长达17个月的马航(Malaysia Airlines)MH370搜寻过程可能出现迄今最为重大的一项进展，空难调查人员正对此展开调查。此前警方在印度洋法属留尼汪岛发现了一片可能与这架失踪飞机相关的残骸。
Crash investigators are examining what may be the most significant development yet in the 17-month search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after debris potentially related to the crash was found on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion.
一名法国航空专家在Twitter上指出这片残骸（看上去是机翼的一个控制面襟副翼）看上去与波音(Boeing)777非常相似，MH370正是这种机型。新闻通讯社美联社(Associated Press)援引一位匿名的“美国官员”的话称“高度怀疑”该零件来自一架波音777。
A French aviation expert pointed on Twitter to apparently strong similarities between the part — apparently a flaperon, a control surface from a wing — and the same part on a Boeing 777, the type of aircraft lost. Associated Press, the wire service, quoted an anonymous “US official” as saying “with a high degree of confidence” that the part came from a 777.
澳大利亚交通安全局(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)发言人丹尼尔攠汙利(Daniel O’Malley)周四表示，该局正与法国官员和来自波音的专家合作，将努力证实这片残骸来自哪个型号的飞机以及是否来自MH370。
Daniel O’Malley, a spokesman with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said on Thursday the agency was working with French officials and experts from Boeing to try and confirm the type of aircraft the debris was from and whether it was from MH370.
他表示：“碎片被发现的地理位置与目前的搜索范围并无不符。”
“The location where the debris was found is not inconsistent with the current search location,” he said.
如果这片碎片来自失踪飞机，那么这可能会为MH370的命运带来关键线索，2014年3月8日，从吉隆坡飞往北京的MH370航班失踪，机上共有239人。雷达跟踪数据显示，这架飞机在飞行过程中突然改变路线，后来的分析显示，飞机飞向印度洋上空。
If the part is from the missing flight, it could provide critical clues to the fate of the aircraft, which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Radar tracking showed that the aircraft changed course suddenly part way through the flight and later analysis suggested the aircraft had headed out over the Indian Ocean.
根据早先的分析，澳大利亚空军和海军一直在远离该国西海岸的海上搜寻失踪飞机的迹象，但没有取得任何进展。位于马达加斯加东部的法属留尼汪岛距离澳大利亚军队搜索区域有1000多英里之遥，但洋流有可能将飞机碎片带到这个小岛。
Based on the earlier analysis, the Australian Air Force and Navy have been searching for a remote area off Australia’s west coast for signs of the aircraft, with no success. While Réunion, a French territory east of Madagascar, is more than 1,000 miles from the area of the Australian search, it is possible the part was carried by ocean currents to the small island.