麦田怪圈英文文章

麦田怪圈（Crop circle）是在麦田或其他农田上，透过某种力量把农作物压平而产生出的几何图案。目前，有众多麦田圈事件被揭发为有人故意制造出来以取乐或招揽游客。麦田圈中的作物“平顺倒塌”方式以及植物茎节点的烧焦痕迹并不是人力压平所能做到的，也有麻省理工学院的学生试图用自制设备反向复制此现象但依然未能达成，至今仍然没有解释该现象是何种设备或做法能够达到。此点也是外星支持论者的主要物证基础。那么，麦田怪圈英文文章是如何介绍的呢？

What is Crop Circles

什么是麦田怪圈

A crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. While the exact date crop circles began to appear is unknown, the documented cases have substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. Twenty-six countries ended up reporting approximately ten-thousand crop circles, in the last third of the 20th century, and 90% of those were located in southern England. Many of the formations appearing in that area are positioned near ancient monuments, such as Stonehenge. According to one study, nearly half of all circles found in the UK in 2003 were located within a 15 km radius of Avebury. Formations usually are made overnight, but have also been made during the day. The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point, and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. More recent methods include the use of a lawn roller.

Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.

Other explanations:

Weather

Some people have suggested that crop circles are the result of extraordinary meteorological phenomena. This hypothesis probably originated from an 1880 publication in Nature by investigator and amateur scientist John Rand Capron. Part of the publication reappeared in the January 2000 issue of Journal of Meteorology.

Paranormal

Color sketch of a “spaceship” creating crop circles, sent to UK Ministry of Defence circa 1998.

Since appearing in the media in the 1970s, crop circles have become the subject of speculation by various paranormal, ufological, and anomalistic investigators ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from extraterrestrial beings.

The location of many crop circles near ancient sites such as Stonehenge, barrows, and chalk horses has led many New Age belief systems to incorporate crop circles, speculating their existence in relation to ley lines.

Some New Age supporters have related crop circles to the Gaia hypothesis, alleging that “Gaia”, the earth, is actually alive and that crop circles are messages or responses to stimuli such as global warming and human pollution. It asserts that the earth may be modeled as if a single super-organism, in those earthly components (e.g. biota, climate, temperature, sunlight, etc.) influence each other and are organized to function and develop as a whole.

Responding to local beliefs that “extraterrestrial beings” in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing in Indonesia, the government and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan) described them as “man-made”. Thomas Djamaluddin, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Lapan stated: “We have come to agree that this ‘thing’ cannot be scientifically proven. Scientists have put UFOs in the category of pseudoscience.”

Animal activity

In 2009, BBC News reported that Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, stated that Australian wallabies had been found creating crop circles in fields of poppies after consuming some of the opiate-laden crop and running in circles.

麦田圈（Crop circle）是在麦田或其他农田上，透过某种力量把农作物压平而产生出几何图案（geometrical pattern），主要出现于欧洲与北美洲，英国的巨石阵（Stonehenge），英国hill图：多为马的图形（English hill figures），长冢（West Kennet Long Barrow）等古迹附近的农作物田园中经常发现。

三十多年来，科学界对怪圈是如何形成的一直存在争议。目前主要有五种说法，包括磁场（magnetic field）说、龙卷风（tornado）说、外星人（extraterrestrial intelligence）制造说、预告说、人造（artificial）说等。世人对于怪圈的成因也有多种看法。