2022年3月

埃菲尔铁塔，法国巴黎 Eiffel Tower in Paris, France (© Susanne Kremer/eStock Photo)

与铁娘子一起庆祝新的一年 Celebrate another year with The Iron Lady

Eiffel Tower, France

Locally, it's called 'La dame de fer,' which translates to English as 'The Iron Lady.' To the rest of the world, it's the Eiffel Tower, a landmark nearly synonymous with all things Parisian. It's one of the most recognizable structures in the world and the most visited monument with an entrance fee. The Eiffel Tower took 500 workers two years, two months and five days to complete. It stands at 1,063 feet tall, an amazing achievement for a time when structures of this size were unheard of. For that, we're joining the world in celebrating the Tower's 133rd birthday.

Depending on the temperature, the Eiffel Tower can actually shrink by about seven inches. On a particularly windy day, if you look closely, maybe you'll notice of the natural swaying movement near the top. That wind also gets collected by turbines on the second level which convert it into electricity for the tower's shops and restaurants. There's also a rainwater collection system that's used for the toilet tanks. The Eiffel Tower gets a fresh paint job roughly every seven years. Originally it was dark red, then yellow, but has been 'Eiffel Tower Brown' for the past 54 years. It takes around 16,000 gallons of paint to get the job done.

法国埃菲尔铁塔

在当地，它被称为“La dame de fer”，英文翻译为“铁娘子”对世界其他地方来说，这就是埃菲尔铁塔，一个几乎与巴黎所有事物同义的地标。它是世界上最知名的建筑之一，也是参观人数最多的纪念碑，只需交纳入场费。埃菲尔铁塔花了500名工人两年零两个月零五天建成。它有1063英尺高，在这种规模的建筑闻所未闻的时候，这是一个惊人的成就。为此，我们将与全世界一起庆祝塔楼的133岁生日。

根据温度的不同，埃菲尔铁塔实际上可以收缩约7英寸。在风特别大的日子，如果你仔细观察，也许你会注意到顶部附近的自然摆动。第二层的涡轮机也会收集这些风，并将其转化为电能，供大楼的商店和餐厅使用。还有一个用于马桶水箱的雨水收集系统。埃菲尔铁塔大约每七年重新粉刷一次。最初是深红色，然后是黄色，但在过去54年里一直是“埃菲尔铁塔棕色”。完成这项工作需要大约16000加仑的油漆。

风景秀丽的加勒比海岸，哥伦比亚 Caribbean coast near Buritaca, Colombia (© Nicholas Hills/Getty Images)

哥伦比亚的加勒比海岸线 The Caribbean coastline of Colombia

Northern coast of Colombia

Central America becomes South America at the shores of Colombia, the northernmost country in South America. Colombia is the only country in South America that has coastline on both the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Seen here is a stretch of beach near Buritaca, on the Caribbean side of Colombia. This region of Colombia boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. It is also among the country's most ecologically diverse with jungle, desert, and the highest coastal mountain range in the world, the Sierra Nevada.

Colombia's colonial history began in this region when Spanish conquistadors landed in 1499. Within 50 years, the Spanish had established the kingdom of Granada beginning a rule that would last nearly 300 years.

哥伦比亚北部海岸

中美洲在哥伦比亚海岸变成了南美洲，哥伦比亚是南美洲最北的国家。哥伦比亚是南美洲唯一一个东临加勒比海、西临太平洋的国家。这里可以看到哥伦比亚加勒比海一侧布里塔卡附近的一片海滩。哥伦比亚的这个地区拥有全国最美丽的海滩。它也是该国生态多样性最丰富的地区之一，有丛林、沙漠和世界上最高的沿海山脉内华达山脉。

哥伦比亚的殖民历史始于1499年西班牙征服者登陆该地区。在50年内，西班牙人建立了格拉纳达王国，开始了一个持续近300年的统治。

河内藤园里梦幻的紫藤花，日本北九州市 Wisteria blooms at Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu, Japan (© Steve Tan C K Photography/Getty Images)

日本的紫色天堂 Japan's purple paradise

Kawachi Fuji Garden

Today we're taking a trip to a Japanese purple paradise. This photo captures just one of over 22 different varieties of wisteria planted at the Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu, Japan. Hundreds of wisteria plants were meticulously cultivated to form tunnels that bloom, with shades of blue, white, purple, and pink. The walkable tunnels open into large domes of wisteria vines for visitors to sit under and bask in the fragrant flowers. An overlook gives visitors an impressive view of not only the flowers but also the surrounding valley and its bamboo groves.

The private garden wasn't necessarily intended to be a tourist destination. Founder Masao Higuchi just wanted to leave something behind as proof that he lived in this world. Work began on the garden in 1968 and in 1977 the garden was open to the public. If you want to see the garden, plan accordingly. It's only open for two brief periods a year: the wisteria season between late April and early May and the equally impressive maple season. In Autumn more than 700 maple trees change color, bringing another blast of color from mid-November to early December.

