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At the library in Manson they are delighted to show you a collection of newspaper articles and a box of core samples from a 1991-92 drilling program——indeed, they positively bustle to produce them—but you have to ask to see them. Nothing permanent is on display, and nowhere in the town is there any historical marker.
在曼森圖書(shū)館，他們會(huì)很高興給你看一批收藏的報(bào)紙文章和一箱子取自1991-1992年鉆探工程的巖心樣品──更確切地說(shuō)，他們肯定會(huì)連忙把它們?nèi)〕鰜?lái)，但是，你非得向他們要來(lái)看。沒(méi)有永久性的東西陳列在外面，鎮(zhèn)上也沒(méi)有修建任何歷史標(biāo)志物。
To most people in Manson the biggest thing ever to happen was a tornado that rolled up Main Street in 1979, tearing apart the business district. One of the advantages of all that surrounding flatness is that you can see danger from a long way off. Virtually the whole town turned out at one end of Main Street and watched for half an hour as the tornado came toward them, hoping it would veer off, then prudently scampered when it did not.
對(duì)大多數(shù)曼森人來(lái)說(shuō)，發(fā)生過(guò)的最大事件是1979年的一場(chǎng)龍卷風(fēng)。那風(fēng)席卷主街，把商業(yè)區(qū)刮得七零八落。周?chē)貏?shì)平坦有個(gè)好處，危險(xiǎn)在老遠(yuǎn)的地方你就看得見(jiàn)。實(shí)際上，整個(gè)鎮(zhèn)上的人都來(lái)到主街的一頭，有半個(gè)小時(shí)光景一直望著龍卷風(fēng)朝他們襲來(lái)，希望它會(huì)改變方向。但是沒(méi)有。接著，他們小心行事，四散逃跑。
Four of them, alas, didn't move quite fast enough and were killed. Every June now Manson has a weeklong event called Crater Days, which was dreamed up as a way of helping people forget that unhappy anniversary. It doesn't really have anything to do with the crater. Nobody's figured out a way to capitalize on an impact site that isn't visible.
天哪，有四個(gè)人跑得不夠快，結(jié)果丟了性命。如今，每年6月，曼森人都要舉行為期1周的“大坑節(jié)”。這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)是有人為了讓大家忘卻那個(gè)不愉快的周年紀(jì)念日而想出來(lái)的，它其實(shí)跟那個(gè)大坑毫無(wú)關(guān)系。誰(shuí)也沒(méi)有想出個(gè)辦法來(lái)利用那個(gè)已經(jīng)看不見(jiàn)的撞擊現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。
"Very occasionally we get people coming in and asking where they should go to see the crater and we have to tell them that there is nothing to see," says Anna Schlapkohl, the town's friendly librarian. "Then they go away kind of disappointed." However, most people, including most Iowans, have never heard of the Manson crater. Even for geologists it barely rates a footnote. But for one brief period in the 1980s, Manson was the most geologically exciting place on Earth.
“偶爾有人過(guò)來(lái)，問(wèn)在哪里能看見(jiàn)那個(gè)大坑。我們不得不告訴他們，沒(méi)有什么可看的，”友好的鎮(zhèn)圖書(shū)館員安娜·施拉普科爾說(shuō)，“他們聽(tīng)了有點(diǎn)失望，就走開(kāi)了?！比欢?，大多數(shù)人，包括艾奧瓦人，從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)曼森大坑。連地質(zhì)學(xué)家也覺(jué)得它不大值得一提。但是，到了20世紀(jì)80年代，曼森一時(shí)之間成了全球地質(zhì)界最激動(dòng)人心的場(chǎng)所。
