[Mike]: Right. And if you visit Boston's North End today, there is a small plaque where the tank stood. On hot summer days, some locals say they can still smell a little sweetness in the air.
zh:没错。如果你今天去波士顿北区，罐子立过的地方有一块小纪念碑。在炎热的夏天，有些当地人说，还能在空气中闻到一丝甜味。
[Sarah]: A smell that outlived everyone who was there. Mike, if you could tell the 1919 builders one thing, what would it be?
zh:一股气味，比当时在场的所有人都活得久。Mike，如果能让1915年的建造者听到一句话，你会说什么？
[Mike]: Fix the leak. Don't paint over it. What about you, Sarah?
zh:修好漏点，别拿漆盖住。你呢，Sarah？
[Sarah]: I would say, slow down. Building fast saved a few weeks and cost 21 lives. Have you ever ignored a small warning sign? Tell us your story.
zh:我会说，慢一点。赶工省了几周，却赔上21条命。你有没有曾经忽略过一个小小警告？跟我们说说你的故事吧。
[Mike]: Thanks for listening to Learn English with Podcasts. See you in the next episode.
zh:感谢收听 Learn English with Podcasts。下期见。
