An illustration of how the elusive man-apesknown as yeti might appear.

（圖解：神出鬼沒(méi)、被稱為雪人（也梯）的人猿可能的模樣圖示）

In Nepaland Tibet, where the Himalayas loom large, so too does the legend of the yeti,a legend so pervasive not even science has been able to make a dent in it.

尼泊爾和西藏是喜馬拉雅山赫然聳立的地方，而雪人的傳說(shuō)在那里也是赫赫有名，該傳說(shuō)的滲透和流行是如此深廣，甚至連科學(xué)都一直無(wú)法對(duì)其取得進(jìn)展。? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??
While shadowy creatures have long stalkedthe fringes of popular imagination — from North America’s Sasquatch or Bigfootto the scientific-sounding vagueness of UFO, or Unidentifiable Furry Organisms— the Himalayan version ranks as the man-ape’s oldest manifestation, pre-datingeven the Buddhist faith.

躲在暗處的神秘生物長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)潛行在大眾想象的邊緣，從北美的薩斯科奇人（大腳怪），到聽(tīng)起來(lái)很科學(xué)的UFO的各種影影幢幢，或者是無(wú)法辨認(rèn)的帶皮毛的生物體，而喜馬拉雅的版本被列入了人猿最古老的表現(xiàn)形式，甚至早于佛教信仰的出現(xiàn)。

And yet, in all this time, the toweringfigure has left scant evidence that he actually exists. Just fragments infolklore, along with a recurring role in stories aimed at scaring the bejesusout of children.

然而在所有這些時(shí)期中，這個(gè)高拔的身影留下的證明其真實(shí)存在的證據(jù)很是不足。只有民間傳說(shuō)中的片段，連同那些把孩子門嚇破膽的故事中反復(fù)出現(xiàn)的角色。

Of course, there’s the occasionalsupersized footprint pressed into the snow, proclaiming to be the very shoesize of the so-called Abominable Snowman. In fact, the idea of the yeti onlyreally ignited in the Western fancy in 1951, when British explorer Eric Shiptonsnapped photographs of several gaping footprints in the snow around MountEverest.

當(dāng)然，雪地里時(shí)不時(shí)會(huì)出現(xiàn)超大號(hào)的腳印，它們被宣布說(shuō)正是所謂喜馬拉雅雪人腳的尺寸。事實(shí)上，雪人這個(gè)想法真正點(diǎn)燃西方的幻想是在1951年，當(dāng)時(shí)英國(guó)探險(xiǎn)家艾瑞克·希普頓在珠穆朗瑪峰周圍捕捉到了若干張雪中腳印的照片。

Is that a yeti print?

（圖解：這是一個(gè)野人的腳印嗎？）

Oncerumors of a mysterious, hairy hominoid washed ashore in the West, there seemedno stopping them — the absence of any recorded encounters with yeti be damned.

一旦一個(gè)神秘多毛類人動(dòng)物的傳言在西方上岸，似乎就不可阻擋了，沒(méi)有任何與雪人遭遇的記錄被譴責(zé)。

But among Himalayan cultures, there’s acommonly held belief that though the creature may be elusive, he does shed. Andtake potty breaks.

但在喜馬拉雅文化中普遍都相信：這種生物也許神出鬼沒(méi)，但確實(shí)會(huì)脫發(fā)。還會(huì)排便。

Like, enough of the stuff for locals togather up and enshrine as evidence of the yeti’s existence.

當(dāng)?shù)厝怂坪跏占俗銐蚨嗟倪@類物什，并供奉了起來(lái)，作為雪人存在的證據(jù)。

Scientists and powerful forest entitieshave frequently found themselves at odds in recent years.

（圖解：近些年，科學(xué)家們和強(qiáng)大的林業(yè)單位時(shí)常發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的意見(jiàn)存在分歧）

But scientists, generally known for castingdoubt on magical forest legends, insisted on a poo-ternity test. There had longbeen suspicions that if the yeti really exists, it would likely be a kind ofape — maybe a species that we thought was extinct. Or even a Neanderthal thathad strayed from evolution’s purge.

但是，通常以質(zhì)疑魔幻森林傳說(shuō)出名的科學(xué)家要堅(jiān)持做一項(xiàng)糞檢。長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)對(duì)于雪人是否真的存在一直存有懷疑，它可能是一種猿，也許是我們認(rèn)為已經(jīng)滅絕了的一個(gè)種類?；蛘?，甚至可能是躲過(guò)了演化清洗的尼安德特人。

Primordial guardian of the forest withsupernatural powers? Not so much. So in 2014, scientists took a DNA sample froma tuft of "yeti" fur and the results came back … raccoon.

