國家地理雜誌：年度最佳新聞圖片

Japan Tsunami
日本海嘯

A tsunami-tossed boat rests on top of a building amid a sea of debris in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 14—days after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami.
3月14日，日本巖手縣大槌町，一艘船被衝到屋頂，四周被無數碎片包圍。11日，日本東北部海域發生8.9級地震並引發可怕的海嘯。

The Japan earthquake and tsunami also led to a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which leaked radioactive material into the surrounding region. The accident is now regarded as the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl incident in 1986.
日本地震和海嘯導致福島第一核電站發生泄漏事故，放射性物質泄漏到周邊地區。這是自1986年切爾諾貝利核事故之後世界上最嚴重的核災難。

Area 51 Spy Plane Revealed
51號區間諜飛機曝光

Suspended upside down, a titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype is prepped for radar testing at Area 51 in the late 1950s.
上世紀50年代晚期，神祕的美國51號區，一架鈦材料A-12間諜飛機原型機準備接受雷達測試。

After a rash of declassifications, details of Cold War workings at the Nevada base, which to this day does not officially exist, are coming to light—including images of an A-12 crash and its cover-up pictured publicly for the first time in May.
經過一系列解密之後，內華達基地51號區在冷戰期間的諸多細節最終大白於天下，其中包括5月公佈的A-12偵察機墜機以及有關掩蓋墜機事故真相的照片。這些照片此前從未對外公開過。

Nearly undetectable to radar, the A-12 could fly at 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometers) an hour—fast enough to cross the continental U.S. in 70 minutes. From 90,000 feet (27,400 meters), the plane's cameras could capture foot-long (0.3-meter-long) objects on the ground below. But pushing the limits came with risks—and led to the catastrophic 1963 crash of an A-12 based out of Area 51.
雷達幾乎無法探測到A-12，其時速可達到2200英里(每小時3540公里)，足以在70分鐘內橫跨美國大陸。這種間諜飛機能夠在9萬英尺(2.74萬米)的高度拍攝到地面上只有1英尺(30釐米)長的物體。但提升性能極限也不可避免地帶來風險，1963年，一架A-12間諜飛機在51號區附近墜毀。

"Bodies" Underwater
墨西哥海底雕塑

A snorkeler swims over life-size statues near Cancún, Mexico, in a picture released in January.
2011年1月，在墨西哥坎昆附近拍攝的這張照片展現了一名潛泳者從真人大小的雕塑上方遊過的景象。

Created by Mexico-based British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, the Caribbean installation is intended to eventually cover more than 4,520 square feet (420 square meters), which would make it "one of the largest and most ambitious underwater attractions in the world," according to a museum statement. In doing so, Taylor hopes Mexico's natural reefs, which are already stressed by marine pollution, warming waters, and overfishing, can catch a break from the approximately 750,000 tourists who visit the area each year.
這些真人大小的雕塑出自英國雕塑家詹森·德卡萊斯·泰勒之手，被安放在加勒比海海底，佔地面積超過4520平方英尺(約合420平方米)。博物館在一份聲明中表示：“這是世界上規模最大同時最壯觀的水下景觀之一。”由於海洋污染，海水溫度上升以及過度捕撈，墨西哥的珊瑚礁面臨威脅。泰勒希望水下雕塑能夠轉移遊客的視線，讓他們將興趣從珊瑚礁移到這些雕塑身上。據統計，每年有近75萬遊客遊覽當地的珊瑚礁。

Cyclops Shark
獨眼鯊魚

This extremely rare cyclops shark, found in Mexico, was confirmed by scientists in October. The 22-inch-long (56-centimeter-long) fetus has a single, functioning eye at the front of its head. The eye is a hallmark of a congenital condition called cyclopia, which occurs in several animal species, including humans.
10月在墨西哥發現的罕見獨眼鯊魚胎兒。這個胎兒身長22英寸(56釐米)，只有一隻眼睛，長在頭部前部。它患有一種名爲“獨眼畸形”的先天性疾病，很多動物都會出現獨眼畸形，包括人類在內。

Scientists have documented cyclops-shark embryos a few times before, said Jim Gelsleichter, a shark biologist at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The fact that none have been caught outside the womb suggests cyclops sharks don't survive long in the wild.
傑克遜維爾北佛羅里達州大學研究鯊魚的生物學家吉姆·格爾雷切特表示，科學家此前就曾多次發現獨眼鯊魚胎兒。但他們一直未能在母體外捕獲獨眼鯊魚，說明這種鯊魚無法在野外存活很久。

Fire and Flood in Japan
日本火災洪水

Houses burn amid flood waters on March 11 after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a powerful tsunami.
3月11日，日本遭受8.9級大地震襲擊並引發可怕海嘯。災難發生後，無數房屋被泡在洪水中，部分起火燃燒。

