【精英翻譯】的部落格

This Strange Hum Circled the Whole World 怪怪的嗡嗡聲迴盪全球

精英翻譯社轉自: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1252944&day=2018-12-10

◎劉宜庭

There was a hum that nobody could hear. It was a seismic event, one that originated off the coast of Mayotte on Nov. 11, a tiny island in the waters between Madagascar and Mozambique.

那是一段沒人能聽見的嗡嗡聲。它是一次地震事件，11月11日發生在馬約特島的海岸周遭，這座小島位於馬達加斯加島、莫三比克之間的海域。

The hum, National Geographic reported, was strange for a number of reasons. First, it rang at just a single ultra-low frequency, like a well-tuned bell. Second, the wave emerged and circled the planet without the usual signs of an earthquake; no one in the area felt any shaking. And yet, a Nov. 12 report from the French government found that Mayotte had slid 2.4 inches（6 centimeters）to the east and 1.2 inches（3 cm）to the south.

國家地理雜誌報導，這段嗡嗡聲的不尋常之處很多。首先，它只包含一段超級低頻波，宛如純律鐘聲。再者，震波產生後傳至全球，卻沒有出現地震的一般現象；震央地區沒有人感覺到地表發生任何晃動。而法國政府11月12日發布的報告顯示，馬約特島已經往東滑動2.4吋（6公分）、往南滑動1.2吋（3公分）。

Scientists have proposed a number of possible explanations for the strange seismic event near Mayotte. But none is yet anywhere near confirmed.

科學家已經提出許多針對馬約特島奇怪地震事件的可能解釋。但至今沒有任何假說獲得證實。

Perhaps a "slow earthquake" struck the area, the sort that doesn’t cause much intense shaking because it occurs over a much longer period of time. Perhaps a bubble of magma squeezed past below the surface. Researchers even speculated about a meteor strike, though that seems unlikely. For now, the exact cause remains a mystery.

或許是「慢地震」襲擊該地區，這類地震不會引起劇烈搖晃，因為它的發震持續時間較長。也或許是有岩漿氣泡擠壓過地表之下。研究人員甚至猜測是隕石撞擊，儘管看起來不大可能。直到現在，該次地震事件的確切成因仍是個謎團。