分类必应美图下的文章

东京塔，日本东京都港区 Tokyo Tower in Minato City, Tokyo, Japan (© Yukinori Hasumi/Getty Images)

Let the games (finally) begin!

Shining like an incandescent Olympic torch, the Tokyo Tower is our cue to finally say, 'Let the games begin!' Along with so much else, the 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed last year (as you probably heard). But with Covid-19 vaccinations well underway and capacity restrictions in place, Tokyo is hosting the Summer Olympics opening ceremony today, almost exactly one year after the games were originally due to start.

The events will be held at 42 venues in and around the city, with most held in Tokyo itself. Organizers expect some 11,000 athletes from about 200 countries to compete. Four sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo Games: karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding. Also, baseball and softball, which were last held in 2008, are being reintroduced. Closing ceremonies are scheduled for August 8. Game on!

让竞技（终于）开始吧！

东京塔就像一个炽热的奥运火炬一样闪耀着光芒，它是我们最后一次说‘让奥运开始吧！’与其他许多事情一样，2020年夏季奥运会去年也被推迟了（你可能听说过）。但随着Covid-19疫苗接种工作的顺利进行和容量限制的到位，东京今天将举办夏季奥运会开幕式，几乎正好是奥运会原定开幕一年之后。

这些活动将在东京市内及周边的42个场馆举行，其中大部分在东京举行。组织者预计将有来自大约200个国家的11000名运动员参赛。四个项目将在东京奥运会上首次亮相：空手道、攀岩、冲浪和滑板。此外，棒球和垒球，上次是在2008年举行，正在重新引进。闭幕式定于8月8日举行。比赛开始！

伊豆半岛海岸附近的 Minokake-Iwa 奇岩群，日本 The Minokake-Iwa rocks off the coast of the Izu Peninsula, Japan (© Krzysztof Baranowski/Getty Images)

Singing praises of the oceans

In Japan, mid-July brings an excuse to head to the beach, as if we really needed one. That's because this time of year marks Marine Day (aka Ocean Day), an observance recognizing the close bond the island nation shares with the seas and ocean that surround it. Because Marine Day roughly coincides with the end of the rainy season, it has, over the years, become a sort of unofficial kick off to the hot summer season. One place sure to attract visitors is the picturesque Minokake-Iwa rock formation seen here, lying off the coast of Honshū's mountainous 31-mile-long Izu Peninsula.

Ordinarily Marine Day is observed on the third Monday in July, but this year the holiday was moved to immediately precede the start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. So, this is the day to hit the beach in Japan, just before the Olympics' opening ceremonies begin tomorrow.

歌颂海洋

在日本，七月中旬给我们带来了一个去海滩的借口，好像我们真的需要一个。这是因为每年的这个时候都是海洋日（又名海洋日），这是一个认可岛国与周围海洋紧密联系的节日。由于海洋日大致与雨季的结束相吻合，多年来，它已成为炎热夏季的一种非正式开端。一个肯定会吸引游客的地方是这里风景如画的Minokake Iwa岩层，位于本什岛31英里长的伊豆半岛的海岸线附近。

通常海洋日是在七月的第三个星期一，但是今年这个节日被转移到了东京夏季奥运会开始之前。所以，今天是去日本海滩的日子，就在明天奥运会开幕式开始之前。

埃尔福特附近的瓦克森堡城堡, 德国 Wachsenburg Castle near Erfurt, Germany (© Radius Images/Offset by Shutterstock)

A reflection of Europe's past

Today we're in the central German state of Thuringia to visit Wachsenburg Castle. It's the most famous of a trio of medieval hilltop castles collectively referred to as 'Drei Gleichen' (Three of a Kind) because of their close resemblance. Wachsenburg was originally built by the Hersfeld Monastery sometime in the early 10th century as a fortified castle, but it underwent significant changes over the centuries.

As might be expected of a building nearly 1,100 years old, the castle has housed many different occupants in its time, some of them notorious. Through most of its history it was used as a defensive fortress, and by the 13th century the Counts of Mühlburg had added a moat to help fend off invaders from nearby Hungary. Later, in the mid-15th century, an infamous brigand and wayward knight named Apel von Vitzthum conquered Wachsenburg. He used it as a base to carry out raids against merchants in the nearby town of Erfurt before the locals finally banded together to put an end to his pillaging. The Duke of Saxony took control of the fortress in 1710, but by the late 18th century, it was being used as prison. These days, Wachsenburg plays a different role in the local community. Following a number of renovations, including a major one in the 1990s, it's now a tourist destination complete with restaurant, hotel, and museum.

