22、（双语科普）学英语，看世界：“百慕大三角”

Bermuda Triangle

百慕大三角

You've probably heard the frightening stories of ships and planes vanishing（消失） over a mysterious spot in the Atlantic Ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle.

你可能听说过船只和飞机在大西洋中一个被称为百慕大三角的神秘地方消失的可怕故事。

Is there a reasonable explanation for these supposed disappearances or could there be secrets hidden in that 500,000 square miles of open ocean?

对于这些所谓的失踪有合理的解释吗？或者在这50万平方英里的开阔海洋里是否隐藏着秘密？

It has many names: the Hoodoo Sea, the Devil's Triangle, the Twilight Zone or Limbo of the Lost, but most know it simply as the Bermuda Triangle.

它有许多名字：胡毒海、魔鬼三角、过渡带或迷途者的地狱，但大多数人只知道它叫百慕大三角。

It reaches from the southern tip（末端） of Florida to Puerto Rico and Bermuda and has claimed dozens of ships and aircraft to its depths over the centuries.

它从佛罗里达南端一直延伸到波多黎各和百慕大群岛，几个世纪以来，据声称已经有几十艘船和飞机消失在它的海底。

It was in March of 1918, that the Erie area started to gain the public's attention after a terrible tragedy took place.

1918年3月，一场可怕的悲剧发生后，伊利地区开始引起公众的注意。

A 500-foot US navy ship named Cyclops with 10,000 tons of cargo（货物） and 300 souls aboard sank somewhere inside the Bermuda Triangle. The missing Cyclops never sent a single distress signal（呼救信号） and no wreckage（残骸） was found even after an exhaustive search.

一艘500英尺长的名为“独眼巨人”号的美国海军船载着10000吨货物和300名船员在百慕大三角沉没。失踪的“独眼巨人”号从未发出过任何求救信号，即使经过彻底的搜寻，也没有发现残骸。

Given the magnitude（程度） of the tragedy, the story stuck.

鉴于这场悲剧的严重程度，这个故事仍然存在。

So when two of Cyclops sister ships also vanished along nearly the same route in 1941, the story of the Bermuda Triangle began to take on a life of its own.

1941年，“独眼巨人”号的两艘姐妹船也在几乎相同的航线上消失，百慕大三角的故事开始流传。

Then, just four years later, airplanes disappeared over the area and the legend continued to grow.

接下来，仅仅四年后，一些飞机在该地区消失了，这个传说继续流传。

Five navy bombers（轰炸机） took off from Florida with 14 men aboard, but the missions leader experienced all kinds of issues with his compass（指南针） and got gravely（严重地） lost.

五架海军轰炸机从佛罗里达起飞，机上有14人，但任务负责人的指南针出现了各种问题，并严重迷路。

The rescue plane that was sent to recover the crashed pilots also disappeared.

被派去寻找坠毁飞行员的救援飞机也消失了。

According to experts, these disappearances are likely due to anomalies（异常现象） in the Earth's magnetic（磁场） field, water spouts, sea kraits or even eruptions of toxic gas bubbling up from the ocean floor.

根据专家的说法，这些消失可能是由于地球磁场异常、水柱、扁尾海蛇，甚至是海底喷出的有毒气体。

Studies show that mysterious or unexplained deaths and disappearances weren't any more or less likely there than anywhere else on the planet.

研究表明，在这里发生神秘或无法解释的死亡和失踪的可能性并不比地球上的其他任何地方高或低。

There were, however, several high profile disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle that led to a media storm and public panic over an otherwise average area of ocean.

然而，在百慕大三角发生了几起引人注目的失踪事件，引发了媒体风暴和公众对这片海域的恐慌。

So the verdict（结论） is in: there's no good evidence to prove any paranormal（超常的） activity in the Bermuda Triangle.

所以结论是：没有很好的证据证明在百慕大三角有任何超自然现象。

In fact, the truth is much more chilling. The ocean is a vast, dangerous place and vanishing into the deadly deep isn't quite as uncommon as we'd like to think.

实际上，事实更加令人不寒而栗。海洋是一个广阔而危险的地方，从消失到致命的深处并不像我们想象的那么罕见。