On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan left Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island in the Pacific.（1937年7月2日，阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特（Amelia Earhart）与领航员弗雷德·努南（Fred Noonan）驾机离开新几内亚的莱城，启程飞往太平洋深处的豪兰岛。） This was without a doubt the longest and most dangerous part of their trip around the world.（这毫无疑问是他们环球飞行征程中距离最遥远、危机四伏的一段航程。） Earhart had trouble shortly after takeoff. The weather was stormy, so she had to fly at approximately 3,000 meters. Going this high, the plane used up gas quickly.（起飞不久后，埃尔哈特便遭遇了重重险情。因天气恶劣暴风雨肆虐，她不得不爬升至约3,000米的高空飞行，而在此高空飞行致使燃油消耗极快。）

After about 20 hours, Earhart and Noonan approached Howland Island.（经过漫长煎熬的20个小时高空飞行，埃尔哈特与努南终于逼近了豪兰岛周边海域。） The island was only about a hundred kilometers away at this point, but the bright sun was shining in their faces, so they couldn’t see it.（此时海岛距他们仅剩百公里之遥，然而刺目的烈日正迎面暴晒，强烈的光晕使他们根本无法看清地平线上的岛屿。） Near Howland, a ship—the Itasca—was waiting. Earhart contacted the ship: “Gas is low,” she said.（在豪兰岛近旁，美国海岸警卫队“伊塔斯卡号”（Itasca）巡逻舰正严密待命。埃尔哈特向舰船呼叫：“燃油告急，”她焦急地通报。） The Itasca tried to maintain contact with her, but it got no response. Finally, the Itasca called for help.（“伊塔斯卡号”竭力试图与她保持无线电联络，但耳机中再未得到任何应答。最终，战舰不得不发出求救搜救警报。） People searched for Earhart and Noonan for days. Despite great efforts, they found nothing.（多国海空搜救力量在浩瀚大洋上日夜搜寻数日之久。尽管竭尽全力，却未能发现飞机的丝毫踪影。）

What happened to Amelia Earhart? No one knows for sure.（阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特身上究竟发生了什么？至今无人知晓确切真相。） During the flight, she likely headed in the wrong direction because the sun was bright and it was hard to see.（在飞行过程中，极可能是因为烈日当空目眩眼花，导致她误判了航向。） Perhaps she and Noonan got lost somewhere over the Pacific; soon after, her plane ran out of gas, and she crashed into the sea.（也许她和努南在茫茫太平洋上彻底迷失了方位；不久后飞机燃油耗尽，坠入了无垠深海。） Another idea is that Earhart might have landed on a nearby, uninhabited island called Nikumaroro, where she later died.（另一种推测是，埃尔哈特或许迫降在附近一座名为尼库马罗罗（Nikumaroro）的荒芜孤岛上，并在那里最终悲壮离世。） Researchers recently brought bone-sniffing dogs to the island, though, and no human bones were found.（近期考察人员曾携搜骨寻尸犬重返该岛勘查，但并未挖掘出人类骨骸。） However, the dogs did detect the smell of bones that decomposed long ago—these bones could have been Earhart’s.（然而搜救犬确实敏锐嗅到了久远前骨骼腐殖分解的微弱气味——而那些遗骸极有可能就属于当年的埃尔哈特。） A more extreme theory is that Earhart flew the plane to the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands, a thousand kilometers to the north, and later secretly returned to the United States under a new name.（一种更大胆的传说则推测，埃尔哈特驾机飞往了北方一千公里外日军控制的马绍尔群岛，并在战后隐姓埋名秘密潜回了美国本土。）

The first theory seems most likely. However, none of these ideas has been proven.（第一种燃油耗尽坠海的假说看似最为合乎情理。然而，上述任何推测至今都未得到确凿印证。） Today, people are still investigating Earhart’s and Noonan’s disappearance.（直至今日，世界各地的人们依然在坚持不懈地探寻埃尔哈特与努南神秘失踪的谜底。） Whatever happened, Earhart probably died as she wished. “When I go,” she once said, “I’d like best to go in my plane.”（无论结局究竟如何，埃尔哈特或许是在以她毕生向往的方式告别红尘。正如她曾深情告白的那样：“当我的生命走向终点，我最愿与之长相厮守的，唯有我心爱的飞机。”）