科学家们相信，从卫星传回的火星图像中，清晰可见的手指装的图形应该是含盐的溪流流过陨石坑后留下的痕迹。
The puzzling clusters of dark lines fade in winter and reappear in the spring.
这些令人费解的深色线条会在冬天销声匿迹，春季时又重新出现。
Pictures taken by the American space agency Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft showed the markings on several steep slopes south of the Martian equator.
由美国航天局NASA的火星侦探轨道器拍摄到的照片中，在火星赤道以南的陡峭的山峰出现了这些痕迹。
The features could be the first definitive evidence of present-day liquid water on the Red Planet, say experts.
专家们表示，这一现象有可能成为首个确凿的证据，证明在火星上的确有水的存在。
If this turns out to be the case, the sites may provide a promising hunting ground for signs of life on Mars.
而这一发现有可能成为在火星上寻找生命体存在了有力支撑。
‘The best explanation we have for these observations so far is flow of briny water, although this study does not prove that,’ said co-author Dr Alfred McEwen, from the University of Arizona.
“对于所观察到的这一现象，我们目前最好的解释是有咸水的流经，但这项研究目前还无法全完证明其存在。”美国亚利桑那州的Alfred McEwen教授说。