《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第135期:雨滴(3)

The wall of water expands outward kilometer by kilometer, ripping up trees, houses, and topsoil as it goes. The house, porch, and old-timers are obliterated in an instant. Everything within a few kilometers is completely scoured away, leaving a pool of mud atop bedrock. The splash continues outward, demolishing all structures out to distances of 20 or 30 kilometers. At this distance, areas shielded by mountains or ridges are protected, and the flood begins to flow along natural valleys and waterways.

水牆向外延伸出數千米，拔起樹木，推倒房屋，翻起土層。在一剎那之間，房子、門廊和那兩位老人就被水給淹沒。方圓幾千米範圍內的所有東西都被徹底摧毀，只留下殘留在基岩上的一攤泥漿。水花繼續一路向外擴散，將方圓20～30千米內的建築悉數沖毀。在這個距離下，有山脈和山脊的庇護的地區得以倖存下來，洪水開始流入山谷和水道。

The broader region is largely protected from the effects of the storm, though areas hundreds of kilometers downstream experience flash flooding in the hours after the impact.

更遠的地區基本不會受到這場暴雨的影響，不過在水滴撞擊地面幾個小時後，幾百千米以外的下游地區將會經受突如其來的洪水襲擊。

News trickles out into the world about the inexplicable disaster. There is widespread shock and puzzlement, and for a while, every new cloud in the sky causes mass panic. Fear reigns supreme as the world fears rain supreme, but years pass without any signs of the disaster repeating.

這場無法解釋的天災通過新聞迅速傳遍了世界，整個世界爲之震驚又困惑，全世界範圍內每一朵雲的產生都會引發巨大的恐慌。雨成了全世界人們最恐懼的東西，但一轉眼幾年過去了，災難並沒有再來。

Atmospheric scientists try for years to piece together what happened, but no explanation is forthcoming. Eventually, they give up, and the unexplained meteorological phenomenon is simply called a “dubstep storm,” because-in the words of one researcher-“It had one hell of a drop.”

氣象學家歷時數年希望還原當年發生的水滴災難，卻得不出任何解釋。最終，他們放棄了嘗試，這個無法得到解釋的天氣現象被稱爲“迴響貝斯2暴雨”（dubstep storm）——用一位研究者的話來說——“可真是一大‘低’啊。”

1 Just about the coolest triplet of words I've ever seen.

1． 大概是我見過的最酷炫的連續3個單詞。