科学美国人60秒 SSS 用碳同位素验证威士忌的真假

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Eliene Augenbraun.

这里是科学美国人――60秒科学系列，我是艾琳·奥根布劳恩。

"It came to our attention a few years ago that there were fraudulent whiskeys on the market."

“市场上存在假威士忌，这在几年前引起了我们的注意。”

Gordon Cook of the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center.

苏格兰大学环境研究中心的戈登·库克说到。

"Scotch¹ whiskey is Scotland's product, and we felt that being a radiocarbon laboratory in Scotland, we should take a lead on this."

“苏格兰威士忌是苏格兰的产品，作为苏格兰的放射性碳实验室，我们应该带头研究这个问题。”

Scotch whiskey is made from barley², which absorbs carbon dioxide from the air as it grows. Most of the carbon is carbon-12. But a small percentage is the radioactive isotope³ carbon-14, which decays at a constant, known rate— and has therefore long been used to "carbon-date" biological samples.

苏格兰威士忌由大麦制成，而大麦在生长过程中会吸收空气中的二氧化碳。其中大部分碳是碳12。而放射性同位素碳14只占一小部分，它以一种已知的恒定速率衰变，因此长期以来一直被用于生物样品的“碳素年龄测定”。

"Then, in the early 1950s, we had the start of the atmospheric⁴ weapons test, and these produce carbon-14. By 1960, you were twice the natural level. And '63—there was a test ban treaty, so '63 was the maximum. Since then, the level in the atmosphere has decreased as the radiocarbon goes into the biota⁵ and the oceans."

“之后在上世纪50年代初，我们开始进行太空武器测试，这会产生碳14。到1960年，大气中的碳14含量为自然水平的两倍。但1963年出台了禁止试验条约，因此碳14含量在该年达到最大值。从那以后，随着放射性碳进入生物区和海洋，大气中的碳14含量逐渐下降。”

So unusually high levels of carbon-14 are associated with barley grown during the years when nuclear testing was widespread.

因此，碳14水平异常高与在核试验扩散年代生长的大麦有关。

There's obviously a lot of money in whiskey. And some classics get bought not as imbibements but as investments. Last October, a 60-year-old 1926 bottle was auctioned⁶ off for $1.9 million.

显然，威士忌中有大量金钱。一些经典威士忌被购买并不是为了饮用，而是为了投资。去年10月，一瓶有1926年生产的60年威士忌以190万美元的价格被拍卖。

To make sure that the stuff inside bottles of Scotch whiskey matches what's on the labels, Cook and his colleagues looked at levels of the carbon-14 in the drink. They calibrated⁷ levels of the radioactive variant⁸ of carbon in more than 200 different single-malt Scotch whiskey samples of known ages. The researchers then compared those levels to eight whiskeys claiming to have been bottled from 1847 to 1978.

为了确保苏格兰威士忌酒瓶中的物质与标签相符，库克和同事查看了酒中的碳14含量。他们校准了200多种已知年份的单一麦芽苏格兰威士忌样品中的放射性碳变种水平。之后，研究人员将这些含量与声称于1847年到1978年间装瓶的8种威士忌进行了比较。

"We haven't found any whiskeys purported⁹ to be from the 19th century that are genuine."

“就这些声称产于19世纪的威士忌而言，我们尚未发现任何一瓶是真货。”

Because those allegedly 19th-century bottles contained material clearly produced during the nuclear-testing era. The study is in the journal Radiocarbon.

因为那些声称是19世纪的酒瓶里，明显含有产于核试验时期的物质。这项研究发表在《放射性碳》期刊上。

Cook hopes these verification techniques will help keep the whiskey business true to the words of Robert Burns: "Here's a bottle and an honest friend."

库克希望这些验证技术能帮助威士忌酒厂忠于罗伯特·伯恩斯的名言：“这是一个瓶子和一位诚实的朋友。”

For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Eliene Augenbraun.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾琳·奥根布劳恩。

1 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

2 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

3 isotope   

n.同位素

参考例句：

• The isotope ratio is directly used for comparing oils or gases.同位素比率直接用于比较各种石油或天然气。
• How to apply a radio isotope?如何运用放射性同位素？

4 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

5 biota   

n.生物区

参考例句：

• They have had serious effects upon the biota of stream.它们对河流中的生物群体产生严重影响。
• Historical biogeography attempts to reconstruct the biota history of the earth.历史生物地理学重建生物区系历史。

6 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 calibrated   

v.校准( calibrate的过去式和过去分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Power pesticide dusters can be calibrated and used to apply pertilizer. 动力杀虫剂可以调整用来施肥。 来自辞典例句
• The flexible diaphragm is connected to a plat cantilever-calibrated spring. 柔韧的膜片一扁平的悬臂校正弹簧相连。 来自辞典例句

8 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

9 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》