NEVER SAY physicists have no sense of humour. A topic that can dub(给…起绰号，命名) fundamental particles “strange”, “charm”, “truth” and “beauty”, and propose that such objects are stuck together with bits of sub-atomic adhesive called gluon(胶子（传递强力的粒子）)s, cannot be accused of taking itself too seriously. But the true masterpiece of quirky physics nomenclature(命名法，术语体系) is, perhaps, the “swampland(沼泽地（弦理论中的概念）)”.
永远别说物理学家没有幽默感。一个能把基本粒子命名为“奇异”“粲”“顶”和“底”，并认为这些粒子是由称为胶子的亚原子粘合剂粘合在一起的学科，不能被指责为过于严肃。但物理学古怪命名法的真正杰作，或许要数“沼泽地”了。
The swampland is the here-be-dragons(此处有龙（指未知危险区域）) territory beyond the edges of string theory(弦理论（物理理论）), a mathematical model of reality in which vibrating strings are the building blocks of nature. As is often true of such models, string theory has many answers. In its case each describes a particular hypothetical(假设的，假定的) universe. Those answers, of which early estimates counted more than 10^500, are known collectively as(统称为) “the landscape(景观（弦理论中的可能宇宙集合）)”.
沼泽地是弦理论边缘之外的“此处有龙”之地。弦理论是一种现实数学模型，其中振动的弦是自然的基本构件。这类模型通常有很多答案，弦理论也不例外。就弦理论而言，每个答案描述一个特定的假设宇宙。这些答案，早期估计超过10^500个，统称为“景观”。
To contrast explicitly with this conceptual terra firma(坚实陆地，稳固之地) Cumrun Vafa, of Harvard, coined(创造（新词等）), in 2005, the term swampland to describe universes beyond the scope of string theory. A big existential question from a physics point of view is thus whether the universe people call home is part of the landscape or part of the swamp.(因此，从物理学角度看，一个重大的存在问题便是：人类称之为家园的宇宙，究竟是景观的一部分，还是沼泽的一部分。) Proving it was on dry land would suggest that string theory might be true. Which would be nice, because a criticism often thrown at(抛向，针对…提出) this theory is that it is elegant but untestable(无法检验的)—at least with tools that humanity might conceivably(可以想象地，可能地) build today.
为了与这一概念上的“坚实陆地”形成鲜明对比，哈佛大学的Cumrun Vafa在2005年创造了“沼泽地”一词，用来描述弦理论范围之外的宇宙。因此，从物理学角度看，一个重大的存在问题便是：人类称之为家园的宇宙，究竟是景观的一部分，还是沼泽的一部分。如果能证明它位于干燥的陆地上，那将表明弦理论可能是正确的。这将会很好，因为人们常批评这一理论优雅但无法检验——至少用人类今天可能建造的工具无法检验。
Swamp things
沼泽之物
The contortionists
柔术演员们