You've had that bottle of water in the back of your pantry for some time now. It's your "doomsday stash" - you may not have bread, blankets, or a flashlight in your house. But whether there's a spontaneous power outage, water shortage, or natural disaster, you're going to be hydrated AF.

食品儲存室里的那瓶水已經放了一段時間了。它是你的"末日藏品"--也許你房子里沒有面包、毯子或電筒，但你還有水。但不管是突然停電、缺水還是自然災害，你都有可能缺水。

Or so you thought. What happens once that water has been sitting back there for years on end? If a hurricane really does hit two years later and you dip into your ancient water bottle reservoir, can you really crack open one of those bottles and expect to guzzle it down risk-free?

或者這只是你的想法。如果水一放就是好幾年，那又會發生什么呢？如果兩年后真的有颶風來襲，而你準備動用古老的水瓶庫，你真的覺得自己可以打開水瓶、大口大口喝下去并且一點風險都沒有嗎？

Answer: Maybe.

答案是：也許吧。

Water bottles all have expiration dates. You've probably seen them - little black dotted numbers marking when you should toss your water because it's "gone bad." Wait… Here's where we get confused. How can water go bad?

瓶裝水都會過期。也許你看到過--小小的黑色數字，這時候你應該扔掉這瓶水，因為它已經"變質"了。等一等，我們都會感到疑惑：水怎么會變質呢？

It can't. Water, like oxygen or steel or any other naturally occurring substance, is simply a chemical compound; it's ageless. However, humans have taken to storing natural-occurring water in plastic, artificial, flimsy containers, and the bottles can go bad. The plastic compounds can break down over time and leak into your water - and there are a few other things you didn't know about bottled water.

當然不會，水和氧氣、鋼或其它任何天然存在的物質一樣，只是一種化合物；水是永恒的。然而，人類已經將天然存在的水存儲到人造薄塑料瓶中，而瓶子是會變質的。隨著時間的推移，塑料復合物會自行分解、滲透到水中--關于瓶裝水，還有一些事是你不知道的。

Plus, plastic isn't impermeable. Algae or bacteria -not the good kind - seep in and grow inside your bottled water if you leave it for too long. This can still happen even if the bottle is closed. So if you've waited long enough, once you finally open up that "purified" water you're also likely opening up a bacteria-ridden breeding ground for harmful organisms.

另外，塑料是不滲透的。如果放的時間久了，藻類或細菌--壞的那種--會在瓶裝水中滲入、生長。即使瓶蓋蓋的很緊，這種事情仍會發生。所以如果你等了很長時間，一旦你最終打開了"純凈"水，你也很有可能打開了一個細菌滋生的有害生物繁殖地。

But to be honest with you all, there are ways to get around this. Firstly, you can boil your water before drinking it. This will effectually kill anything that's living inside. Secondly, the plastic compounds that can leak in might make your water taste funny, but they aren't usually inherently harmful for you to ingest.

但說實話，這個問題是有辦法解決的。首先，喝水的時候先煮沸。這會有效地殺死任何活在瓶中的生物。其次，能夠滲透的塑料復合物也許會使水嘗起來怪怪的，但它們通常不會對您造成傷害。

Still, it's best to replace those bottles you have hidden away at least once every two years. If it really ever is doomsday, you'd much rather be safe than sorry.

但是，最好還是每兩年（至少）換一次你貯藏的這些瓶裝水。如果真的到了世界末日，也會有備無患。

You've had that bottle of water in the back of your pantry for some time now. It's your "doomsday stash" - you may not have bread, blankets, or a flashlight in your house. But whether there's a spontaneous power outage, water shortage, or natural disaster, you're going to be hydrated AF.

食品儲存室里的那瓶水已經放了一段時間了。它是你的"末日藏品"--也許你房子里沒有面包、毯子或電筒，但你還有水。但不管是突然停電、缺水還是自然災害，你都有可能缺水。

Or so you thought. What happens once that water has been sitting back there for years on end? If a hurricane really does hit two years later and you dip into your ancient water bottle reservoir, can you really crack open one of those bottles and expect to guzzle it down risk-free?

或者這只是你的想法。如果水一放就是好幾年，那又會發生什么呢？如果兩年后真的有颶風來襲，而你準備動用古老的水瓶庫，你真的覺得自己可以打開水瓶、大口大口喝下去并且一點風險都沒有嗎？

Answer: Maybe.

答案是：也許吧。

Water bottles all have expiration dates. You've probably seen them - little black dotted numbers marking when you should toss your water because it's "gone bad." Wait… Here's where we get confused. How can water go bad?

瓶裝水都會過期。也許你看到過--小小的黑色數字，這時候你應該扔掉這瓶水，因為它已經"變質"了。等一等，我們都會感到疑惑：水怎么會變質呢？

It can't. Water, like oxygen or steel or any other naturally occurring substance, is simply a chemical compound; it's ageless. However, humans have taken to storing natural-occurring water in plastic, artificial, flimsy containers, and the bottles can go bad. The plastic compounds can break down over time and leak into your water - and there are a few other things you didn't know about bottled water.

當然不會，水和氧氣、鋼或其它任何天然存在的物質一樣，只是一種化合物；水是永恒的。然而，人類已經將天然存在的水存儲到人造薄塑料瓶中，而瓶子是會變質的。隨著時間的推移，塑料復合物會自行分解、滲透到水中--關于瓶裝水，還有一些事是你不知道的。

Plus, plastic isn't impermeable. Algae or bacteria -not the good kind - seep in and grow inside your bottled water if you leave it for too long. This can still happen even if the bottle is closed. So if you've waited long enough, once you finally open up that "purified" water you're also likely opening up a bacteria-ridden breeding ground for harmful organisms.

另外，塑料是不滲透的。如果放的時間久了，藻類或細菌--壞的那種--會在瓶裝水中滲入、生長。即使瓶蓋蓋的很緊，這種事情仍會發生。所以如果你等了很長時間，一旦你最終打開了"純凈"水，你也很有可能打開了一個細菌滋生的有害生物繁殖地。

But to be honest with you all, there are ways to get around this. Firstly, you can boil your water before drinking it. This will effectually kill anything that's living inside. Secondly, the plastic compounds that can leak in might make your water taste funny, but they aren't usually inherently harmful for you to ingest.

但說實話，這個問題是有辦法解決的。首先，喝水的時候先煮沸。這會有效地殺死任何活在瓶中的生物。其次，能夠滲透的塑料復合物也許會使水嘗起來怪怪的，但它們通常不會對您造成傷害。

Still, it's best to replace those bottles you have hidden away at least once every two years. If it really ever is doomsday, you'd much rather be safe than sorry.

但是，最好還是每兩年（至少）換一次你貯藏的這些瓶裝水。如果真的到了世界末日，也會有備無患。