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You wake up late because the radio does not come on. Outside there is only the sound of the wind, and of the birds in the trees. Most shockingly, the 1)rumble of traffic is gone. As the day 2)wears on, you realize you are completely alone.
This is the plot of the movie I Am Legend,
starring Will Smith as the last man alive on Earth.
To wake up and find oneself the only human alive in a modern world, where everyone else has
disappeared or been killed by some mysterious
3)virus, is both the stuff of nightmares and of fantasy.
For this would be a 4)tainted paradise, a world in which you could do anything you wanted. You would be a king, but your kingdom would be empty.
But in reality, how long would the 5)average
person survive if they found themselves the only
human being left on the planet?
Surviving in the City
Survival experts have a 6)priority of 7)necessities. At the top are water, food and 8)shelter – the shelter, in a world full of empty buildings, would be no problem.
But what about food and drink?
A man can survive six weeks without food, but only six days without water. With everyone gone, no electricity and no 9)maintenance, 10)waterworks would soon stop working.
In fact, our survivor would have to rely on bottled water. If he or she broke into a large supermarket, they might find several thousand litres of the stuff.
Fortunately, supermarkets also contain a great deal of preserved food. Most 11)tinned meats,
vegetables have 12)sell-by dates a couple of years hence, but the reality is that you could probably 13)live off it quite safely for decades.
So, food and drink would not be a problem, although fresh food would be off the menu after a few days,
unless our survivor could grow and gather crops, and fish or hunt – which would be a problem for most of us.
A Life at Stake
And as weeks turn into months, and months into years, there would be other problems.
In the book The World Without Us注, author Alan Weisman 14)speculated what would happen if humanity was suddenly 15)wiped out.
It wouldn’t take long, he pointed out, for the works of Man to start 16)crumbling. Without regular maintenance, suffering from rain, frost and heat, most of the buildings would start to crumble and become
dangerous within a decade or so. In the long term, our survivor would have to choose a solid, stone building dating back a century or more.
There would be another threat to our survivor: fire. One lightning-strike could set off a city-wide fire, with no fire brigade to put it out.
17)Hygiene would be an 18)issue. If he chose to remain in the city, he would find the lack of 19)sewage works a problem after only a few days, while rivers would probably be too polluted to bathe in.
The only hot water would come from a stove, and washing oneself and one’s clothes would be unpleasant (fortunately the world’s shops are full of many, many lifetimes’ worth of clean clothing).
As for our survivor’s health, the lack of any other people to spread 20)infectious diseases would be a blessing, but the risk of accidents would be a worry –
even a broken limb could quickly become 21)fatal if the injury was not dealt with correctly.
What about transport? With no regular maintenance, most cars would last only a few years before they 22)give up the ghost. While the roads would be free of traffic jams, after a decade, most of them would become 23)overgrown with 24)weeds. After 20 years, many would be 25)impassable. After 50, trees would be growing through the motorways.
A Comfortable Life
Fortunately, our survivor would have the chance to enjoy the 26)combined wisdom of the millions of books in the world’s libraries (with no one to run the servers, and no electricity, the internet would shut down almost immediately).
How to mend a broken car – and how to mend a broken arm, how to hunt, how to sail a boat…it’s all there 27)in black and white.
Yes, life would be hard, but written help would be 28)on tap. If he kept his wits about him, and was lucky enough to stay healthy, our survivor could enjoy many years of comfort, even 29)luxury.
For the surviving human, there would certainly be fun to be had with the remains of our civilization. He or she could 30)raid the museums and 31)galleries to build a temple to human achievement, containing the finest works of art. He could 32)decorate his home with Picassos and Da Vincis, fill his garden with Rodins and Michelangelos. He could drive any car, wear the best designer clothes.
All by Oneself
But in the years to come, these pleasures would surely 33)pale and our survivor would face a far bigger threat than starvation, thirst, or even disease.
For as years turn to decades, our survivor would discover the 34)grim truth: that we are 35)tribal animals. Our survivor would probably exchange all the treasures of the world for a single 36)companion.
What fun one could have if he or she were alone! In reality, once the 37)practicalities had been dealt with, he or she would almost certainly go mad.
It would, quite 38)literally, be Hell on Earth.
