2021年9月

加利福尼亚州的一艘集装箱船，美国 Container ship in San Pedro, California (© Cameron Venti/Getty Images)

Global commerce in motion

The COVID-19 pandemic has been rough sailing for everyone, and especially so for seafarers on shipping vessels. As if moving more than 80% of the world's goods wasn't a big mission already, the pandemic brought about urgent needs in every corner of the globe, while also forcing travel restrictions that made shipping more complicated. Hundreds of thousands of sailors and other shipping personnel have found themselves stuck on ships much longer than planned as virus precautions impede crew changes.

So this year's World Maritime Day—always observed on the last Thursday in September—is a good day to salute the workers who help keep global commerce in motion. World Maritime Day was established by the UN to improve shipping efficiency through international standards and cooperation—on safe crew-change procedures during a pandemic, for example. Maritime Day also aims to put seafarers and their sacrifices in the spotlight. Thanks, sailors!

全球商业活动

新冠病毒-19大流行对每个人来说都是一次艰难的航行，尤其是对船舶上的海员来说。似乎运输世界上80%以上的货物还不是一项重大任务，这场大流行在全球每个角落都带来了迫切的需求，同时也迫使旅行限制，使运输更加复杂。由于病毒预防措施阻碍了船员的更换，数十万水手和其他船务人员发现自己被困在船上的时间比计划的要长得多。

因此，今年的世界海事日总是在9月的最后一个星期四举行，这是一个向帮助保持全球商业运转的工人致敬的好日子。例如，世界海事日是由联合国设立的，目的是通过国际标准和在大流行期间安全船员更换程序方面的合作来提高航运效率。海事日还旨在让海员及其牺牲成为人们关注的焦点。谢谢，水手们！

日本富士山 Mount Fuji in Japan (© The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images)

The snows of Fuji

This shot of Mount Fuji's symmetrical cone was taken in September 2020, showcasing the first snow of the season. The dusting proved short-lived, melting off in just a couple of days. And snow wouldn't come again until the end of December—raising new concerns about decades of rising temperatures on Fuji's slopes.

As we tiptoe toward another winter, we're cheering on Mount Fuji for a snowier season. It just isn't the same without that iconic white top!

富士的雪

这张富士山对称圆锥体的照片拍摄于2020年9月，展示了该季节的第一场雪。灰尘般的雪是短暂的，在几天内就融化了。直到12月底才会下雪，这引起了人们对富士山坡数十年来气温不断上升的新担忧。

当我们蹑手蹑脚地走向另一个冬天时，我们正在富士山上为一个雪季欢呼。没有标志性的白色上衣就不一样了！

布罗兹湿地国家公园，英国诺福克郡 (© Steven Docwra/Getty Images)

注入海中的马更些河，加拿大 The Mackenzie River in Canada emptying into the Beaufort Sea (© Norman Kuring, GSFC/NASA/USGS Landsat)

World Rivers Day

Today we're recognizing World Rivers Day, a celebration of our planet's waterways. The event branched off in 2005 from its source, BC Rivers Day, which has been observed by British Columbians in Canada since 1980. The annual event is now celebrated on the fourth Sunday of September by millions of people in more than 100 countries. It is a day that raises public awareness about rivers around the world and encourages their conservation.

Our photo, captured by NASA's Earth-imaging Landsat 8 satellite, shows part of the Mackenzie River delta and the river's turbid waters as they flow from the far north of Canada and Alaska into the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean. The Mackenzie River—the longest river in Canada and second-largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi–plays a vital role in modulating the Arctic climate as warmer fresh water mixes with colder seawater.

