中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
即將上映的好萊塢災難大片《2012世界末日》將網絡上盛傳的“2012年12月21日為世界末日”這一所謂的瑪雅預言再次拉近人們的視野。因此，美國宇航局9日再次重申，2012年12月21日并不是世界末日，傳言中的X星球將與地球相撞也并不屬實?？茖W家們表示，瑪雅歷法不會在2012年結束，因此瑪雅人自己也沒有把這一年當作是世界的末日。不過，2012年12月21日的確是瑪雅人的一個重要日子。到2012年12月21日，就意味著當前時代的結束，即完成了一個輪回。瑪雅人的歷法將從“零天”重新開始計算，開始一個新的輪回。
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The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, NASA insisted on Monday in a rare campaign to dispel rumors fueled by the internet and a new Hollywood movie. |
The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, NASA insisted on Monday in a rare campaign to dispel rumors fueled by the internet and a new Hollywood movie.
The latest big screen offering from Sony Pictures, "2012," arrives in theatres on Friday, with a $200 million production about the end of the world supposedly based on theories backed by the Mayan calendar.
The doomsday scenario revolves around claims that the end of time will come as an obscure Planet X - or Nibiru - collides with Earth.
The mysterious planet was supposedly discovered by the Sumerians, according to claims by pseudo-scientists, paranormal activity enthusiasts and internet theorists.
Some websites have accused the US space agency of concealing the truth about the wayward planet's existence, but NASA has denounced such stories as an "internet hoax."
"There is no factual basis for these claims," NASA said in a question-and-answer posting on its website.
If such a collision were real, "astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," it added. "Obviously, it does not exist."
"Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," it insisted.
After all, "our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years," added NASA.
Initial theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter solstice in 2012, to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.
NASA insisted the Mayan calendar does not in fact end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward. And it said there are no planetary alignments on the horizon for the next few decades.
And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be "negligible," NASA said.
Modern Maya in Guatemala and Mexico have also rushed to debunk the "prophesy".
They view the burgeoning end-of-the-world 2012 industry with a mixture of confusion, exasperation and anger at what is perceived as a Western distortion of their traditions and beliefs.
"There is no concept of apocalypse in the Mayan culture," Jesus Gomez, head of the Guatemalan confederation of Mayan priests and spiritual guides, told The Sunday Telegraph.
Cirilo Perez, an adviser to Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom is a prominent ajq'ij - literally a "day counter", a wise man who makes predictions and advice on the most propitious dates to marry, plant or harvest. He decried the commercial exploitation of Mayan culture by outsiders.
"This has all become business but there is no desire to understand," he said. "When foreigners, or even some Guatemalans, see us, they think 'Look at the Maya, how nice, how pretty', but they don't understand us."
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(Agencies)
（英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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