你起晚了，因为收音机没有播音。外头只能听到风声和树上鸟儿的叫声。最奇怪的是，马路上汽车驶过的隆隆声也消失了。一天渐逝，你开始意识到——整个世界只有你一个人。
这是电影《末日传奇》的情节，威尔·史密斯在影片中饰演地球上最后一个生存者。
一觉醒来发现自己是现代世界里仍存活的唯一人类，而其他人都已失踪或死于一种神秘的病毒——这是噩梦，也是不可思议的事情。
因为这是一个有污点的天堂，一个可以为所欲为的世界。你是国王，但你的王国空无一人。
然而，在现实中，假如一个普通人发现自己是地球上仅存的一个人，他究竟能活多久呢？
城市求生
求生专家知道哪些生存必需品是最重要的，位于首位的是水、食物和庇护所——而庇护所，在这个到处都是空建筑物的世界里寻求一个庇护所当然不是问题。但食物和水怎么办呢？
人在没有食物的情况下可以活六周，而在没有水时只能活六天。其他人都不见了，加上没有电，也没有人维护，自来水厂很快就会停止运转。
事实上，我们这位幸存者不得不依靠瓶装水了。要是他（她）闯进一家大型超市，就可以找到几千升这样的东西。
幸运的是，超市也有大量罐头食品。许多罐装肉和罐装蔬菜的保质期都有几年。但实际上，你可能依赖它们活上好几十年，不必担心它们会变质。
所以，食物和水不是问题。虽然新鲜食物在几天之后就会从餐牌上消失，除非我们的幸存者懂得收种粮食、捕鱼和打猎——但对大多数人来说，这些都是很难的事情。
命悬一线
斗转星移，累周成月，积月成年，其它问题纷纷出现。
在《没有我们的世界》一书中，作者艾伦·韦斯曼想象了一幅人类突然消失后的世界景象。
他指出，人类的各类建筑无需太久就会开始崩溃。没有定期维修，又经受风雨、冰霜和日晒的折磨，大多数建筑物不出十年就会摇摇欲坠，变成危房。为长远打算，我们的幸存者还是得选择一座有一个多世纪历史或更古老的、足够坚固的石头建筑物。
此外，这位幸存者还面临另一种威胁，那就是火。一次闪电袭击就足以引发波及整个城市的大火，却没有消防队去救火。
卫生也将是个问题。如果这位幸存者选择留在城市，短短几天后，他可能就会发现没有污水处理系统是件很棘手的事，而污染严重的河水又不能用于洗澡。
热水只能用炉子烧，洗澡和洗衣服可能就不那么让人愉快了（好在世界上有那么多商店，里面有几辈子都穿不完的干净衣服）。
至于这位幸存者的健康，没有其他人传播传染病倒是种福气，但要是出了意外那可就得当心了——即使只是伤了手脚，如果没有得到妥当处理，可能很快会变成致命伤。
交通方面又如何呢？没有定期维修，多数汽车几年后就要报销。虽然公路上不再塞车，但十年后，路面就会野草丛生。二十年后，许多路就无法通行。而五十年后，高速公路上则会树木林立。
舒适生活
幸运的是，我们的幸存者还有机会享受全球各图书馆中数不胜数的书籍融汇而成的智慧（因为没有人操作服务器，加上没有电，互联网立即就会关闭）。
怎样修车，手臂伤了怎么治疗，怎样打猎，怎样驾船……全部都用白纸黑字
写着。
没错，生活或许艰辛，但写好的指南唾手可得。如果我们这位幸存者理智尚存，又能幸运地保持身体健康，那他就可以享受很多年舒适甚至是奢华的生活。
对于存留下来的人来说，我们的文明遗产当然还有很多乐趣可言。他（她）可以洗劫博物馆和美术馆，然后建造一个汇人类成就之大成的殿堂，里面囊括最优秀的艺术作品。他可以用毕加索和达·芬奇的画装饰他的家，在花园里摆满罗丹和米开朗基罗的雕塑。他可以开任何一款车，穿一流设计师设计的服装。
孤身一人
然而，随着时间的消逝，这些乐趣终归黯然失色。我们的幸存者将面临一个比饥渴，甚至疾病都要严重得多的威胁。
几十年光景以后，我们的幸存者就会发现一个残酷的事实：我们都是部落动物。这位幸存者甘愿以全世界的财富去换取哪怕仅仅一个伙伴。
只有他（她）一个人，能有什么乐趣可言！实际上，一旦真的要面对这个问题，他（她）多半会疯掉。
那将是名副其实的人间地狱。
This is the plot of the movie I Am Legend,
starring Will Smith as the last man alive on Earth.
