For five or six seconds, nothing is visible. Then, the base of the cloud begins to bulge downward. For a moment, it looks a little like a funnel cloud is forming. Then the bulge widens, and at the ten-second mark, the bottom of the drop emerges from the cloud.
在最初的五六秒内看不出任何异常，之后云层的底部开始慢慢向下隆起，在某一瞬间看上去有点像正在形成的漏斗云。然后隆起部分越来越宽，10秒后，水滴的底部开始露出云层。
The drop is now falling at 90 meters per second (200 mph). The roaring wind whips up the surface of the water into spray. The leading edge of the droplet turns to foam as air is forced into the liquid. If it kept falling for long enough, these forces would gradually disperse the entire droplet into rain.
现在水滴的下落速度已经达到了每秒90米。呼啸而过的大风将表层水吹成水雾。随着越来越多的空气被强行挤入水滴内部，水滴的下沿开始变成泡沫状。如果水滴继续以这个速度下落足够长的时间，这些力会渐渐把整个水滴分解成雨滴。
Before that can happen, about 20 seconds after formation, the edge of the droplet hits the ground. The water is now moving at over 200 m/s (450 mph). Right under the point of impact, the air is unable to rush out of the way fast enough, and the compression heats it so quickly that the grass would catch fire if it had time.
但在那发生之前，在水滴形成后约20秒，水滴的下沿接触到了地面。现在水滴的下落速度超过每秒200米。在接触点的正下方，空气无法及时排开，被压缩的空气迅速产生大量热量，假如有时间的话，下面的草丛是会着火的。
Fortunately for the grass, this heat lasts only a few milliseconds because it's doused by the arrival of a lot of cold water. Unfortunately for the grass, the cold water is moving at over half the speed of sound.
好消息是，这些热量只持续了几毫秒的时间，随后它就被大量冰冷的水淹没了。坏消息是，急速而来的冰冷水滴速度超过音速的一半。
If you were floating in the center of this sphere during this episode, you wouldn't have felt anything unusual up until now. It'd be pretty dark in the middle, but if you had enough time (and lung capacity) to swim a few hundred meters out toward the edge, you'd be able to make out the dim glow of daylight.
如果之前你一直漂在整个水滴的正中央，你直到此时此刻才会发现一些异样。水滴的中央非常暗，如果你有足够的时间（和肺活量）游上几百米来到水滴边缘，你会看到黯淡的光线。
As the raindrop approached the ground, the buildup of air resistance would lead to an increase in pressure that would make your ears pop. But seconds later, when the water contacted the surface, you'd be crushed to death-the shockwave would briefly create pressures exceeding those at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
随着水滴离地面越来越近，不断增加的空气阻力会产生越来越大的压强，你的耳朵会感到胀痛。几秒后，当水滴接触到地面时，你就会因挤压而死——冲击波会在瞬间产生超过马里亚纳海沟底部的压强。
The water plows into the ground, but the bedrock is unyielding. The pressure forces the water sideways, creating a supersonic omnidirectional jet1 that destroys everything in its path.
整个水滴一头撞上地面，不过地面上的基岩是不可撼动的。由此产生的压力将水推向四侧，产生一股超音速全向射流，1摧毁一切沿途的物体。