世界河流日

今天，我们要纪念世界河流日，这是一个庆祝地球水路的节日。这一活动于2005年从其源头——不列颠哥伦比亚河日开始，自1980年以来，加拿大的不列颠哥伦比亚人就一直在观察这一活动。现在，100多个国家的数百万人在9月的第四个星期日庆祝这项一年一度的活动。这一天提高了公众对世界各地河流的认识，并鼓励保护河流。

我们的照片由美国宇航局地球成像陆地卫星8号（Landsat 8）卫星拍摄，显示了麦肯齐河三角洲的一部分和河流的浑浊水域，它们从加拿大和阿拉斯加的最北部流入北冰洋的波弗特海。麦肯齐河是加拿大最长的河流，也是仅次于密西西比河的北美第二大流域，在调节北极气候方面起着至关重要的作用，因为温暖的淡水与寒冷的海水混合。

豪猪山荒野国家公园中的小路，美国密歇根州 Escarpment Trail in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Michigan (© Pat & Chuck Blackley/Alamy)

Autumn comes to the Porcupines

The Escarpment Trail leads up to some of the park's best viewpoints for Lake of the Clouds and the Upper Carp River Valley. And in autumn, when this photo was taken, hikers are treated to a kaleidoscope of foliage as the hardwood forest canopy alights with fall color.

Autumn—specifically the fourth Saturday in September—is also time for National Public Lands Day. Established in 1994, the observance was created by the National Environmental Education Foundation. The main goal of National Public Lands Day is to promote volunteering to help maintain our amazing protected public lands across the nation. It's also a free day for most national and state parks—including Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.

豪猪山到了秋天

悬崖小径通向公园内云湖和鲤鱼河上游河谷的最佳景观。在秋天，当这张照片被拍摄时，徒步旅行者们会看到万花筒般的树叶，因为阔叶林的树冠被秋天的颜色照亮了。

秋天，特别是九月的第四个星期六，也是全国公共土地日的时间。成立于1994，庆祝活动是由国家环境教育基金会创建的。国家公共土地日的主要目标是促进志愿活动，帮助维护全国范围内令人惊叹的受保护公共土地。对于包括豪猪山荒野州立公园在内的大多数国家公园和州立公园来说，这也是一个免费的一天。

阿玛斯广场上的库斯科大教堂，库斯科，秘鲁 (© sharptoyou/Shutterstock)

蔚蓝色的海王星 Neptune (© NASA/JPL)

Last stop before leaving the solar system

Official confirmation of Neptune's presence in our solar system came on September 23, 1846. Credit for this discovery inspired a dust-up in the international astronomy community, as scientists from both Britain and France claimed they had been the first to see the 8th and most-distant planet in our solar system. Eventually peace was brokered, and credit is now shared between the two factions. But those 19th-century astronomers were using solar system coordinates first recorded by Galileo in 1612. The Italian polymath correctly mapped Neptune's position more than 200 years earlier using a less powerful telescope. Galileo mistook Neptune for a star—but his coordinates prompted many stargazers who came along after him to look in the correct direction and identify Neptune.

离开太阳系前的最后一站

1846年9月23日，官方证实海王星存在于我们的太阳系。这一发现的功劳在国际天文学界引起了轩然大波，英国和法国的科学家都声称他们是第一个看到太阳系第八颗也是最遥远的行星的人。最终促成了和平，现在这两个派系共享了荣誉。但是那些19世纪的天文学家使用的是伽利略在1612年首次记录的太阳系坐标。这位意大利博学者在200多年前用一台功能较弱的望远镜准确地绘制了海王星的位置图。伽利略误认为海王星是一颗恒星，但他的座标促使许多跟随他的观星者朝着正确的方向寻找海王星。

在香港维多利亚公园庆祝中秋节的“明月”彩灯 'Rising Moon' lantern to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong's Victoria Park (© Bobby Yip/Reuters)

An old celebration for a new season

This photo takes us to Hong Kong, where a group of engineers constructed a giant lantern sculpture called 'Rising Moon.' It's made of more than 7,000 recycled plastic water bottles with LED lights inside, to honor one of China's most important holidays, the Mid-Autumn Festival. While it's only been an 'official' public holiday in China since 2008, mention of the Mid-Autumn Festival first appeared in written historical texts as far back as 3,000 years ago. Families celebrate the holiday by lighting paper lanterns sharing a meal, traditionally at a round table. This reunion is said to bring good luck and happiness.