To wake up and find oneself the only human alive in a modern world, where everyone else has
disappeared or been killed by some mysterious
3)virus, is both the stuff of nightmares and of fantasy.
For this would be a 4)tainted paradise, a world in which you could do anything you wanted. You would be a king, but your kingdom would be empty.
But in reality, how long would the 5)average
person survive if they found themselves the only
human being left on the planet?
Surviving in the City
Survival experts have a 6)priority of 7)necessities. At the top are water, food and 8)shelter – the shelter, in a world full of empty buildings, would be no problem.
But what about food and drink?
A man can survive six weeks without food, but only six days without water. With everyone gone, no electricity and no 9)maintenance, 10)waterworks would soon stop working.
In fact, our survivor would have to rely on bottled water. If he or she broke into a large supermarket, they might find several thousand litres of the stuff.
Fortunately, supermarkets also contain a great deal of preserved food. Most 11)tinned meats,
vegetables have 12)sell-by dates a couple of years hence, but the reality is that you could probably 13)live off it quite safely for decades.
So, food and drink would not be a problem, although fresh food would be off the menu after a few days,
unless our survivor could grow and gather crops, and fish or hunt – which would be a problem for most of us.
A Life at Stake
And as weeks turn into months, and months into years, there would be other problems.
In the book The World Without Us注, author Alan Weisman 14)speculated what would happen if humanity was suddenly 15)wiped out.
It wouldn’t take long, he pointed out, for the works of Man to start 16)crumbling. Without regular maintenance, suffering from rain, frost and heat, most of the buildings would start to crumble and become
dangerous within a decade or so. In the long term, our survivor would have to choose a solid, stone building dating back a century or more.
There would be another threat to our survivor: fire. One lightning-strike could set off a city-wide fire, with no fire brigade to put it out.
17)Hygiene would be an 18)issue. If he chose to remain in the city, he would find the lack of 19)sewage works a problem after only a few days, while rivers would probably be too polluted to bathe in.
The only hot water would come from a stove, and washing oneself and one’s clothes would be unpleasant (fortunately the world’s shops are full of many, many lifetimes’ worth of clean clothing).
As for our survivor’s health, the lack of any other people to spread 20)infectious diseases would be a blessing, but the risk of accidents would be a worry –
even a broken limb could quickly become 21)fatal if the injury was not dealt with correctly.
What about transport? With no regular maintenance, most cars would last only a few years before they 22)give up the ghost. While the roads would be free of traffic jams, after a decade, most of them would become 23)overgrown with 24)weeds. After 20 years, many would be 25)impassable. After 50, trees would be growing through the motorways.
A Comfortable Life
Fortunately, our survivor would have the chance to enjoy the 26)combined wisdom of the millions of books in the world’s libraries (with no one to run the servers, and no electricity, the internet would shut down almost immediately).
How to mend a broken car – and how to mend a broken arm, how to hunt, how to sail a boat…it’s all there 27)in black and white.
Yes, life would be hard, but written help would be 28)on tap. If he kept his wits about him, and was lucky enough to stay healthy, our survivor could enjoy many years of comfort, even 29)luxury.
For the surviving human, there would certainly be fun to be had with the remains of our civilization. He or she could 30)raid the museums and 31)galleries to build a temple to human achievement, containing the finest works of art. He could 32)decorate his home with Picassos and Da Vincis, fill his garden with Rodins and Michelangelos. He could drive any car, wear the best designer clothes.
All by Oneself
But in the years to come, these pleasures would surely 33)pale and our survivor would face a far bigger threat than starvation, thirst, or even disease.
For as years turn to decades, our survivor would discover the 34)grim truth: that we are 35)tribal animals. Our survivor would probably exchange all the treasures of the world for a single 36)companion.
What fun one could have if he or she were alone! In reality, once the 37)practicalities had been dealt with, he or she would almost certainly go mad.
It would, quite 38)literally, be Hell on Earth.
