Are there any reasonable explanations for spectacular sinkholes in China?
By Peter Foster
World Last updated: June 9th, 2010
On June 4 the road surface suddenly collapsed on the Zhejiang Huang Qu Nan highway
6月4日的路面突然崩裂 在浙江的公路
After the spectacular picture of a sinkhole in Guatemala caused by tropical storm Agatha, the Chinese internet has been abuzz with reports of large numbers of the eerily circular formations suddenly appearing across China.
Even straight-laced old Xinhua has got the bug, reporting (in one of those sensationalist, stability-busting headlines for China’s state news agency is renowned): “Cave-ins found in many areas of China”
On May 27th Mr. Hou discovered a sinkhole while irrigating his rice field
侯先生在5月27日灌溉 他的稻田時發現一個污水洞
I’m sure there are lots of excellent geological, meteorological and man-made reasons why these things appear – earthquakes, droughts, old coal mine workings – but that would be far too boring for the febrile minds of China’s 400m netizens.
我肯定有很多很好的地質、氣象和人為原因，為什麼這些東西出現 - 地震、乾旱、老煤礦運作 - 對於 4億中國網民的發燒頭腦但那都是過於沉悶的。
And looking at the pictures, I half-share their collective shiver of anticipation that these things are unnatural portents of catastrophe.
和看著那些照片，我半分享他們的集體預期顫抖，這些東西是不自然的災難徵兆。
On April 27, several sinkholes appeared one after another in Yinbin City
4月27日，幾個污水坑紛紛出現在宜賓市
The end-of-the-world-is-nigh movie 2012 (was that the worst film ever made?) was a big hit in China, so it’s no surprise that lots of the discussion of these apparitions in the earth make reference to that.
世界末日是近的電影 2012（是否最差的電影？）在中國是一個大流行，所以它是不足為奇有大量這些在地球的特異景象的討論，以那作參考。
“Closer and closer to 2012” warned one commenter on the Netease platform. “Will what was the ocean become land and what is now land become the ocean?,” asked another. “Do aliens come out of these holes?,” questioned a third.
“愈來愈近2012”一位在網易平台的評論者警告。 “請問什麼是海洋成為土地和什麽是現在的土地變成海洋？”另一位問。 “外星人會否走出這些洞？”第三位提問。
On and on the comments go: “God is very angry with earthlings polluting behavior and has decided to punish earthlings,” said a fourth, and “Let’s organize ourselves and quickly go to Tibet to find the ark,” enjoins a fifth.
Or my favourite (can you hear the panic rising?), “Why are the holes so round? Even humans can’t make it this round. Why is there such frequency and intensity? Why aren’t there any reasonable explanations?”
或是我最喜歡的（你能聽到恐慌上升嗎？），“為什麼洞是這麼圓的？即使人類亦無法做得這麼圓。為什麼會有這樣的頻率和強度？為什麼沒有任何合理的解釋？
Why indeed? Cue X-files music, pull down that battered copy of Nostradamus’s predictions from the bookshelf, scratch off the last days of the Mayan calendar (ends 2012) and steep yourselves in the Apocalypse of St John.
That’s if you like that sort of thing. Me, I’m off for a beer while I wait for the earth to swallow me up.
那就是了如果你喜歡那種事。我，我會離開飲啤酒，而我會等待地球吞噬我。
On June 3, a dried up fish pond suddenly collapsed
6月3日，一個乾涸的魚塘突然倒塌
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100042823/are-there-any-reasonable-explanations-for-spectacular-sinkholes-in-china/
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