欧洲历史的反映

今天我们在德国中部的图林根州参观瓦克森堡城堡。它是三座中世纪山顶城堡中最著名的一座，因为它们非常相似，所以被统称为“Drei Gleichen”（一种三座）。瓦克森堡最初是由赫斯菲尔德修道院建于10世纪初的某个时候，作为一个设防的城堡，但它经历了几个世纪的重大变化。

正如人们所料，这座有着近1100年历史的建筑，在它的时代里居住着许多不同的居住者，其中一些人臭名昭著。在其历史的大部分时间里，它被用作防御堡垒，到了13世纪，缪尔堡伯爵又加了一条护城河，以帮助抵御附近匈牙利的入侵者。后来，在15世纪中叶，一个臭名昭著的土匪和任性的骑士命名为阿佩尔冯维茨图姆征服了瓦克森堡。他以这里为基地，对附近埃尔福特镇的商人进行突袭，直到当地人最终联合起来，结束了对他的掠夺。1710年，萨克森公爵控制了这座要塞，但到了18世纪末，它被用作监狱。如今，瓦克森堡在当地社区扮演着不同的角色。经过多次翻修，包括上世纪90年代的一次大型翻修，现在它已成为一个旅游胜地，拥有餐厅、酒店和博物馆。

月球的高清合成影像 Composite image of the moon (© Prathamesh Jaju)

Fly me to the moon

It was 52 years ago today that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon. Their photographs of the moon and others since then have become commonplace. But for Moon Day—the annual celebration of that first lunar landing—let's take a close look at this extraordinary image of Earth's only natural satellite. Prathamesh Jaju, age 16, of Pune, India, worked for more than 40 hours stitching together this detailed photograph from more than 50,000 images he took of the moon's surface. Jaju, who describes himself as an 'amateur astrophotographer,' used an automated telescope to track the moon's movements over a four-hour period in May 2021. The result is this highly detailed portrait of the moon's craters, textures, shadows, and colors. While this image may be as close as we ever get to the moon, at least we know we'll never gaze at it the same way again.

送我去月球

52年前的今天，宇航员尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和巴斯·奥尔德林成为第一批登陆月球的人类。从那时起，他们拍摄的月球和其他月球的照片就变得司空见惯了。但对于月球日，每年的第一次月球登陆庆典，让我们仔细观察一下地球唯一的天然卫星的非凡景象。来自印度浦那的16岁的Prathamesh Jaju花了40多个小时的时间，从他拍摄的50000多张月球表面照片中拼接出了这张详细的照片。Jaju自称是一名“业余天文摄影师”，他在2021年5月用一台自动望远镜在4个小时的时间内跟踪月球的运动，结果得到了这张非常详细的月球陨石坑、纹理、阴影和颜色的照片。虽然这张照片可能和我们登上月球的距离一样近，但至少我们知道我们再也不会以同样的方式注视它了。

麦地那的彩色小巷，摩洛哥得土安市 Colorful alleyway in the medina of Tétouan, Morocco (© Jan Wlodarczyk/eStock Photo)

Wander the ancient medina

This colorful alleyway is in the medina—the ancient part—of the Moroccan city of Tétouan. From above, the medina appears to be a maze of ancient white plaster buildings surrounded by rampart walls and seven magnificent gates. But inside the maze, some alleyways like this one display a burst of color, an embellishment created by mixing pigments into the buildings' plaster. The alleyways here are tall and skinny, large enough for a donkey and its handler to pass by, but too small for vehicles, so they invite peaceful strolls through the colorful shade.