The earthquake—the strongest in Japan in 140 years—struck 81 miles (130 kilometers) off the coast of Sendai at 2:46 p.m. local time. A port city of about a million residents, Sendai was hit by tsunami waves up to 33 feet (10 meters) earthquake and its aftershocks were felt as far away as Tokyo, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the epicenter.
當地時間下午2點46分，大地震襲擊仙台沿海81英里(130公里)的海域。地震引發的海嘯隨即襲擊這個大約100萬人口的港口城市，海浪高度達到33英尺(10米)。這是日本140年來遭受的最大地震，距離震中大約250英里(400公里)的東京也感到震感和餘震。

9/11 Anniversary
9·11十週年紀念

People on a New York City street scan pictures of the many police and fire personnel still missing in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
在紐約的一條街道，當地居民瀏覽警察和消防員的照片，2001年9月11日恐怖襲擊後，他們就下落不明。

"I've heard from any number of survivors that they could tell by looking at firefighters' faces [the firefighters] knew how bad this was and that they might not get out," said Clifford Chanin, an executive at New York City's National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and editor of Memory Remains, a photographic book of 9/11 artifacts. "They knew what they were facing, and the heroism and courage [they showed] is just astonishing."
紐約國家9·11紀念館/博物館負責人、9·11文物照片集《殘留的記憶》編輯克利福德·查寧表示：“所有幸存者都對我說，看着消防員臉上的表情，他們就知道情況有多糟，他們可能出不去了。他們清楚地知道自己面臨着什麼，在危險面前，他們表現出令人敬佩的勇氣和英雄品質。”

Web-Wrapped Trees
巴基斯坦蛛網樹

Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where massive floods drove millions of spiders and possibly other insects into the trees to spin their webs.
巴基斯坦信德省的一個村落，一片被洪水淹沒的農田邊的樹上出現壯觀的蜘蛛網，好似一個巨大的繭。爲了躲避可怕的洪水，數百萬只蜘蛛—可能還有其他昆蟲—爬到樹上結網。

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years' worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country's rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside.
2010年7月，巴基斯坦普降大雨，短短一週內的降雨量便幾乎等同於與近10年的降雨量，導致很多河流暴漲。隨着洪水緩慢退卻，巴基斯坦農村地區出現巨大的水坑。

Mind-Control Fungus
寄生真菌

A stalk of the new fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani grows out of a "zombie" ant's head in a Brazilian rain forest.
巴西雨林，殭屍螞蟻的頭部向外長出一根類似莖幹的物體，這根“莖幹”實際上是一種新發現的真菌，名爲“Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani”。

Originally thought to be a single species, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus is actually four distinct species—all of which can "mind control" ants, scientists announced in fungus can infect an ant, take over its brain, and then kill the insect once the it moves to an ideal location for growing and spreading the fungus's spores.
科學家3月表示，這種真菌最初被認爲是單一物種，名爲“Ophiocordyceps unilateralis”，但實際上有4個截然不同的種羣，並且全部能夠對螞蟻進行大腦寄生。Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani能夠感染螞蟻並佔領它們的大腦，一旦螞蟻移動到最適於它們生長和傳播孢子的區域，它們便會痛下殺手，殺死螞蟻。

Largest Crocodile?
捕獲最大鱷魚

Caught alive after a three-week hunt, an allegedly 21-foot-long (6.4-meter-long) saltwater crocodile caught in the Philippines may be the largest crocodile yet captured, officials said in September.
經過長達3周的搜捕，一條長達21英尺(6.4米)的鹹水鱷最終在菲律賓“落網”。官員們9月表示這可能是迄今爲止捕獲的體型最大的鱷魚。

The 2,369-pound (1,075-kilogram) crocodile is suspected of attacking several people and killing two. The animal, named Lolong, survived capture and was held in a temporary enclosure near Bunawan township (map).
這條鱷魚重2369磅(1075公斤)，被命名爲Lolong，曾多次襲擊人類，共造成兩人死亡。目前，Lolong臨時被“囚禁”在棉蘭老島一個圍欄內。

Remembering the Space Shuttle
銘記“亞特蘭蒂斯”號

Cocoa Beach surfers watch from the water as the space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from nearby Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 8, shot was among those chosen by National Geographic editors as the most unforgettable pictures from the entire NASA shuttle program.
2000年9月8日，“亞特蘭蒂斯”號航天飛機從美國佛羅里達州的肯尼迪航天中心發射升空。在附近的可可海灘，海上的衝浪愛好者目睹了“亞特蘭蒂斯”號飛向雲霄的景象。美國《國家地理雜誌》的編輯將這幅照片評爲美國宇航局航天飛機計劃最令人難忘的照片之一。

In July Atlantis completed STS-135, the final shuttle mission in the program's 30-year history." The space shuttle has been with us at the heart and soul of the human spaceflight program for about 30 years, and it's a little sad to see it go away," STS-135 mission commander Christopher Ferguson told reporters in a televised interview from the International Space Station.
7月，“亞特蘭蒂斯”號完成STS-135任務。這是歷時30年的航天飛機計劃的最後一次太空任務。STS-135任務指揮官克里斯托弗·弗格森在國際空間站接受採訪時說：“航天飛機是近30年的人類太空飛行計劃的核心和靈魂，看到它們退役，我難免感到一絲傷感。