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When his mother came to where John Thomas was standing under the apple tree, she at first could see nothing. But the boy pointed to a bare spot and there on the ground was a perfect cube about one inch each way.
他的母親走到了約翰·托馬斯站立的那棵蘋果樹下，起先她什么也沒有看到。但是孩子指著一塊空地，而在那塊空地上確實有一個絕對標準的立方體物件，每一面約有一英寸。
"It appears to be made of highly polished steel," Mrs. Thompson said, and stooped to pick it up. To her surprise, she could not lift it. "That's the strangest thing I ever saw", she said as her fingers slipped on the gleaming surfaces.
“它看上去是由打磨得很光的鋼制成的，”湯普森太太說。她彎腰想去將它撿起來。令她驚奇的是，她沒能提起來。“這是我所見過的最奇怪的東西了，”她邊說，手指邊在那閃閃發光的表面上滑動著。
By this time Mr.Thompson had come out to see what was going on, and he, too, tried to lift the cube, without success. "John Thomas," he said, "did you bury a steel rod in the ground just to see what would happen?"
這時，湯普森先生也已走了出來，看看發生了什么事兒。他也想拿起那個立方體，但沒有成功。“約翰·托馬斯，“他說，“你沒有在地里埋下一根鋼棒，想看看會有什么結果吧?”
"No, Father", the boy said, "I didn’t. Honest. I found it that way."
“沒有，爸爸，”男孩說。“我沒有埋。真的，我發現它時就是這個樣兒。”
"Why don't you get a shovel and see whether it's buried?" Mrs.Thompson asked reasonably.
“你為什么不去拿把鐵鍬，看看是不是有鋼棒埋著呢?”湯普森太太合乎情理地說道。
"I believe I will," Mr.Thompson said. He got a garden spade from the garage and shoved it into the ground at an angle under the metal cube. The spade cut easily into the soft earth without striking an obstruction.
“我這就去。”湯普森先生答道。他從車庫里拿了一把種花用的鐵鍬，斜著朝金屬立方體的底下鏟下去。鐵鍬一下子插進了松軟的泥土，沒有碰到任何障礙。
"You see", Mrs.Thompson said, "it isn't buried."
“你瞧，”湯普森太太說。“它不是埋著的。”
Mr. Thompson grasped the spade firmly and tried to lift the dirt with the cube resting on top. He couldn't do it. He then shifted both hands to the end of the spade handle and tried to pry with it. The handle bent slightly with his effort, but the metal cube remained immovable.
湯普森先生緊緊握住鐵鍬，試圖把泥土和上面的立方體一起鏟起來。但他鏟不動。然后，他把雙手挪到鐵鍬柄頭上，想用鐵鍬撬。他一使勁，鐵鍬柄略微彎曲，而那金屬立方體卻紋絲未動。