The old city was founded by the Amazigh people in the 13th century, but 200 years later, Castilians from the Iberian Peninsula destroyed the fortified settlement. The medina later became a refuge for Muslims and Sephardic Jews from Andalusia who were fleeing the Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition. These refugees helped rebuild the city that had been destroyed by Castilians, making a significant mark on Tétouan's architecture, art, and cuisine. The medina remains largely unchanged all these centuries later, making it a natural fit as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

漫步古老的麦地那

这条五颜六色的小巷位于摩洛哥特图昂市古老的麦地那。从上面看，麦地那似乎是由古老的白色石膏建筑组成的迷宫，周围有城墙和七扇宏伟的大门。但在迷宫里，一些像这样的小巷展现出一种色彩的爆发，一种将颜料混合到建筑物灰泥中的装饰。这里的小巷又高又瘦，大到可以让驴子和驯驴人经过，但对车辆来说太小了，所以它们邀请人们在五颜六色的树荫下安静地漫步。

这座古城是13世纪阿马齐格人建立的，但200年后，来自伊比利亚半岛的卡斯蒂利亚人摧毁了这个设防的定居点。麦地那后来成为穆斯林和从安达卢西亚逃离收复和西班牙宗教裁判所的塞法德犹太人的避难所。这些难民帮助重建了被卡斯蒂利亚人摧毁的城市，在泰图昂的建筑、艺术和美食上留下了重要的印记。几个世纪后，麦地那基本上保持不变，成为联合国教科文组织的世界遗产地。

Tour de France riders in front of the Louvre Pyramid and museum in Paris, France, during the 2020 race (© Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images)

Grand finish of Le Tour

After a three-week jaunt around France, cycling's most prestigious race concludes today with a triumphant procession into Paris before a sprint finish on the iconic Champs-Élysées. The 21st and final stage of this year's Tour de France—the 108th edition of the famous event—begins in Chatou, a town in the western suburbs of Paris along the river Seine. Tour tradition dictates the overall race leader isn't challenged on the last day, so it starts out as a victory parade for the champion-elect, who will be wearing a yellow jersey, posing for pictures, and sipping a glass of champagne along the route. But when the riders reach the heart of Paris, the pace picks up as they dash around the Champs-Élysées, a tree-lined promenade often described as the 'most beautiful avenue in the world.'

The peleton—a large group of riders bunched together—enters the Champs-Élysées via the courtyards of the Louvre Palace, passing directly by its famous glass pyramid, as shown on our homepage. They then complete an eight-lap circuit, which takes them on a sightseeing tour around the Arc de Triomphe, past the Tuileries Garden, across the Place de la Concorde—the largest square in Paris—and back up the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées, which is French for 'Elysian Fields,' the final resting place for heroes from Greek mythology. Quite the place then to finish a relentless race that covers more than 2,000 miles and includes brutal climbs in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Chapeau!

乐游大结局

经过为期三周的环法之旅，这场最负盛名的自行车赛今天以胜利的游行队伍结束，进入巴黎，然后在标志性的Champs-Élysées进行冲刺。第108届环法自行车赛是今年环法自行车赛的第21个也是最后一个阶段，在巴黎西郊塞纳河沿岸的一个小镇Chatou举行。巡回赛的传统规定，总的领队在最后一天不会受到挑战，所以这是冠军当选人的胜利游行，他将穿着黄色球衣，摆姿势拍照，沿途啜饮一杯香槟。但当骑手们到达巴黎市中心时，他们在香榭丽舍大道（Champs-Élysées）周围奔跑时，步伐加快了，这是一条绿树成荫的长廊，常被称为“世界上最美丽的大道”

佩尔顿——一大群骑手聚集在一起，通过卢浮宫的庭院进入香榭丽舍，直接经过著名的玻璃金字塔，如我们的主页所示。然后，他们完成了一个八圈的线路，带着他们游览凯旋门，经过杜伊勒里花园，穿过巴黎最大的广场协和广场（Place de la Concorde），回到香榭丽舍（Champs-Élysées）的鹅卵石上，香榭丽舍是“极乐世界”（Elysian Fields）的法语意思，这是希腊神话中英雄们的最后安息之地。这是一个很好的地方来完成一个无情的比赛，覆盖了2000多英里，包括在阿尔卑斯山和比利牛斯山残酷的攀登。起首！

Whatever floats your boat

These turquoise waters are lapping the sands of Mont Choisy Beach in Mauritius, an island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa. It's a popular spot for locals and tourists to swim, enjoy the sun, or head out in one of these boats to catch some fish. The island has a unique cultural history. Most scholars believe it was known to Arab seafarers by the 10th century but it remained uninhabited until Portuguese sailors established a base on the island in the early 1500s. Mauritius was later colonized in succession by the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain before gaining independence in 1968. Over the years, Mauritius has evolved from a low-income economy based mostly on sugarcane (still one of its biggest exports), to a more diverse one that includes tourism, clothing production, and technology.

