For three long years, Marie sifted through tons of pitchblende.

漫长的三年里, 玛了数吨沥青混合物。

She was getting tiny amounts of radium out of the pitchblende.

她沥青混合物中提取了少量的放射性元。

By separating it out of the pitchblende.

通过将其沥青混合物中分离出来。

All together, Marie used eight tons of pitchblende and four hundred tons of water before she was done!

Marie 在完成之前总共使用了 8 吨沥青闪石和 400 吨水！

She tried to separate the polonium from the pitchblende—but she failed.

她试图将钋沥青闪石中分离出来——但她失败了。

The amounts of polonium in the pitchblende were too tiny.

沥青共混物中的polonium含量太小了。

The pitchblende contained another mysterious metal that was giving off rays.

沥青闪石中含有另一种发出射线的神秘金属。

Was it even possible to separate the radium from the pitchblende?

是否有可能将放射性同沥青共混物中分离出来?

She decided to test a rock called pitchblende.

她决定测试一种叫做沥青闪石的岩石。

When Marie tested the pitchblende, she found it gave off even more rays than uranium alone!

当 Marie 测试沥青闪石时，她发现它发出的射线比单独的铀还要多！

Next, by focusing on a super radioactive ore called pitchblende, the Curies realized that uranium alone couldn't be creating all the radiation.

接下来， 通过专注于一种叫做沥青铀矿的超级放射性矿石，居里夫妇意识到铀本身不可能产生所有的辐射。

By 1902, the Curies had extracted a tenth of a gram of pure radium chloride salt from several tons of pitchblende, an incredible feat at the time.

到 1902 年，居里夫妇几吨沥青铀矿中提取了十分之一克的纯氯化镭盐，这在当时是一项了不起的壮举。

There had to be something else—another metal— mixed into the pitchblende! That other metal, whatever it was, had even more energy than uranium.

必须有别的东西 - - 另一种金属 - -混入 Pitchblende！另一种金属，无论它是什么，都比铀的能量还要大。

He tested a piece of pitchblende, the principal ore of uranium, and found it to be seven hundred million years old—very much older than the age most people were prepared to grant the earth.

他测试了一块沥青铀矿, 发现它有七亿年的历史 - - 比大多数人准备给予地球的年龄要大得多。