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Their places were taken by a delegation from the principal churches of the town headed by the president of the local theological seminary. "Mr. Mayor," this gentleman said, "we believe that further scientific inquiry into the nature of this object will prove fruitless. It belongs not to man but to God. What we witness is a veritable and unquestioned miracle.
他们的位置被来自该城一些主要教堂的一个代表团所取代，这个代表团由当地神学院的院长率领。“市长先生，”那位先生说道，“我们认为对这个物体的性质的进一步科学调查将是徒劳的。这件物体不属于人，而属于上帝。我们所见到的是一个的的确确的上帝创造的奇迹。
"No material description of this block is possible, since it is not material, but spiritual. God in His wisdom has chosen to send us a reminder made manifest that, though men can tinker with the building blocks of nature, they cannot explain them."
“对这块东西作物质的描述是不可能的，因为它不是物质的，而是精神的。上帝以其智慧选送给我们这块东西，以提醒我们明白一个道理，尽管人类能够摆弄大自然提供的各种素材，但却无法解释它们。”
By now it was past noon and John Thomas suddenly realized that he was hungry. Not only that, but most of the discussions he had been hearing were totally without meaning for him. He recognized a word here and there, but that was all. It is true that the general feeling of excitement and wonder had communicated itself to him and he had enjoyed being the center, directly and indirectly, of so much attention. But at last he was bored and wanted his lunch.
其时已是午后了。约翰·托马斯突然感到饿了。不仅如此，而且他觉得他所听到的大多数争论对他毫无意义。他时而能听懂个把单词，仅此而已。他确实曾为人们的激动和惊奇的情绪所感染，而且他也乐于直接地或间接地成为众人注目的中心。但他终于厌倦了，只想吃午饭。
His mother took him into the house and made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave him a glass of milk. While he was eating, he said to her, "Mother, do you like having that funny block in our back yard and all those queer people?"
他的母亲把他带进了屋内，给他做了花生酱果子冻三明治，还给他一杯牛奶。他一边吃，一边对他的母亲说：“妈妈，你喜欢那个奇怪的金属块留在我们后院里吗？你喜欢那些怪人吗？”
"No," she said, "I don't. I'll never get any work done, and all that talk makes my head swim. I don't know who's right and who's wrong, but I do know that your father will want to stay around to superintend things, and the people he works for won’t like that. I wish that block would take itself off to whatever place it came from. "
“不，“她说，“我不喜欢。那样什么事也做不成了。那些谈话把我的头都搞晕了。我搞不明白谁对谁错，但我清楚，这一来你爸爸就得待在家里料理事情，而他的雇主却不会高兴。但愿这块东西自动离开，哪儿来，哪儿去。”
"So do I," John Thomas said. "I’m tired of it."
“我也希望如此。”约翰·托马斯说。“我对那玩意儿厌倦了。”
At that precise moment there was a shout from the yard. "It's gone. The block has gone."
就在那一时刻，院子里传来一声大喊。“跑了，那块东西跑了。”
