记得曾有这样一个问题，
百年之后，
那些钢筋水泥都被腐蚀之后，
人类还能给地球留下什么，
Quora上也有这样一个问题，
回答有德克萨斯的千年时钟，放射物废料罐，
以及古代的长城，金字塔等，
集中了从古至今，各行各业人类的远见与智慧，
今天来说说号称植物诺亚方舟的挪威种子库吧
问题：
What have humans built in the last 100 years that will survive 1,000 years?
有哪些人造的事物可以保存到千年之后？
回答：
Paul Denlinger：
Svalbard Global Seed Vault - Spitsbergen, Norway
斯瓦尔巴德岛全球种子库（斯匹次卑尔根，挪威）
An excerpt from Tom Standage's An Edible History of Humanity:
以下内容来自汤姆·斯丹迪奇的人类食物史：
On a remote island in the Arctic circle, seven hundred miles from the North Pole, an incongruous concrete wedge protrudes from the snow on the side of a mountain.
距北极七百米远，在北极圈的一个偏远的小岛上，一个不规则混凝土楔形建筑从山边的积雪中伸出。
Reflective steel, mirrors, and prisms, built into an aperture on its outside face, reflect the polar light during the summer months, making the building gleam like a gem set into the landscape.
反光的钢筋和棱镜在建筑的表面形成一个个小孔，在夏季，它们反射的北极光让建筑看起来像是镶嵌的景观中的宝石；
In the dark of the winter it glows with an eerie white, green, and turquoise light from two hundred optical fibers, ensuring that the building remains visible for miles around.
而在冬季，建筑里的二百种光纤会发出一种诡异的白色，绿色和蓝色混合光，确保它在几米外仍然可见。
Behind its heavy steel entrance doors, a reinforced-concrete tunnel extends 125 meters (410 feet) into the bedrock.
在它厚重的钢铁大门之后，有一条长达125米的钢筋混凝土通道通向基岩。
And behind another set of doors and two airlocks are three vaults, each 27 meters long, 6 meters tall, and 10 meters wide (89 by 20 by 33 feet).
而在另一个门和两个气闸后边有三个保险库，每个长27米，高6米，宽10米。
These vaults will not store gold, works of art, secret blueprints, or high-tech weaponry.
这些保险库不用来存储黄金，艺术品，秘密图纸或高科技武器。
Instead they will store something far more valuable—something that is arguably mankind’s greatest treasure. The vaults will be filled with billions of seeds.
相反，它们用来保存一些更有价值的东西，也可以说是人类最有价值的财富—数十亿的种子。
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, is the world’s largest and safest seed-storage facility.
斯瓦尔巴德岛全球种子岛是世界上最大也最安全的种子储藏设施。
The seeds it contains are stored inside gray four-ply envelopes made of polyethylene and aluminum, packed into sealed boxes, and stacked on shelves in the three vaults.
这里的种子存储在由聚乙烯和铝制成的灰色四层信封里，放进密封的盒子，堆放在三个储藏室的架子上。
Each envelope holds an average of five hundred seeds, and the total capacity of the vault is 4.5 million envelopes, or more than two billion seeds.
平均每个信封可以存储五百粒种子，保险库的总容量为450万各信封，即二十亿颗种子。
This is far larger than any existing seed bank: When the first vault is only half full, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will be the world’s largest collection of seeds.
这远比现存任何种子库都大：即便第一个保险库只有半满时，斯瓦尔巴德岛的种子库的存量也是全球最大的。
The vault’s careful design and positioning should also make it the world’s safest collection.
保险库的精心设计和选址也使它成为全球最安全的种子库。
There are about 1,400 seed banks worldwide, but many of them are vulnerable to wars, natural disasters, or a lack of secure funding.
全世界大约有1400家种子银行，但其中很多容易受到战争，自然灾害或者资金短缺的影响。
In 2001, Taliban fighters wiped out a seed bank in Afghanistan that contained ancient types of walnut, almond, peach, and other fruits.
2001年，塔利班的战士抢劫了阿富汗的一个种子银行，那里有远古的核桃，杏仁，桃子和其它水果。
In 2003, during the American invasion of Iraq, a seed bank in Abu Ghraib was destroyed by looters, and rare varieties of wheat, lentils, and chickpeas were lost.
2003年美国入侵伊拉克时，阿布格莱布的种子银行被洗劫，小麦，扁豆和鹰嘴豆等稀有品种的种子都丢了。
Much of the collection at the national seed bank in the Philippines was lost in 2006 when it was swamped by muddy water during a typhoon.
2006年台风来袭时，菲律宾的国家种子库被洪水淹没，其中很多收藏都丢了。
A Latin American seed bank almost lost its collection of potatoes when its refrigerators broke down.
一家拉丁美洲的种子库冰箱坏了，那时它几乎丢失了所有的马铃薯的收藏。
Malawi’s seed bank is a freezer in the corner of a wooden shack.
马拉维的种子库是一个小木屋角落里的冰箱。
Physical dangers aside, the funding for many seed banks is also precarious.
除开这些物理上的危险，很多种子银行的资金链也岌岌可危。
Kenya’s entire seed bank was almost lost because its administrators could not afford to pay the electricity bill.
因为管理人员无力负担电费，肯尼亚种子银行几乎破产。
The Svalbard facility, which will act as a backup for all of these national seed banks, has been designed to minimize both man-made and natural risks, and its running costs will be paid by the Norwegian government, which also paid for its construction.
斯瓦尔巴德岛的种子库正式为了为这些种子库备份成立，它在设计时就尽可能减少自然和人为风险，建造和运行费用由挪威政府支付。
As well as being built in one of the most remote places on earth, the Svalbard vault is tightly secured with steel doors and coded locks, is monitored from Sweden by video-link, and is protected by motion detectors set up around the site.
Polar bears provide a further deterrent to intruders。
种子库建立在地球最偏远的地方，包含钢筋门和密码锁双重安保，瑞典方面通过视频连线进行监控，周围还密布移动探测器网络。北极熊也对入侵者构成威慑。
The structure is built into a mountain that is geologically stable and has a low level of background radiation.
种子库所在山区地质结构稳定，辐射水平低。
And it is 130 meters (426 feet) above sea level, so it will remain untouched even under the most pessimistic scenarios for rising sea levels in the future.
而且，这里海拔130米，未来如果海平面上升的话，即使在最悲观的情况下，这里也不会被淹没。
The vault’s refrigeration system, powered by locally mined coal, will keep the seeds at-18 degrees Celsius.
保险库的制冷系统由当地煤矿供电，保证种子温度在零下18摄氏度。
Even if the refrigeration system fails, the vault’s position, deep below the permafrost, ensures that the inside temperature will never exceed-3.5 degrees Celsius, which is cold enough to protect most of the seeds for many years. Wheat seeds can last 1,700 years, barley seeds for 2,000 years, and sorghum seeds for 20,000 years.
即使制冷系统出现故障，由于保险库位于永久冻土之下，保证了里面温度不会高于零下3.5摄氏度，这足以使大多数种子保存多年。例如小麦种子可以保存1700年，大麦种子2000年，高粱种子20000年。
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