世界上最深的人造洞“地狱之井”，深4万英尺

世界上最深的人造洞“地狱之井”，深4万英尺

Earth’s deepest artificial hole stretches 40,000 feet below the surface — and it’s only covered by a rusty metal lid.

地球上最深的人工洞穴位于地表以下4万英尺，上面只有一个生锈的金属盖。

Russia’s Kola Superdeep Borehole was created by the Soviets in the name of science so they could learn more about what’s really under our feet and dig to depths unknown.

俄罗斯的科拉超深钻孔是由苏联人以科学的名义创造的，这样他们就可以更多地了解我们脚下的东西，并挖掘到未知的深度。

The project to drill into the Earth’s surface began near Murmansk in the 1970s, when Soviet scientists wanted to learn more about the Earth’s crust.

钻探地球表面的工程始于20世纪70年代摩尔曼斯克附近，当时苏联科学家想要更多地了解地壳。

Rakot13/Wikimedia

Over two decades, they managed to dig more than 7.5 miles down into the Earth.

在20多年的时间里，他们成功地向地下挖掘了7.5英里。

However, in 1992 they had to stop drilling because the temperature was around 180 degrees Celsius (356 Fahrenheit), which was far hotter than the scientists predicted it would be.

然而，在1992年，他们不得不停止钻探，因为当时的温度大约是180摄氏度(356华氏度)，比科学家们预测的要高得多。

Experts still need to figure out a way to overcome this temperature issue if they want to keep drilling and not destroy all of their equipment in the process.

如果专家们想要继续钻探，同时又不想在钻探过程中破坏所有设备，他们还需要找到一种方法来克服这个温度问题。

All this drilling wasn’t for nothing though as some scientific discoveries were made.

尽管有一些科学发现，但所有这些钻探活动并非毫无意义。

The researchers found out that there is water at 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) into Earth’s crust, despite this previously being thought to be impossible.

研究人员发现，在地壳深处12公里(7.4英里)处有水，尽管之前人们认为这是不可能的。

They also found 24 new types of long-dead single-celled organisms and gained access to rocks that were 2.7 billion years old.

他们还发现了24种早已死亡的新型单细胞生物，并接触到了27亿年历史的岩石。

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is 23 centimeters (about 8.7 inches) in diameter and its metal lid is welded on so it is unlikely that anyone would ever fall down it.

科拉超深钻孔直径23厘米(约8.7英寸)，金属盖是焊接的，所以不太可能有人从上面掉下来。

Locals in the area say that the hole is so deep you can hear the screams of people being tortured in hell, hence its nickname being “the well to hell.”

该地区的当地人说，这个洞太深了，你甚至可以听到人们在地狱里被折磨的尖叫声，因此它的绰号是“地狱之井”。

If you fell down the hole, it would take around 3.5 to 4 minutes to reach the bottom.

如果你不小心掉了进去，要花3.5到4分钟才能到达底部。

Lots of countries wanted to be the first to drill into the Earth’s mantle during the Cold War and today Japan is attempting to set this record.

许多国家在冷战期间都想成为第一个钻到地球地幔的国家，而今天日本正试图打破这一记录。