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Interesting sound. I would have guessed a Wild West performer was practicing with a bullwhip while also vacuuming. But no. That sound is apparently produced by the aurora borealis, the northern lights.
听到这有趣的声音，我会联想到一个狂野的西部表演家正一边挥舞着牛鞭，一边开着吸尘器。但是，我错了。很明显那声音是由北极光发出的。
Since 2000 researchers at Finland's Aalto University have been collecting audio as part of what's called the Auroral Acoustics project. Folk tales have long held that the lights also produce odd sounds, but the claims were hard to prove. And some researchers thought that any noises produced by the energetic particles that cause the light show would be far too high in the sky to be heard on the ground.
自2000年，芬兰阿尔托大学的研究人员就开始收集光的声音，把这当作极光升学计划的一部分。很久以前民间故事就坚信光能发出奇怪的声音，但却很难得到证实。另外，一些研究人员认为形成北极光的高能粒子离地面太远，它们发出的声音因而无法被听到。
But the latest results indicate that at least some sounds are produced very close to the ground. A setup of three ground-based microphones allowed researchers to estimate that the sounds occur perhaps just 70 meters up. The results were just presented at the International Congress on Sound and Vibration in Vilnius, Lithuania.
但最新的结果表明，至少有些声音在离地很近的地方产生。研究者凭借一套由三个放在陆面的麦克风组成的设备，估算出那些声响发生在离地大约70米的高空。不久前在立陶宛首都维尔纽斯举办的国际声音和振动大会上，研究人员介绍了这项研究成果。
More information about the sounds of the northern lights could lead to a more complete understanding of the phenomenon. So if you see an aurora, keep your ears open.
如有更多关于北极光声音的信息，人们便能全面地了解这种现象。所以，如果你看到极光，记得竖起耳朵倾听。
