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Hey there! Welcome to Life Noggin.
大家好！欢迎来到打脑洞开的生命奇想。
Warning! This episode is kind of gross, but still keep watching though… Thank you!
警告！这一集有些恶心，但是你们还会继续看下去，谢谢！
Earlier this year, a 64-meter long mass called a fatberg was found in the sewer of Sidmouth, England.
今年早些时候，人们在英格兰锡德茅斯的下水道中发现了一个64米长的油脂块。
While that’s longer than the Leaning Tower of Pisa is tall, it pales in comparison to the largest fatberg ever discovered.
尽管它比比萨斜塔还长，但是与迄今发现的最大的油脂块相比，它简直是小巫见大巫。
That award goes to the Whitechapel fatberg found in 2017 in the sewers beneath London.
最大的油脂块就是2017年于伦敦下水道发现的白教堂油脂块。
It was 250-meters long, weighed 130 tonnes, and took nine weeks to clear out.
它有250米长，重130吨，用了九周的时间才清理掉。
But England isn’t the only country plagued by fatbergs.
但是英国不是唯一受油脂块侵扰的国家。
They have been found in sewer systems all over the world.
全世界的下水道中都有它的存在。
So what exactly are these things? Fatbergs are a solid mass of waste found in sewers.
这些东西到底是什么呢？油脂块是存在于下水道的一大块固体废物。
They consist of things that have been flushed down the toilet or poured down the drain,
它们由被冲进马桶或倒进下水道的东西组成，
like congealed fat, oil, and personal hygiene products.
比如凝固脂，油脂，和个人卫生用品。
One major source that is reportedly wreaking havoc on sewers all over the United States and Australia are wet wipes.
据报道，在美国和澳大利亚各地，下水道中造成大破坏的主要东西是湿纸巾。
This is because wet wipes don’t disintegrate the same way that toilet paper does.
这是因为，湿纸巾不会像卫生纸那样分解。
Other common products are diapers and tampons.
其它常见的产品是尿布和卫生棉条。
Fatbergs are in part caused when fatty deposits come into contact with calcium and form a metallic soap.
油脂块形成的部分原因是脂肪沉积与钙接触形成金属皂。
When this soap meets non-biodegradable items in the sewers, they combine and form deposits on sewer walls.
当这块金属皂在下水道中遇到不可生物降解的东西时，它们会在下水道墙面上结合形成沉积物。
This eventually causes blockages that can lead to overflow, flooding, and water contamination,
这最终会导致其溢出，泛滥，造成水污染，
resulting in environmental and health risks. Not to mention how much they cost to fix.
带来环境和健康风险。更不用提解决这个问题的代价。
Thames Water in the UK spends £1 million each month clearing blockages. Sydney Water spends $8 million each year.
英国的泰晤士水务公司每月要花费100万美元清理堵塞。悉尼水务公司每年要花800万美元清理堵塞。
And New York City spent $18 million in just five years on wet wipe related issues.
在“湿纸巾”相关问题上，纽约市在短短5年时间里就花了1800万美元。
For fatberg prevention or mitigation, water service companies have been urging their customers to stop pouring fats and oils down the drain.
为了预防或者减轻油脂块问题，水务公司一直在敦促客户停止往下水道倾倒油脂。
Restaurants in particular lead to a lot of grease deposits, since there’s been a noted connection between fatbergs and food outlets,
尤其是餐厅，那里产生了很多油脂沉积物，因为油脂块和餐饮店有很明显的联系。
some water companies are encouraging or even requiring restaurants to use grease traps to prevent it from going down drains.
一些水务公司鼓励，甚至是要求餐厅使用隔油池来避免它流向地下。
And some cities are even fighting to prevent wet wipe companies from advertising their products as flushable.
一些城市甚至奋力阻止湿巾公司打广告标榜他们的产品是可冲洗的。
To deal with the accumulating waste, companies are finding ways to put fatbergs to good use.
为了应对积聚的废物，公司在寻找好好利用油脂块的方法。
In the UK, Thames Water partnered with an energy company to convert the fats, oils, and greases found in fatbergs into clean oil,
在英国，泰晤士水务公司和一家能量公司合作，将下水道中的脂肪，油脂转化成清洁的油。
which can be made into biodiesel, - a renewable, clean-burning fuel.
它能被生产成生物柴油，一种可再生的清洁的燃料。
So who knows? Maybe in a few years, we’ll live in a world powered by fatbergs.
谁知道呢？也许过几年后，我们就会生活在一个由油脂块供能的世界。
But also, maybe not… So don’t flush anything you’re not suppose to.
但是也许不会。所以不应该冲走任何不应该冲走的东西。
Unless you’re me and you’re trying to flush yourself down the toilet because a toilet in my world is a portal to your world.
除非你是我，想把自己冲进马桶，因为我的世界里的厕所就是你世界的入口。
It’s complicated, the real Life Noggin fans know what I’m talking about though!
这很复杂，真正的宝高粉是知道我在说什么的！
