The Great Wall in northern China cannot be seen with the naked eye from high orbit above the Earth or from the moon, as some people believe. For centuries, those who have wanted to see the wall have had to make a trip to Asia to lay eyes on one of the greatest surviving artificial structures in the world.

有人认为，无论是从地球高轨道上，抑或从月球之上，肉眼都无法把中国北部的万里长城收入眼帘。在过去的世纪，欲一睹万里长城之貌者只能通过游历亚洲，来见识这座世界最伟大的人类建筑之一。

These days, though, there is less of it to see, according to an article in The Beijing Times that cites local officials, statistics and a Great Wall scholar. The article, which appeared on Sunday, said that 22 percent of what was considered the Ming dynasty Great Wall had disappeared. And the total length of the parts of the wall that have vanished, 1,961 kilometers, or 1,219 miles, is equal to about 30 percent of the artificial part of the Great Wall. (More than 6,200 kilometers of the Ming-era wall’s 8,851.8 kilometers is artificial, and the rest consist of natural barriers, the article said.)

然而，近日，据北京时报刊登的一篇文章所示，万里长城正渐渐从人们眼中消失， 而该文章则参考了数名当地官员及长城学者，以及调查数据。这篇于周日见报的文章表示，被人们广为认知的明代长城，有22%的地方早已消磨不见。而这部分已消失了的长城全长为1,961千米，也就是1，219英里，等同于长城人造部分的30%左右。(据文所言，清代长城全长为8,851.8千米，其中超过6,200千米为人工建造，剩下的则由天然屏障所组成)

Those numbers were released in 2012 by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and no doubt more of the wall has disappeared since then.

2012年，这些数据为国家文物局所发布，但无可否认，自那以来，长城也一直在消失。

The Beijing Times article caused a stir on social media on Monday. People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, wrote in English on Twitter: “Report on vanishing Great Wall shocks the country.” Global Times, a newspaper overseen by People’s Daily, expressed anxiety in a Twitter post: “Nearly 30 percent of Great Wall disappears. Fancy a trip before it’s all gone?” People’s Daily Online and Global Times both ran stories on Monday that repeated the findings of The Beijing Times.

周一，北京时报的这篇文章在社会媒体上引起了一场风波。人民日报，党内最受欢迎的报纸，在推特上用英文写道;“报道长城消失，冲击整个国家。” 全球时报，由人民日报报社所监督管理的报社，也在其推特上表达其对此的担忧;“近30%的长城消失了，想在它完全消失之前旅游一番吗?” 人民日报在线及全球时报在周一双双刊登了新闻特写，两次描述了北京时报的发现。