来源：中国日报     转载编辑：段敬裕

据英国《卫报》报道，当地时间14日，白宫表示，美军近日击落的三个不明飞行物可能用于商业或研究，是无害的。

Three unidentified objects shot down by US fighter jets since Friday may turn out to be balloons connected to "benign" commercial or research efforts, a White House official said on Tuesday.

美国白宫国家安全委员会发言人约翰·柯比称，“我们没有迹象表明这些不明飞行物与中国所谓‘间谍计划’或它们明确参与外部情报收集工作有关。”

"We haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the [People's Republic of China's] spying program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts," he said.

柯比还表示，目前存在的“主要解释”是，这些不明飞行物可能是私人经营的，出于商业或研究目的的实体。目前还没有人出来声明其所有权。

Instead, a "leading explanation" may be that the objects were operated privately for commercial or research purposes, Kirby said, though no one has stepped forward to claim ownership.

美国白宫国家安全委员会发言人约翰·柯比

位于美加边境的休伦湖示意图 图自美国全国广播公司（NBC）

当时，北美防空司令部司令格伦‧范赫克曾在回答提问时表示，他不排除这些物体来源的任何可能性，包括它们可能来自外星或是地外文明。

Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything."

编辑：胡雨濛