川崎富士花园

今天我们要去日本紫色天堂旅行。这张照片只拍到了日本北九州川崎富士花园种植的22多种紫藤中的一种。数百株紫藤植物经过精心培育，形成了开花的通道，有蓝色、白色、紫色和粉色。可步行的隧道通向紫藤藤的大圆顶，供游客坐在下面沐浴芳香的花朵。俯瞰不仅可以看到鲜花，还可以看到周围的山谷和竹林。

私人花园不一定是旅游目的地。创始人Masao Higuchi只是想留下一些东西作为他生活在这个世界上的证据。这座花园于1968年动工，1977年向公众开放。如果你想看看花园，就相应地规划一下。它一年只开放两个短暂的时段：4月底至5月初的紫藤季节和同样令人印象深刻的枫树季节。秋天，700多棵枫树变色，从11月中旬到12月初，又一次带来了色彩的爆发。

陶尔米纳古剧院，意大利西西里岛 Ancient theatre of Taormina in Sicily, Italy (© Antonino Bartuccio/eStock Photo)

戏剧演出 The play's the thing

Theatre of Taormina in Sicily

What better place to celebrate World Theatre Day than the Ancient theatre of Taormina, an amphitheater built in the Hellenistic style of the Greeks in the third century BCE. The venue was later expanded by the Romans and is one of the signature sights in the Sicilian town of Taormina. And if you look in the upper-right corner of the photo, that's Mount Etna giving a performance of its own, spewing a little ash and smoke.

The theater is still in use, hosting operas, theatrical productions, and concerts. The beauty of this town, built into a steep hill overlooking the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna, is said to have inspired writers and thinkers both ancient and modern, from Plato to D.H. Lawrence and Truman Capote.

Since 1962 World Theatre Day has been celebrated every March 27th by theatre professionals, organizations, universities and theatre lovers across the continents. Each year a speaker is selected to deliver a message about the importance of theatre and its value to humanity.

西西里 岛陶尔米纳剧院

还有什么比陶尔米纳古剧场更好的地方来庆祝世界戏剧日呢？陶尔米纳古剧场是一座建于公元前三世纪的希腊式圆形剧场。后来，罗马人扩建了场地，这是西西里岛陶尔米纳镇的标志性景点之一。如果你看这张照片的右上角，那就是埃特纳山自己的表演，喷出一点灰烬和烟雾。

该剧院仍在使用，举办歌剧、戏剧演出和音乐会。这个小镇建在一座陡峭的小山上，俯瞰爱奥尼亚海和埃特纳山，据说它的美丽给古代和现代的作家和思想家带来了灵感，从柏拉图到D.H.劳伦斯和杜鲁门·卡波特。

自1962年以来，各大洲的戏剧专业人士、组织、大学和戏剧爱好者每年3月27日都庆祝世界戏剧日。每年都会选出一位演讲者来传达戏剧的重要性及其对人类的价值。

劳特布龙嫩山谷，瑞士阿尔卑斯山 Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Swiss Alps (© Leonid Andronov/Getty Images)

托尔金笔下瑞文戴尔的原型 Tolkien's Rivendell inspiration

Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Swiss Alps

For Tolkien Reading Day, we're visiting the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Swiss Alps, which is believed to have inspired the Elven sanctuary of Rivendell in J.R.R. Tolkien's novels 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit.' Like Tolkien's mythical Elf settlement, Lauterbrunnen Valley has a bit of storybook appeal, with an unusually narrow valley floor hemmed in by steep Alpine cliffs and dotted with numerous waterfalls. The valley remains a popular tourist destination.

The Tolkien Society organized the first Tolkien Reading Day in 2003 to celebrate and promote his works. They selected March 25 as it is the day that the Dark Lord Sauron was defeated, and the Black Tower destroyed in 'The Lord of the Rings.' Tolkien's writing continues to provide fodder various entertainment forms, with Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' debuting in 2022.

瑞士阿尔卑斯 山的洛特布鲁宁山谷

在托尔金阅读日，我们将参观瑞士阿尔卑斯山的洛特布伦南山谷，据信这是J.R.R.托尔金小说《指环王》和《霍比特人》中的精灵庇护所里文德尔的灵感来源和托尔金的神话中的精灵聚居地一样，洛特布伦嫩山谷也有点故事书的吸引力，其异常狭窄的谷底被陡峭的阿尔卑斯悬崖包围，并点缀着无数瀑布。这个山谷仍然是一个受欢迎的旅游目的地。

托尔金协会在2003年组织了第一个托尔金阅读日来庆祝和宣传他的作品。他们选择了3月25日，因为这一天黑暗魔王索伦被击败，黑塔在《指环王》中被摧毁托尔金的作品继续为各种娱乐形式提供素材，亚马逊的《指环王：权力之环》于2022年首播