擁有超自然力量的這片森林的遠(yuǎn)古守護(hù)者？也不太像。所以在2014年，科學(xué)家從一撮“雪人”皮毛中采集了DNA樣本，然后結(jié)果傳回來(lái)了...是浣熊的。

Hang in there, true believers

真正的信徒們，堅(jiān)持住

Earlier this year, Charlotte Lindqvist, thesame evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo from the raccoonstudy, led a second study — this time spanning a much broader sample size.

今年早些時(shí)候，同一個(gè)演化生物學(xué)家，來(lái)自布法羅大學(xué)浣熊研究領(lǐng)域的夏洛特·林科斯威特領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了第二次研究，這一次極大擴(kuò)充了樣本數(shù)量。

The team gathered bits of bone, tooth,skin, hair and and fecal samples (don’t act like mythical man-apes don’t dothat) — all of it touted by locals as certified yeti.

該團(tuán)隊(duì)采集了少量的骨骼、牙齒、皮膚、毛發(fā)和糞便樣本（別搞得像是神秘的人猿不排泄似的），所有這些都被當(dāng)?shù)厝四贸鰜?lái)當(dāng)成貨真價(jià)實(shí)的野人在兜售。

This week, the results of exhaustive DNAtests were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B — and forAbominable Snowman enthusiasts, they results are not good.

本周，巨細(xì)無(wú)遺的DNA檢測(cè)結(jié)果發(fā)表在了英國(guó)皇家學(xué)會(huì)學(xué)報(bào)B上，而對(duì)于雪人愛(ài)好者來(lái)說(shuō)，結(jié)果可不好。
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Among the nine sample tested, eight matchedup tidily with brown bears. And the ninth? A dog.

在被檢測(cè)的九件樣本中，有八件和棕熊完美匹配上了。而第九件呢？是一條狗的。

What the ... Himalaya were bears doing inthe forests that ringed the mountains? And a dog? Who left their dog there?!

喜馬拉雅熊在環(huán)山樹(shù)林里做什么？還有那條狗，是誰(shuí)把他們家的狗扔那兒了？！

Well, let’s face it — and with apologies toshambling, man-ape enthusiasts worldwide — they were probably just beingregular old animals. The kind you might to expect to find leaving fur, amongother things, in the wild.

好吧，讓我們面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)吧，而且要向全世界步履蹣跚的人猿愛(ài)好者致以歉意，它們可能只是常見(jiàn)的老年動(dòng)物。是你可能預(yù)見(jiàn)得到會(huì)在野外掉下毛發(fā)雜摻在其他東西之中的品種。

Besides, for some of us at least, there'ssomething to get excited about: the latest research suggests Himalayan brownbears are a kind of shambling, hairy wonder in their own right. Scientistsdetermined that these bears occupied their own unique genetic strain, apartfrom the nearby Tibetan brown bears. According to researchers, the Himalayanbears that roam these high altitudes belong to a lineage that split from otherbears around 650,000 years ago.

除此以外，至少對(duì)我們中的一部分來(lái)說(shuō)，有一些事情讓人興奮：最新研究表明喜馬拉雅棕熊本身就是一只搖搖晃晃的多毛的奇跡。科學(xué)家們判定，這些熊占據(jù)著它們自己獨(dú)特的遺傳品系，在基因上遠(yuǎn)離附近的西藏棕熊。按照研究者們的說(shuō)法，在高海拔地區(qū)漫游的喜馬拉雅熊屬于在約65萬(wàn)年前和其他熊分道揚(yáng)鑣的一支血統(tǒng)。

So there’s that.

所以這就是它

The Himalayan brown bear traces a uniquegenetic ancestry that's almost as interesting as a furry forest-dwellingman-ape.

（圖解：喜馬拉雅棕熊可以追溯到一支獨(dú)特的基因血統(tǒng)，幾乎和的居住在林間的毛茸茸的人猿同樣有趣）

"Itwas exciting to find that the purported yeti samples, without doubt, are notstrange hybrid bear creatures, but simply related to local brown and blackbears," Lindqvist told LiveScience. "Modern science, and genetic datain particular, can help answer and resolve old mysteries."

“我們的發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我們很激動(dòng)，即聲稱是雪人樣本的，毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)并不是什么奇怪的混種熊類，不過(guò)就是本地的棕熊和黑熊，”林科斯威特告訴《生活科學(xué)》網(wǎng)站?！艾F(xiàn)代科學(xué)尤其是基因數(shù)據(jù)，能幫助回答和解開(kāi)古老的謎團(tuán)。”

Exciting indeed. Thanks for clearing thatup, science. At least, until someone steps in the next Abominable Snowmandropping in the woods.

確實(shí)令人激動(dòng)。感謝你澄清了那個(gè)問(wèn)題，科學(xué)。至少，直到有人撞見(jiàn)下一個(gè)在林子里走動(dòng)的雪人前是如此。