中英對照讀新聞》Balloon-like object in Japanese sky sets Twitter afire with talk of UFOs, Godzilla 日本天空中的氣球狀物體 導致推特的幽浮、哥斯拉話題沸騰

日本東北最大城仙台市上月17日驚見來源、用途皆不明的白色球狀飄浮物。（路透檔案照）

◎周虹汶

The appearance of a mysterious white object in the sky over northern Japan on Wednesday set social media ablaze, with speculation ranging from UFOs to coronavirus and North Korean propaganda.

週三現蹤於北日本上空的一個神秘白色物體，在社群媒體引爆話題，各種臆測由幽浮到冠狀病毒及北韓宣傳都有。

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Television footage taken in the northeastern city of Sendai showed a balloon-like object above a cross, on which propellers seemed to be turning. Officials in the Sendai Weather Bureau said it had appeared near dawn and hung in the sky for hours, largely unmoving, until obscured by clouds.

攝於東北仙台市的電視影像顯示，一個氣球狀物體在一個十字架上方，上頭的螺旋槳似乎正在轉。仙台氣象局官員說，它在接近黎明時出現，並高掛空中數小時之久，大致上沒有移動，直到被雲層掩蓋。

By afternoon it was the third-most trending topic on Japanese Twitter, with theories including UFOs and North Korean balloons used to drop leaflets. One user said it could be spreading novel coronavirus, adding, "This gives me a very bad feeling, as if Godzilla might suddenly appear."

一直到下午，它高居日本推特第三熱門話題，各種推論包括幽浮乃至北韓用來投擲傳單的氣球。一名用戶說，它可能正在散播新型冠狀病毒，並補充道，「這給我一種很糟的感覺，好像哥斯拉可能突然出現。」

A Sendai government official said inquiries were still proceeding, with both the size of the object and its origin, as well as its function, undetermined. No move had been made to retrieve it as of late afternoon.

仙台一名政府官員說，調查仍在進行中，這個物體的尺寸和來源及其功能都還不確定。直到午後稍晚，還沒有任何取回它的行動。

"We have absolutely no idea what it is," said a weather bureau spokesman, declining to give his name. "It may be some kind of weather monitoring equipment, but it definitely isn’t ours." （Reuters）

「我們對於這是什麼，毫無頭緒」，一位拒絕提供姓名的氣象局發言人如是說。「他可能是某種氣象監測設備，但肯定不是我們的。」（路透）

新聞辭典

ablaze：形容詞，指著火、閃耀、興奮激昂。例句：Two buildings were set ablaze.（兩棟大樓付之一炬。）

speculation：名詞，指猜測、推斷、投機買賣。例句：She had tried to damp down speculation about the state of her marriage.（她曾試圖制止關於她婚姻狀態的臆測。）

obscure：形容詞，指默默無聞的、費解的、朦朧的；動詞，指遮掩、使晦澀。例句：They deliberately obscured the real situation from the investigators.（他們故意對調查人員掩蓋真實情況。）

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