雷暴下的大峡谷国家公园，亚利桑那州 Grand Canyon National Park during a thunderstorm, Arizona (© spkeelin/Getty Images)

天气预报的重要性 The importance of weather prediction

World Meteorological Day

Did you check the weather forecast today? Does it look like rain? Will it turn colder? What's the outlook for the weekend? These may be some of the most frequently asked questions anywhere. Given our reliance on weather prediction, let's tip the rain hat to the world's weather experts on World Meteorological Day, celebrated each March 23 by the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The 2022 theme for World Meteorological Day is 'Early Warning and Early Action. Hydrometeorological and Climate Information for Disaster Risk Reduction.' That's a mouthful, but it essentially boils down to the importance of predicting high-precipitation weather events and mitigating or preventing the damage caused by them.

Worldwide, floods cause more than $40 billion in damage each year. They're the most common type of natural disaster. In the United States flash floods claim more lives than tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning. But with accurate predictions and appropriate warning systems, people living in an area likely to flood can know the severity of upcoming threats and plan accordingly. Thanks to the study of hydrometeorology, forecasts can predict the impact days and even weeks in advance. Long-term projections can even give an idea of what's coming several months from now. And we thought that weather app was just to tell us whether or not we'll need an umbrella.

世界气象日

你看过今天的天气预报了吗？看起来要下雨吗？天气会变冷吗？周末的前景如何？这些可能是任何地方最常被问到的问题之一。鉴于我们对天气预报的依赖，让我们在每年3月23日由联合国世界气象组织（WMO）庆祝的世界气象日向世界气象专家致敬。

2022年世界气象日的主题是“预警和早期行动”。减少灾害风险的水文气象和气候信息。”这是一口空话，但本质上可以归结为预测高降水天气事件以及减轻或防止它们造成的损害的重要性。

在世界范围内，洪水每年造成超过400亿美元的损失。它们是最常见的自然灾害类型。在美国，山洪暴发夺走的生命比龙卷风、飓风或闪电还多。但是，有了准确的预测和适当的预警系统，生活在可能发生洪水的地区的人们可以知道即将到来的威胁的严重性，并据此制定计划。由于对水文气象学的研究，预报可以提前几天甚至几周预测影响。长期预测甚至可以给出几个月后的情况。我们以为天气应用程序只是告诉我们是否需要雨伞。

千泉州立公园的瀑布，美国爱达荷州 Waterfall in Thousand Springs State Park, Hagerman Valley, Idaho (© knowlesgallery/Getty Images)

什么是地球上最珍贵的资源？ Earth's most precious resource?

World Water Day

You can almost hear the crash and feel the spray of this pristine cluster of waterfalls in southern Idaho. Could there be a better place to celebrate World Water Day? Since 1993, the UN has dedicated March 22 to advocate for sustainable management of freshwater resources and bring attention to topics relevant to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. Each year has emphasized a different aspect of this critical resource, with themes like 'Valuing Water,' 'Water and Climate Change,' 'Water and Jobs,' and 'Why Waste Water?' This year's theme is 'Groundwater—Making the Invisible Visible.'

Groundwater surfaces in spectacular fashion here at Thousand Springs State Park, located in a beautiful corner of Idaho—the aptly named Magic Valley. The springs here are fed by the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, one of the largest aquifers in the United States, about the size of Lake Erie. The groundwater in the aquifer travels from its source just 1 to 10 feet per day and can take 150 to 250 years to flow into Thousand Springs and the Snake River.

世界水日

你几乎可以听到撞击声，感受到爱达荷州南部这片原始瀑布群的喷射声。有更好的地方庆祝世界水日吗？自1993年以来，联合国一直致力于3月22日倡导淡水资源的可持续管理，并提请人们注意与清洁水、卫生和个人卫生相关的话题。每年都会强调这一关键资源的不同方面，主题包括“重视水”、“水与气候变化”、“水与就业”以及“为什么要浪费水？”今年的主题是“地下水让看不见的东西看得见”

千泉州立公园位于爱达荷州一个美丽的角落，名字恰如其分的魔法谷，这里的地下水以壮观的方式浮出水面。这里的泉水来自东部蛇平原含水层，这是美国最大的含水层之一，大约有伊利湖那么大。含水层中的地下水每天从源头流出仅1至10英尺，需要150至250年才能流入千泉和蛇河。

吟游诗人的安息之地 Resting place of the Bard

World Poetry Day

'How like a winter hath my absence been / From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! / What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! / What old December's bareness everywhere!'

