玛雅预言是真是假?末日恐慌在蔓延

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.

担心所谓的“世界末日”，即玛雅人预言的12月21日世界将终结，随着日子临近担忧正在一些人中蔓延。

In Shanghai, police received 25 emergency calls in the past two days, all from people worried about the "doomsday."

在上海，警方在过去两天收到了25个紧急呼叫，都来自于那些担心“世界末日”的人们。

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.

在东南部的四川省农村人们冲去买蜡烛和火柴，因为谣言说当预言的玛雅日历结束时，地球在12月21日将连续3天笼罩在黑暗里。

No candles remained for sale in Longchang County due to panic buying in the past few days, the West China Metropolitan Daily reported yesterday.

由于在过去的几天里的恐慌抢购龙昌县已没有蜡烛出售，《中国西部城市日报》昨日报道。

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.

该报说谣言首先在网上散布，然后通过口口相传扩散到农村。大多数信徒都是从街上、公共汽车上以及麻将桌上听到消息的老年人。

"The candles sell so well these days that we are running out of them," a store owner surnamed Liang said.

“蜡烛这些天卖的得很好以至于我们都卖光了，”一个梁姓商店老板说。

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.

天文学家说这个谣言毫无根据。“有一些常识的人就知道地球上不可能有三天黑暗，”栾建高说，一位天文学研究者。

Academics also have debunked the doomsday scenario, saying it is based on a misreading of Mayan astronomy.

学者也已经揭穿了世界末日的设想，称这是基于对玛雅天文学的误读。

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岁的女性相信这个理论， 在世界末日之前将300万(481500美元)的房子抵押了100万元并把钱捐给了贫困儿童。

The retired senior engineer, surnamed Jiang, mortgaged her house without telling her family.

这位退休的高级工程师姓蒋，在没有告诉她家人的情况下抵押了房子。

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.

谈判之后，她姓罗的丈夫支付了2万元人民币从一个房地产经纪人那里赎回了他们的房产证。但他和女儿仍然担心，因为蒋坚信即将到来的世界末日。

A network technology company in southwestern Chengdu City announced yesterday that it will give staff two days off to spend with their family.

一个在西南城市成都的网络技术公司昨天宣布，它将给员工休假两天来陪伴自己的家人。

The notice was praised as a doomsday welfare and forwarded hundreds of times on weibo.com.

该通知被誉为世界末日的福利，在微博上被转发了数百次。

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，该网络技术公司的总经理，说是他做的这个决定，因为大多数员工不会专注于工作。“那么，为什么不找一个理由去看望父母并与他们一起度过珍贵的末日呢？”他说。