随心所欲

这些绿松石色的海水拍打着非洲东南海岸岛国毛里求斯的蒙崔西海滩的沙滩。对于当地人和游客来说，这是一个很受欢迎的地方，他们可以游泳，享受阳光，或者乘坐这些船去钓鱼。这个岛有着独特的文化历史。大多数学者认为，阿拉伯海员在10世纪就知道了这座岛屿，但直到15世纪初葡萄牙水手在岛上建立了基地，它才被发现。后来，毛里求斯先后被荷兰、法国和英国殖民统治，1968年获得独立。多年来，毛里求斯已从一个以甘蔗为主的低收入经济体（仍然是其最大的出口产品之一）发展成为一个更加多样化的经济体，包括旅游业、服装生产和技术。

Ngo Dong河两岸的稻田美景，越南宁平省 Boats float by rice fields on the Ngo Dong River in Ninh Binh province, Vietnam (© Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images)

A river runs through rice fields

We're peering down the winding Ngo Dong River at a group of rowboats meandering through rice paddy fields. This is the Ninh Binh province in Vietnam, about 60 miles south of Hanoi. On these two-hour tours by traditional Vietnamese rowboat, visitors wend their way between limestone karst peaks, through grottoes, and, if they're lucky, by workers harvesting rice in the fields, their wide-brimmed hats shielding them from the sun. Perhaps the most spectacular time to take this river cruise is around harvest time in late May and early June when the paddy fields are awash in a golden glow with a backdrop of bright green hillsides. But don't be surprised if the person rowing your boat moves the oars from hands to feet. It's tradition here for rowers to take a break and let their legs take over.

一条河穿过稻田

我们在蜿蜒的鄂东河上眺望，一群划艇蜿蜒穿过稻田。这是越南的宁平省，在河内以南大约60英里。在这两个小时的传统越南划艇之旅中，游客们穿梭于石灰岩喀斯特山峰之间，穿过石窟，如果幸运的话，还可以乘坐工人们在田里收割稻谷，他们戴着宽边帽遮挡阳光。也许最壮观的时候，采取这条河游轮是在丰收的时候，在5月底和6月初，当稻田淹没在一个金光闪闪的背景下明亮的绿色山坡。但是如果划船的人把桨从手移到脚，也不要感到惊讶。这里的传统是让划船者休息一下，让他们的腿来代替。

A different view of sharks

They've long been treated as threats, portrayed as villains, and brutally hunted for their edible fins, so we think it's only fair that sharks get their own day. Shark Awareness Day is meant to highlight the importance of the most fearsome fish in nature, from little lanternsharks to great whites to these blacktip reef sharks cruising the Tahitian coast.

Why celebrate an apex predator that most humans associate with horror movies? Well, first: The blacktip reef shark is timid around people and has never fatally attacked a human. And second: Without sharks acting as population control on other marine life, the ocean would be a very different place. Sharks eat a lot of squid and smaller fish, and like land predators, help keep their prey from overpopulating. Shark populations have declined more than 70% since the 1970s, so they deserve our attention as a vital, disappearing part of the marine ecosystem—even if they seem a little scary.

对鲨鱼的不同看法

它们长期以来被视为威胁，被描绘成恶棍，被残忍地猎杀以获取可食用的鱼鳍，所以我们认为鲨鱼有自己的一天是公平的。鲨鱼意识日旨在强调自然界中最可怕的鱼类的重要性，从小灯笼鲨到大白鲨，再到这些在塔希提海岸游弋的黑尖礁鲨。

为什么要庆祝一个大多数人与恐怖电影联系在一起的顶级捕食者？首先，黑尖礁鲨对人很胆小，从来没有致命地攻击过人类。第二：没有鲨鱼作为其他海洋生物的种群控制，海洋将是一个完全不同的地方。大量的鱼类，像乌贼一样，帮助它们捕食陆地上的小鱼。自上世纪70年代以来，鲨鱼的数量已经减少了70%以上，因此，作为海洋生态系统中一个重要的、正在消失的部分，鲨鱼值得我们关注，即使它们看起来有点可怕。

星空迷