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WORRIES the so-called "doomsday", which the Mayans supposedly predicted the world to end - December 21 - are spreading among some people as the day approaches.
擔心所謂的“世界末日”，即瑪雅人預言的12月21日世界將終結，隨著日子臨近擔憂正在一些人中蔓延。
In Shanghai, police received 25 emergency calls in the past two days, all from people worried about the "doomsday."
在上海，警方在過去兩天收到了25個緊急呼叫，都來自于那些擔心“世界末日”的人們。
People in a rural county of the southeastern Sichuan Province rushed to buy candles and matches as a rumor said the Earth would be shrouded in darkness for three days on December 21 when the fabled Mayan Calendar comes to an end.
在東南部的四川省農村人們沖去買蠟燭和火柴，因為謠言說當預言的瑪雅日歷結束時，地球在12月21日將連續3天籠罩在黑暗里。
No candles remained for sale in Longchang County due to panic buying in the past few days, the West China Metropolitan Daily reported yesterday.
由于在過去的幾天里的恐慌搶購龍昌縣已沒有蠟燭出售，《中國西部城市日報》昨日報道。
The paper said the rumor first circulated online and spread to rural areas by word of mouth. Most of the believers were elderly people who heard it on streets, buses and at card tables.
該報說謠言首先在網上散布，然后通過口口相傳擴散到農村。大多數信徒都是從街上、公共汽車上以及麻將桌上聽到消息的老年人。
"The candles sell so well these days that we are running out of them," a store owner surnamed Liang said.
“蠟燭這些天賣的得很好以至于我們都賣光了，”一個梁姓商店老板說。
Astronomers say the rumor is groundless. "People with some common sense would know that there couldn't be three days of darkness on the Earth," said Luan Jiangao, an astronomy researcher.
天文學家說這個謠言毫無根據。“有一些常識的人就知道地球上不可能有三天黑暗，”欒建高說，一位天文學研究者。
Academics also have debunked the doomsday scenario, saying it is based on a misreading of Mayan astronomy.
學者也已經揭穿了世界末日的設想，稱這是基于對瑪雅天文學的誤讀。
Nevertheless, in Nanjing, a 54-year-old woman believed the theory and mortgaged her 3-million-yuan (US$481,500) house for 1 million yuan to give money to underprivileged children before doomsday.
然而，在南京，一名54歲的女性相信這個理論， 在世界末日之前將300萬(481500美元)的房子抵押了100萬元并把錢捐給了貧困兒童。
The retired senior engineer, surnamed Jiang, mortgaged her house without telling her family.
這位退休的高級工程師姓蔣，在沒有告訴她家人的情況下抵押了房子。
After negotiations, her husband surnamed Luo was to pay 20,000 yuan to get their property ownership certificate back from a real estate agent. But he and his daughter are still worried because Jiang firmly believes in an upcoming doomsday.
談判之后，她姓羅的丈夫支付了2萬元人民幣從一個房地產經紀人那里贖回了他們的房產證。但他和女兒仍然擔心，因為蔣堅信即將到來的世界末日。
A network technology company in southwestern Chengdu City announced yesterday that it will give staff two days off to spend with their family.
一個在西南城市成都的網絡技術公司昨天宣布，它將給員工休假兩天來陪伴自己的家人。
The notice was praised as a doomsday welfare and forwarded hundreds of times on weibo.com.
該通知被譽為世界末日的福利，在微博上被轉發了數百次。
Darryn, general manger of the network technology company, said he made the decision because most staff wouldn't concentrate on work. "Then, why not find a reason to see parents and spend a cherished doomsday with them?" he said.
Darryn，該網絡技術公司的總經理，說是他做的這個決定，因為大多數員工不會專注于工作。“那么，為什么不找一個理由去看望父母并與他們一起度過珍貴的末日呢？”他說。