你起晚了，因为收音机没有播音。外头只能听到风声和树上鸟儿的叫声。最奇怪的是，马路上汽车驶过的隆隆声也消失了。一天渐逝，你开始意识到——整个世界只有你一个人。
这是电影《末日传奇》的情节，威尔·史密斯在影片中饰演地球上最后一个生存者。
一觉醒来发现自己是现代世界里仍存活的唯一人类，而其他人都已失踪或死于一种神秘的病毒——这是噩梦，也是不可思议的事情。
因为这是一个有污点的天堂，一个可以为所欲为的世界。你是国王，但你的王国空无一人。
然而，在现实中，假如一个普通人发现自己是地球上仅存的一个人，他究竟能活多久呢？
城市求生
求生专家知道哪些生存必需品是最重要的，位于首位的是水、食物和庇护所——而庇护所，在这个到处都是空建筑物的世界里寻求一个庇护所当然不是问题。但食物和水怎么办呢？
人在没有食物的情况下可以活六周，而在没有水时只能活六天。其他人都不见了，加上没有电，也没有人维护，自来水厂很快就会停止运转。
事实上，我们这位幸存者不得不依靠瓶装水了。要是他（她）闯进一家大型超市，就可以找到几千升这样的东西。
幸运的是，超市也有大量罐头食品。许多罐装肉和罐装蔬菜的保质期都有几年。但实际上，你可能依赖它们活上好几十年，不必担心它们会变质。
所以，食物和水不是问题。虽然新鲜食物在几天之后就会从餐牌上消失，除非我们的幸存者懂得收种粮食、捕鱼和打猎——但对大多数人来说，这些都是很难的事情。
命悬一线
斗转星移，累周成月，积月成年，其它问题纷纷出现。
在《没有我们的世界》一书中，作者艾伦·韦斯曼想象了一幅人类突然消失后的世界景象。
他指出，人类的各类建筑无需太久就会开始崩溃。没有定期维修，又经受风雨、冰霜和日晒的折磨，大多数建筑物不出十年就会摇摇欲坠，变成危房。为长远打算，我们的幸存者还是得选择一座有一个多世纪历史或更古老的、足够坚固的石头建筑物。
此外，这位幸存者还面临另一种威胁，那就是火。一次闪电袭击就足以引发波及整个城市的大火，却没有消防队去救火。
卫生也将是个问题。如果这位幸存者选择留在城市，短短几天后，他可能就会发现没有污水处理系统是件很棘手的事，而污染严重的河水又不能用于洗澡。
热水只能用炉子烧，洗澡和洗衣服可能就不那么让人愉快了（好在世界上有那么多商店，里面有几辈子都穿不完的干净衣服）。
至于这位幸存者的健康，没有其他人传播传染病倒是种福气，但要是出了意外那可就得当心了——即使只是伤了手脚，如果没有得到妥当处理，可能很快会变成致命伤。
交通方面又如何呢？没有定期维修，多数汽车几年后就要报销。虽然公路上不再塞车，但十年后，路面就会野草丛生。二十年后，许多路就无法通行。而五十年后，高速公路上则会树木林立。
舒适生活
幸运的是，我们的幸存者还有机会享受全球各图书馆中数不胜数的书籍融汇而成的智慧（因为没有人操作服务器，加上没有电，互联网立即就会关闭）。
怎样修车，手臂伤了怎么治疗，怎样打猎，怎样驾船……全部都用白纸黑字
写着。
没错，生活或许艰辛，但写好的指南唾手可得。如果我们这位幸存者理智尚存，又能幸运地保持身体健康，那他就可以享受很多年舒适甚至是奢华的生活。
对于存留下来的人来说，我们的文明遗产当然还有很多乐趣可言。他（她）可以洗劫博物馆和美术馆，然后建造一个汇人类成就之大成的殿堂，里面囊括最优秀的艺术作品。他可以用毕加索和达·芬奇的画装饰他的家，在花园里摆满罗丹和米开朗基罗的雕塑。他可以开任何一款车，穿一流设计师设计的服装。
孤身一人
然而，随着时间的消逝，这些乐趣终归黯然失色。我们的幸存者将面临一个比饥渴，甚至疾病都要严重得多的威胁。
几十年光景以后，我们的幸存者就会发现一个残酷的事实：我们都是部落动物。这位幸存者甘愿以全世界的财富去换取哪怕仅仅一个伙伴。
只有他（她）一个人，能有什么乐趣可言！实际上，一旦真的要面对这个问题，他（她）多半会疯掉。
那将是名副其实的人间地狱。