2022年3月

国家游泳中心, 中国北京 The National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China (© Han Haidan/China News Service via Getty Images)

Beijing's winter bubble 北京的冬季泡沫

2022 Winter Paralympics

The 2022 Winter Paralympics begins today in Beijing, as the Chinese capital becomes the first city to host both the summer and winter editions of the Paralympic Games. Over the next 10 days, about 600 athletes will compete in 78 different events across six sports—alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, snowboarding, para ice hockey, and wheelchair curling. All the events will take place in a strict Covid 'bubble' system to ensure a safe and successful Games.

Speaking of bubbles, today we're looking at the National Aquatics Center, a box-shaped building that will host the wheelchair curling events. The design of the bubble-wrapped façade—made from a thin, transparent material called ETFE—is based on the Weaire–Phelan geometric structure, which is derived from the natural pattern of bubbles in soap lather. The venue was originally constructed to host the swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. But its pool has been turned into an ice rink for the winter events, making it the first sports arena in the world that can switch between water and ice.

2022年冬季残奥会

2022年冬季残奥会今天在北京开幕，中国首都成为第一个举办夏季和冬季残奥会的城市。在接下来的10天里，大约600名运动员将参加78个不同项目的比赛，包括高山滑雪、越野滑雪、冬季两项、单板滑雪、para冰球和轮椅冰壶。所有活动都将在严格的新冠病毒“泡沫”系统中进行，以确保安全和成功的奥运会。

说到泡泡，今天我们来看看国家游泳中心，这是一座长方形的建筑，将举办轮椅冰壶比赛。泡沫包裹立面的设计是基于Weaire–Phelan几何结构，由一种称为ETFE的薄透明材料制成，该几何结构源自肥皂泡中气泡的自然图案。该场馆最初用于举办2008年夏季奥运会和残奥会的游泳、跳水和花样游泳比赛。但它的游泳池已经变成了冬季赛事的溜冰场，成为世界上第一个可以在水和冰之间切换的运动场。

佩格尼茨河上的葡萄酒窖，德国纽伦堡 (© Reinhard Schmid/Huber/eStock Photo)

佩格尼茨河上的半木结构建筑

雷尼尔山上空的银河星系，美国华盛顿州 Moonlight and the Milky Way over Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (© Brad Goldpaint/Cavan)

123岁生日快乐！ Happy 123rd birthday

Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier is the crown jewel of its namesake national park, designated March 2, 1899, by President William McKinley. It was just the fifth national park in the United States. Beyond the mountain, the 369-square-mile park also includes valleys, waterfalls, old-growth forests, and pristine alpine meadows famous for summer wildflowers.

Rainier is considered the most glaciated peak in the contiguous US. Native Americans named it Tahoma, which translates to mother of waters. Indeed, the mountain spawns five major rivers, and to this day, its snowmelt provides much of the water for the region.

Although beautiful, Rainier is also one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Scientists consider an eruption in the near future to be highly probable. In addition to spewing ash and triggering landslides, a major eruption would likely trigger massive mudflows, called lahars, that would send a tsunami of mud, boulders, and debris toward the cities of Tacoma and Seattle, only 100 miles away. For now, we'll just admire the majesty of this sleeping giant and be thankful that the national park protects so much pristine northwest wilderness.

雷尼尔山国家公园

雷尼尔山是威廉·麦金利总统于1899年3月2日指定的同名国家公园的皇冠明珠。它只是美国的第五个国家公园。在山的另一边，369平方英里的公园还包括山谷、瀑布、古老的森林和以夏季野花闻名的原始高山草甸。

雷尼尔峰被认为是美国周边冰川最为严重的山峰。美洲原住民将其命名为Tahoma，意为“水之母”。事实上，这座山孕育了五条主要河流，直到今天，它的融雪为该地区提供了大量的水。

雷尼尔火山虽然美丽，但也是世界上最危险的火山之一。科学家认为在不久的将来爆发是极有可能的。除了喷发火山灰和引发山体滑坡外，一次大的火山喷发可能会引发大规模的泥流，称为lahars，这将向仅100英里外的塔科马和西雅图两座城市带来一场由泥浆、巨石和碎片组成的海啸。现在，我们只想欣赏这位沉睡巨人的威严，感谢国家公园保护了如此多原始的西北荒野。

楚格峰山顶的缆车站，德国格赖瑙市 Cable car station at the summit of Zugspitze mountain in Grainau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (© Robert Jank/Alamy)

位于德国最高的山上 On the highest mountain in Germany

Cable car station of Zugspitze

A trip to the Zugspitze is currently still an icy pleasure， but those who decide to take the Zugspitze cable car to Germany's highest peak these days will be rewarded with a stunning Alpine panorama at 2,962 meters in clear weather. The cable car takes about 10 minutes from the valley station on the eastern bank of Eibsee to the mountain station on the Zugspitz summit.

The Zugspitze cable car is one of the most modern cable cars in the world. It opened on December 21, 2017 and replaced the Eibsee cable car, which operated on almost the same route until April of the same year. The new project was mainly decided to increase the transport capacity. While the old cable car took 300 people per hour to the summit, the new cable car takes 580 people.

祖格斯皮茨缆车站

到祖格斯皮茨山旅行目前仍然是一种冰上的乐趣，但那些决定在这些天乘坐祖格斯皮茨缆车前往德国最高峰的人，将在晴朗的天气下在2962米处欣赏到令人惊叹的阿尔卑斯山全景。缆车从Eibsee东岸的山谷站到祖格斯皮茨山顶的山站大约需要10分钟。

Zugspitze缆车是世界上最现代化的缆车之一。它于2017年12月21日开通，取代了Eibsee缆车，该缆车在几乎相同的路线上运行，直到同年4月。新项目主要是为了增加运输能力。旧的缆车每小时能载300人到达山顶，而新的缆车能载580人。