中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
你可曾見過會走路的石頭？美國加州死亡谷有一種奇特的現象：石頭會在荒灘沙漠上神秘地“自行移動”，并在地面上留下行走的痕跡。這一神秘現象在科學界引發的討論已逾數十年。它們又是怎么移動的呢？真的是超自然力量的驅使嗎？
By Bren Parks
硯青 選 岳曉玲 譯
|
A baffling phenomenon of nature or a paranormal[1] display of supernatural existence or is it an alien intervention? Questions still remain unanswered while experts are still nailing down on what could be the accurate reason behind stones of Death Valley that slide by themselves, without the interference of humans or animals.[2] In the southwest of the United States of America, lies this mysterious valley—popular as the hottest and driest location in North America. This lowest lying point of the continent is a deserted floor located in the Inyo Country by the border of California and Nevada, and consists of a dry lakebed named “Racetrack Playa[3]” which is proved to have the motion of rocks every two or three years. What are Sailing Stones? “Sailing Stones” of Death Valley—named from their distinctive and mysterious feature are in a count of hundreds scattered allover the Racetrack Playa from the size of a pebble to as large as huge boulders.[4] The playa which is nothing but a flat bed of scorched mud observes the sailing of such stones on its broken surface of flat octagons and pentagons.[5] While the stones having rough bottoms tend to form smooth straight tracks, stones with smoother bottom are found wandering in an unorganized pattern. Stones also tend to turn over during this process leading all the way to another track. Like the size and shape of sailing stones, its component also varies all over the Racetrack Playa. In the southern end of the region, they’re found to be made of dark dolomite, while the stones from the adjacent slopes consist more of tan-colored igneous rock.[6] From as small as 10 feet to as long as 100 feet, the tracks formed by these sailing stones are usually 2.5 cms deep and 4-12 inches wide, consisting of silt and clay sediments and last usually for three to four years. The Science of Sailing Stones Even though this geological phenomenon is a mystery and still a subject under research, various speculations have been made on the exact reason behind the sailing of the stones. Some researchers believe a combination of natural events cause these stones to “sail”. This area of Death Valley can get very frigid in the winter nights, causing a layer of ice to form on the baked smooth soil. The combination of the ice-coated ground and fierce winds, the rocks are gently pushed across the surface. The winds are indeed fierce, as they have been known to clock up[7] to 90 mph during the winter months. Other researchers question this theory[8]. Some point the conditions have to be just right for these stones to move, perhaps occurring once every one to three years. They claim some other unknown factor is probably in play. To add more to this strange phenomenon, these sailing stones don’t follow a specific path that could be predicted when ice and wind are present. Some stones that are physically near each other may start out sailing in a parallel direction, but then one would stop while the other one continues. Some have started sailing in a parallel direction, but then suddenly one would turn left or right and continue on in that direction. There are some stones that have reversed course while others have continued on in a straight path. To make matters even more complicated, some stones have completely turned over while continuing to sail across the dry lake bed. There are also researchers believe that the movement of stones in the desert are under the influence of Milky Way, means our galaxy. The position of stars create a magnetic structure in such a way which make the stones to slide in valley, just like the tides in oceans which are sometimes influenced by the gravitation pull[9] of the moon. Till date these mysterious stones and their movement remains un-filmed and unobserved by human eyes, but the various speculations made by experts keep us driving towards this mystical happening of nature, wondering how this could be possible.
|
它究竟是一個令人困惑的自然現象，還是一個超自然異象的展現？亦或是外星人干預的結果？這些問題至今仍無定論。專家們也仍在致力于探究死亡谷那些石頭在沒有人類或動物干預的情況下自行漂移的確切原因。神秘的死亡谷位于美國西南部，那里以是北美最為炎熱干燥之處而廣為人知。這塊人際罕至的荒原也是北美大陸海拔的最低點，它位于加利福尼亞州和內華達州交界處的因約縣，是一塊名為“跑道干湖”的干涸湖床，這里每隔兩三年就會被證實有巖石移動的痕跡。 何謂風帆石？ 死亡谷的“風帆石”因其神秘和獨特而得名。數以百計的風帆石散落在跑道干湖上，小者有如鵝卵石，大者堪比巨礫。這座干荒盆地除了由干焦的泥土組成的平坦湖床之外一無所有，湖床表面已龜裂成單調五角形和八角形，經常會出現風帆石移動的痕跡。那些底部凹凸不平的石頭身后通常會留下筆直流暢的痕跡，而那些底部較為平滑的石頭的軌跡卻呈現蜿蜒曲折的不規則曲線狀。風帆石滑動過程中還會因翻滾而變換軌道。 正像風帆石的大小、形狀不一，它們的組成物也在跑道干湖的各處各不相同。該區域南端的石頭是暗色的白云石，而附近斜坡上的石頭則多是棕褐色的火成巖。這些風帆石身后的行跡由淤泥和土壤沉淀物組成，短則10英尺，長者可達100英尺，通常深約2.5厘米，寬約4至12英寸，而且一般會保留三到四年。 風帆石里的科學 盡管這一地質現象仍是未解之謎，科學家們也仍在努力探究，但關于這些石頭能自己滑動的確切原因，人們已有多種猜測。 一些研究人員認為風帆石的“航行”是多種自然因素綜合作用的結果。冬季的夜晚，死亡谷地區會變得奇寒無比，湖床夏日烤焦的平坦底土上會結一層冰。這層覆冰的土壤與凜冽的寒風共同作用，推動風帆石在地面上緩緩移動。這里的風勢極猛，冬天時，風速可達每小時90英里。 不過，也有研究人士對這一觀點提出質疑。有人指出，（上述推論所描述的）風帆石位移的發生，只有在所有條件都恰巧具備的情況下才會發生，而這種適宜的條件每一到三年才會出現一次。（故而）他們認為還有一些未知的因素或許在起作用。 令這一奇怪現象更具神秘色彩的是，風帆石的移動并非遵循特定的軌跡，而如果按上述冰層和風的條件都具備的情況下，那么石頭運動的行跡應該是可以預測的。一些相互距離較近的石頭開始移動時，其行進方向可能是平行的，接著一塊石頭停了下來，另一塊石頭卻仍會繼續移動。有時，在平行的方向上，其中的一塊石頭可能突然左轉或右轉，并在新的方向上繼續前行。有些石頭移動過程中可能會倒轉往回移動，另一些則會繼續保持直線移動。令情況更為復雜的是，有些石頭會在干涸的湖面上完全翻了個兒地移動。 另外有研究者認為，風帆石能在沙漠中移動是由于銀河，也就是我們的銀河系的影響。恒星的位置會形成一定的磁場結構，使得這些石頭在山谷中滑行，一如海中的潮汐有時會受到月球引力作用的影響那樣。 迄今為止，人類尚未拍攝到或目睹過這些神秘石頭的“行走”，然而專家們的各種猜想卻一直吸引著我們去關注這一自然奇觀，令我們不禁感嘆：真是無奇不有！ （來源：英語學習雜志） |
|
Vocabulary: 1. paranormal: 超自然的。 2. nail down: 弄清，確定；interference: 干涉。 3. playa: 干鹽湖；（美國西南部的）干荒盆地。 4. scatter: 分散，散落；boulder: 巨礫，（由于氣候或水侵蝕而形成的）卵石。 5. scorched: 燒焦的；octagon: 八角形；pentagon: 五角形。 6. dolomite: 白云石；adjacent: 鄰近的，附近的；tan-colored: 棕褐色的；igneous rock: 火成巖。 7. clock up:〈口〉達到。 8. theory: 此處指意見，看法，推測。 9. gravitation pull: 引力。 |