So begins William Shakespeare's chilly Sonnet 97. Today we celebrate World Poetry Day with a wintry look at the final resting spot of Shakespeare: Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Though he was better known for his plays, the Bard of Avon began his literary life as a poet, penning 154 sonnets in total. The first 126 are addressed to a 'fair youth,' the final 28 to a mistress known as the 'Dark Lady.'

UNESCO created World Poetry Day with the aim of 'supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.' The day was long celebrated on October 15 to honor Roman poet laureate Virgil on his birthday, and many countries continue to mark the occasion on that day. There's never a bad day to indulge in the poetry of Dickinson, Neruda, Angelou, or whoever's writing stirs your heart.

世界诗歌日

“我离开你多像一个冬天啊，转瞬即逝的一年的快乐！”我感觉到了什么自由，看到了什么黑暗的日子！/多么古老的十二月啊

威廉·莎士比亚的《寒酸的十四行诗97》就是这样开始的。今天，我们用冬日的眼光来庆祝世界诗歌日，看看莎士比亚的最后安息之地：雅芳河畔斯特拉福德的圣三一教堂。虽然他以戏剧闻名，但这位雅芳诗人以诗人的身份开始了他的文学生涯，共创作了154首十四行诗。前126张是写给“美丽的年轻人”的，最后28张是写给被称为“黑娘子”的情妇的

联合国教科文组织设立了世界诗歌日，目的是“通过诗歌表达支持语言多样性，增加濒危语言被听到的机会”这一天一直是在10月15日庆祝罗马桂冠诗人维吉尔的生日，许多国家在这一天继续纪念这一天。沉迷于狄金森、聂鲁达、安杰洛的诗歌，或是任何一位让你心潮澎湃的人的诗歌，从来都不是一个糟糕的日子。

城市网格传递了这一天象 The city grid delivers this celestial phenomenon

Chicagohenge

During the fall and spring equinox, the celestial phenomenon known as Chicagohenge occurs when the sun rises or sets directly between the buildings lining Chicago's west- and east-facing streets. The city's almost perfectly aligned grid is responsible for the event.

During the equinox, the northern and southern hemispheres receive an equal amount of sunlight, and the sun rises and sets directly to the east and west. As it happens, Chicago's grid is aligned with the cardinal directions on a compass, a handy fact to know anytime you're walking in the city.

It might be easy to lose touch with the natural cycles of the planet when you live in a concrete jungle, but at least twice a year, Chicagohenge reminds city dwellers exactly where this third rock from the sun is spinning.

芝加哥城

在秋分和春分期间，当太阳在芝加哥西面和东面街道两旁的建筑之间直接升起或落下时，就会出现被称为芝加哥柱的天象。这座城市几乎完全对齐的网格是这次活动的主因。

在春分期间，南北半球接收等量的阳光，太阳从东到西直接升起和落下。碰巧的是，芝加哥的网格与指南针上的基本方向对齐，这是一个方便的事实，你在城市中行走的任何时候都可以知道。

当你生活在混凝土丛林中时，可能很容易与地球的自然循环失去联系，但芝加哥恒河每年至少两次提醒城市居民，太阳的第三块岩石正在旋转的确切位置。

五彩缤纷的节日 A holiday as colorful as the season

Holi festival

The ancient Hindu festival of Holi will find revelers caked in these colorful powders by the day's end. Also referred to as the Festival of Spring, the Festival of Love, and the Festival of Colors, Holi symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and celebrates the beginning of spring, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love in all forms. It's a time for affirming friendships, burying old grievances, and letting romance bloom.

But the real fun of Holi is the audience-participation portion, for which the holiday is most famous. Celebrants sprinkle and smear one another with brightly colored powders, typically made by coloring rice flour or corn starch with food dye. Water is tossed into the mix by way of water guns and water balloons and the resulting scene is of other-worldly, kaleidoscopic revelry.

Although chiefly celebrated in India, Holi has spread around the world, along with the Indian diaspora. In a festival marked by singing, dancing, eating, frolicking, and non-stop merriment, it's easy to see why word spread quickly.

胡里节

古印度的胡里节将在这一天结束时发现狂欢者在这些五颜六色的粉末中结块。胡里节也被称为春节、爱情节和色彩节，象征着善恶的胜利，庆祝春天的开始、冬天的结束和各种形式的爱情的绽放。这是一个肯定友谊、埋葬旧怨、让浪漫绽放的时刻。

但胡里节真正的乐趣在于观众参与部分，因为这个节日最有名。庆祝者互相洒上颜色鲜艳的粉末，通常是用食用染料给米粉或玉米淀粉着色。水通过水枪和水气球被扔进混合物中，由此产生的场景是另一种世俗的、万花筒式的狂欢。

尽管胡里节主要在印度庆祝，但它已经与印度侨民一起传播到世界各地。在一个以唱歌、跳舞、吃饭、嬉戏和不间断的欢乐为标志的节日里，很容易理解为什么这个词传播得很快。

星空迷