美国荒漠出现神秘金属巨石

A mysterious metal monolith was found in a remote part of Utah. Um, so who put it there?

在犹他州的一个偏远地区发现了一块神秘的金属巨石。

嗯，那么谁把它放在那里？

The Washington Post

华盛顿邮报

The monolith's mysterious appearance amid the rocky desert sparked excitement among the hominids who circled it, intrigued and perplexed.

这块金属巨石神秘地出现在沙漠的岩石之中，引发了围着它转的人类的兴奋，他们感到好奇和困惑。

But unlike the alien structure made famous by the epic film adaptation of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the metal monolith discovered Wednesday by public safety workers in southeastern Utah is quite real. The workers were scouring the red-rock region by helicopter for bighorn sheep when a crew member spotted the object, the pilot, Bret Hutchings, told KSL-TV.

但与《2001太空漫游》这部史诗电影改编的外星结构不同的是，周三犹他州东南部的公共安全工作者发现的金属巨石相当真实。飞行员布雷特·哈钦斯（Bret Hutchings）告诉KSL电视台，工作人员当时正乘坐直升机在红岩地区搜寻大角羊，一名机组成员发现了这个物体。

“He’s like: ‘There’s this thing! There’s this thing back there! We got to go look at it!’” Hutchings said.

“他大概就这么说，‘有这个东西！后面有这个东西！我们得去看看它！’”哈钦斯说。

Joking that they were intrepid explorers investigating an alien life form, the crew members determined that the monolith was 10 to 12 feet tall and planted firmly in the ground. It seemed to them like more of an artistic expression than part of a scientific experiment.

队员们开玩笑说，他们是无畏的探险家，正在调查一种外星生命形式，他们确定这块巨石有10到12英尺高，牢牢地扎在地上。在他们看来，这更像是一种艺术表现，而不是科学实验的一部分。

But mostly, it looked like something out of a science-fiction novel.

但大多时候，它看起来像科幻小说里的东西。

“We were kind of joking around that if one of us just suddenly disappears, I guess the rest of us make a run for it,” Hutchings told KSL, chuckling.

“我们有点开玩笑，如果我们中的一个人突然消失了，我想我们其余的人就会跑掉，”哈钦斯告诉KSL，笑着说。

It was not clear who installed the monolith, which Hutchings designated the strangest discovery he's made in years of flying over the Utah desert. The state Department of Public Safety will not disclose its exact location, warning that people who try to visit it might end up stranded amid the rocky terrain.

目前还不清楚是谁安装了这块金属巨石，哈钦斯将其定为他在犹他州沙漠上空飞行多年来最奇怪的发现。该州公共安全部不会透露它的具体位置，并警告说，试图参观它的人可能最终会被困在岩石地形中。

Officials noted that installing unauthorized structures on federally managed public lands is illegal, “no matter what planet you’re from.” The Bureau of Land Management is deciding whether to investigate further.

官员指出，在联邦管理的公共土地上安装未经授权的建筑是非法的，“不管你来自哪个星球”。土地管理局正在决定是否进一步调查。

For now, the monolith is delighting science-fiction fans all over the Internet, who couldn’t help but note the uncanny resemblance to the mysterious structure in “2001” that came from aliens and sped up human evolution.

目前，这块金属巨石让全网的科幻迷们欣喜不已，他们不禁注意到这块巨石与《2001太空漫游》中那个来自外星人、加速人类进化的神秘结构有着异曲同工之妙。

Some people also posited that the discovery of a random monolith in the wilderness was a fitting end to the wild ride of the past year.

也有人提出，在荒野中随意发现一块巨石，是对过去一年的疯狂之旅画上一个圆满的句号。

“2001: A Space Odyssey in #2020,” one Twitter user wrote. “What a long strange year it's been.”

“《2001太空漫游》在#2020年，”一位Twitter用户写道。“这是多么漫长而又奇怪的一年啊。”

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