On April 20, 2010, a blowout caused a huge explosion on the offshore drilling rig operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people were killed. Two days later, the rig collapsed. Oil began seeping into the sea, and it continued to flow for almost three months.
2010年4月20日，英国石油公司（BP）在墨西哥湾运营的深水地平线（Deepwater Horizon）钻井平台发生了井喷，导致了巨大的爆炸。这场事故造成了11人死亡。两天后，该钻井平台倒塌。石油开始渗入海洋，并持续流动了几乎三个月。
The Deepwater Horizon disaster is among the most lamented environmental catastrophes of the past century. It's hard to comprehend how incredibly huge the spill was. It was the world's largest ever marine oil spill, releasing an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil (779 million litres, or over 300 Olympic swimming pools-worth). Up to a million seabirds were killed outright, and the human health and socioeconomic effects are still being felt today.
深水地平线灾难是过去一个世纪中最令人痛心的环境灾难之一。要理解这次泄漏的规模之大是极其困难的。这是世界上有史以来最大的海上石油泄漏事件，估计释放了约490万桶（7.79亿升，或超过300个奥运会标准游泳池容量）的原油。多达一百万只海鸟直接因泄漏而死亡，人类健康和社会经济影响至今仍在持续。
BP, rig operator Transocean, and several government agencies immediately tried to limit the damage, with BP's chief executive saying the company was "determined to do everything in our power" to contain the spill. Booms were deployed to try to contain the oil, skimmer ships nibbled at the edges of the widening slick and fires were set to try to burn it off the sea surface. Various devices were deployed deep below the surface to try to contain or capture the oil. BP also began to spray the oil with enormous amounts of dispersants both on the sea surface and 1.5km (0.9 miles) underwater, where oil was gushing from the wellhead.
事故发生后，BP、钻井平台运营商Transocean以及多个政府机构立即尝试限制损害，BP的首席执行官表示公司“决心尽我们所能”来控制泄漏。为了遏制石油扩散，布设了围油栏；撇油船在不断扩大的油膜边缘工作；还点燃了一些火灾试图从海面烧掉石油。此外，在海面以下深处部署了各种设备，以尝试遏制或捕捉石油。BP还开始在海面上和1.5公里（0.9英里）深的海底，即石油从井口涌出的地方，喷洒大量分散剂。
However, it is thought that these measures recovered or dispersed only around a third of the spilled oil. The BP spill sparked a huge amount of research into oil spills and their impacts. But 14 years on, what hope is there for better measures should another oil spill occur?
然而，据信这些措施仅恢复或分散了大约三分之一的泄漏石油。深水地平线的泄漏引发了对石油泄漏及其影响的大规模研究。但14年后，如果再次发生石油泄漏，是否有更好的应对措施呢？

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