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尼斯湖水怪，是地球上最神秘也最吸引人的谜之一。早在1500多年前，就开始流传尼斯湖中有巨大怪兽常常出来吞食人畜的故事。古代一些人甚至宣称曾经目击过这种怪兽，有人说它长着大象的长鼻，浑身柔软光滑；有人说它是长颈圆头；有人说它出现时泡沫层层，四处飞溅；有人说它口吐烟雾，使湖面有时雾气腾腾……各种传说颇不一致，越传越广，越说越神奇，听起来令人生畏。那么，尼斯湖水怪英文怎么说呢？What is Ness Monster什么是尼斯湖水怪The Loch Ness Monster (Scottish Gaelic Niseag) is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The most frequent speculation is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next.Popular interest and belief in the animal has varied since it was brought to the world’s attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology. The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname Nessie (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) since the 1950s.A variety of explanations have been postulated over the years to account for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster.Bird wakesThere are wake sightings that occur when the loch is dead calm with no boat nearby. A bartender named David Munro claims to have witnessed a wake he believed was a creature zigzagging, diving, and reappearing. (There were 26 other witnesses from a nearby car park.) Some sightings describe the onset of a V-shaped wake, as if there were something underwater. Moreover, many wake sightings describe something not conforming to the shape of a boat. Under dead calm conditions, a creature too small to be visible to the naked eye can leave a clear v-shaped wake. In particular, a group of swimming birds can give a wake and the appearance of an object. A group of birds can leave the water and then land again, giving a sequence of wakes like an object breaking the surface, which Dick Raynor says is a possible explanation for his film.EelsA giant eel was actually one of the first suggestions made. Eels are found in Loch Ness, and an unusually large eel would fit many sightings. This has been described as a conservative explanation. Eels are not known to protrude swanlike from the water and thus would not account for the head and neck sightings. Dinsdale dismissed the proposal because eels move in a side-to-side undulation.On 2 May 2001, two conger eels were found on the shore of the loch; however, as conger eels are saltwater animals and Loch Ness is a freshwater body of water, it is believed that they were put there to be seen as “Mini-Nessies”.ElephantIn a 1979 article, California biologist Dennis Power and geographer Donald Johnson claimed that the Surgeon’s Photograph was in fact the top of the head, extended trunk and flared nostrils of a swimming elephant, probably photographed elsewhere and claimed to be from Loch Ness. In 2006, paleontologist and artist Neil Clark similarly suggested that travelling circuses might have allowed elephants to refresh themselves in the loch and that the trunk could therefore be the head and neck, with the elephant’s head and back providing the humps. In support of this he provided a painting.Resident animalsWhen viewed through a telescope or binoculars with no outside reference, it is difficult to judge the size of an object in the water. Loch Ness has resident otters and pictures of them are given by Binns, which could be misinterpreted. Likewise he gives pictures of deer swimming in Loch Ness, and birds that could be taken as a “head and neck” sighting.自古至今，有不少学者对“尼斯湖水怪(Ness Monster)之谜”一直持怀疑甚至完全否定的态度。他们认为，尼斯湖根本就没有什么怪兽，而是一种光的折射(refringence)现象给人们造成的错觉(illusion)。有的则认为很可能是在尼斯湖湖底有一些具有浮力(buoyant force)的浆沫石，这些浆沫石在一定的条件下浮上水面随波飘荡。当人们站在湖岸边时，远远望去，由于视觉的错误，往往把奇形怪状的浆沫石误认为是怪兽。但是，全世界许多著名的科学家坚信在尼斯湖中确实存在有一种至今尚未被人们查明的怪兽(monster)。他们认为，几亿年前，尼斯湖一带原是一片极目浩瀚的沧茫海洋，后来由于地壳运动(crustal movement)频繁，经历了多次海陆变迁，才逐渐演变成今天的面貌。因此，很可能有一种尚未被人类认识的远古动物(weird ancient animals)，独特的海栖爬虫类至今仍然生活在尼斯湖里。