One of the tastier traditions of this holiday is the eating of mooncakes, which are a type of stuffed pastry served during the festival when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and brightest. These famous cakes can be sweet, stuffed with a sweet bean paste, or savory and stuffed with ham, sausage, or nuts and dried fruit. Mooncakes and are often given as gifts to friends, coworkers and family members, and the holiday is even sometimes called the Mooncake Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a Chinese holiday, but is celebrated across Asia, with each nation observing this family-friendly holiday in their own unique ways.

为新季节举行的旧式庆祝活动

这张照片把我们带到了香港，在那里，一群工程师建造了一个巨大的灯笼雕塑，叫做“Rising Moon”，它由7000多个回收塑料水瓶制成，里面有LED灯，以纪念中国最重要的节日之一中秋节。虽然从2008年起，中秋节在中国只是一个“官方”公共假日，但早在3000年前，历史文献中就首次提到了中秋节。家庭通过点燃纸灯笼共享一顿饭来庆祝节日，传统上是在圆桌上。据说这次团聚会带来好运和幸福。

这个节日的一个更美味的传统是吃月饼，月饼是一种填充糕点，在节日期间，据说月亮是最丰满和最明亮的。这些著名的蛋糕可以是甜的，用甜豆沙填充，也可以是咸的，用火腿、香肠、坚果和干果填充。月饼和月饼通常作为礼物送给朋友、同事和家人，这个节日有时甚至被称为月饼节。中秋节不仅是中国的节日，亚洲各地都在庆祝，每个国家都以自己独特的方式庆祝这个家庭友好的节日。

Arrr! Can you talk like a pirate?

Ahoy matey! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day so we present to you a fortress that was really used to defend against pirates. Arr! This is Le Castella, a magnificent fortress on the Calabrian coast of Italy. For centuries it served as a defense against warring nations and rampaging pirates from the Ottoman Empire. Legend holds (and what good pirate story doesn't start that way?) that in 1536, an Algerian pirate nicknamed Redbeard stopped by here on one of his many European raiding sprees and wreaked havoc on this fortress. Gazing upon these rock walls, it’s easy to imagine area soldiers at battle with Redbeard and his pirate ships. Can you see the canons firing? Smell the plumes of smoke? Hear the clink-clink of sword on sword?

As for Talk Like a Pirate Day, the idea for such a day was dreamed up in 1995 by a couple of Oregon guys and became an unofficial holiday after writer and humorist Dave Barry helped make it go viral. Now every year on September 19, people all over the world raise their cups of grog and shout, ' Aye, aye!' Well, in our imagination, at least.

啊！你能像海盗一样说话吗？

喂，伙计！今天是国际海盗日，所以我们向你们展示一座真正用来抵御海盗的堡垒。啊！这是勒卡斯特拉，意大利卡拉布里亚海岸上一座宏伟的堡垒。几个世纪以来，它一直是对抗交战国家和奥斯曼帝国猖獗的海盗的屏障。传说（还有什么好的海盗故事不是这样开始的？）在1536年，一个绰号为“红胡子”的阿尔及利亚海盗在欧洲的一次疯狂袭击中路过这里，对这座堡垒造成了严重破坏。看着这些岩石墙，很容易想象区域士兵与红胡子及其海盗船作战的情景。你能看到大炮开火吗？闻到烟味了吗？听到剑对剑的叮当声吗？

至于像海盗一样的谈话日，这一天的想法是1995年由俄勒冈州的两个家伙构想出来的，在作家兼幽默作家戴夫·巴里的帮助下，这一天成为了一个非官方的节日。现在，每年的9月19日，全世界的人们都会举起他们的酒杯，高呼“耶，耶！”至少在我们的想象中。

星空迷