>Cherry blossoms in October
日本櫻花罕見(jiàn)反季綻放
The start of the cherry blossom season in Japan normally takes place in March/April. This year, however, something truly bizarre has taken place: the cherry blossoms have made an appearance in October. According to WNI, a Japanese meteorology website, there have been 354 reported cases of cherry blossoms across the nation so far, from the more sub-tropical shores of Kyushu to the chillier realms of Hokkaido. According to WNI, as spotted by NHK World meteorologist Sayaka Mori, it appears that typhoons are to blame. In the summer, when the bulk of plant growth protein, known as FT, release is happening, the leaves also release hormones into the buds that stop them accidentally flowering too soon. The typhoons that have recently slammed into Japan, however, have thrown powerful winds their way, stripping many of these leaves from the trees. Salt, dragged up from the ocean, has also damaged many remaining leaves. This, it is thought, is why there's been a highly unusual October bloom. Without the leaves releasing the suppressant hormones, the middling temperatures in autumn are similar to those of spring's, which has tricked the cherry trees into erupting into color.
日本的櫻花盛開(kāi)季通常從3/4月份開(kāi)始。但今年卻出現(xiàn)了異乎尋常的景象：櫻花在10月競(jìng)相開(kāi)放。日本氣象網(wǎng)站W(wǎng)NI稱，從偏向亞熱帶氣候的九州海岸到更為寒冷的北海道地區(qū)，迄今日本全國(guó)有354地報(bào)告有櫻花盛開(kāi)的情況。WNI稱，在日本放送協(xié)會(huì)國(guó)際臺(tái)氣象專家森早矢香看來(lái)，臺(tái)風(fēng)似乎是秋季櫻花開(kāi)放的"罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。夏季，促進(jìn)植物生長(zhǎng)的蛋白FT大量釋放，葉片也同時(shí)向花蕾釋放阻止其意外過(guò)早綻放的激素。不過(guò)最近襲擊日本的臺(tái)風(fēng)攜著狂風(fēng)一路橫掃，使樹(shù)上許多葉片脫落。此外，從海水中帶來(lái)的鹽損傷了許多殘存的葉子。這被認(rèn)為是出現(xiàn)非常罕見(jiàn)的10月開(kāi)花的原因。沒(méi)了釋放抑制開(kāi)花激素的葉子，秋季不溫不火的氣溫與春季類似，櫻花樹(shù)"被騙"突然開(kāi)花。

>'Personal rating' attacked
哈佛招生歧視案件開(kāi)審
Harvard University intentionally uses a vague "personal rating" to reject Asian-American applicants in favor of students from other racial backgrounds, according to lawyers on one side of a trial that began Monday and carries weighty implications for dozens of other US colleges. Harvard's legal team denied any discrimination in its opening statement at Boston's federal courthouse, saying race is just one factor that's considered and can only help a student's chances of getting admitted. In its hour-long opening, lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions accused Harvard of intentionally discriminating against Asian-Americans through a personal rating score that measures character traits such as "courage" and "likeability".
在15日開(kāi)始的一項(xiàng)庭審中，控方律師稱，哈佛大學(xué)故意使用含糊的"個(gè)人評(píng)價(jià)"來(lái)拒絕亞裔美國(guó)申請(qǐng)人而照顧其他種族背景的學(xué)生。此次庭審對(duì)其他數(shù)十所美國(guó)高校意義重大。哈佛大學(xué)的律師團(tuán)隊(duì)在波士頓聯(lián)邦法院作的開(kāi)庭陳述中否認(rèn)存在任何歧視行為，稱種族僅僅是考慮因素之一，只會(huì)增加學(xué)生被錄取的可能性。"學(xué)生支持公平招生"組織的律師在長(zhǎng)達(dá)1小時(shí)的開(kāi)庭陳述中指控哈佛大學(xué)通過(guò)使用"個(gè)人評(píng)價(jià)"分?jǐn)?shù)來(lái)衡量"勇氣"和"可愛(ài)度"等性格特質(zhì)，故意歧視亞裔美國(guó)人。

>Cyclists face cellphone ban
荷蘭禁止騎行者看手機(jī)
Using a mobile phone while cycling is to be banned in the Netherlands amid mounting safety fears in a country where bikes outnumber people. A draft law scheduled to take effect next July will extend an existing 2002 ban on car and lorry drivers using their mobile phones at the wheel unless in hands-free mode to "the use of a mobile electronic device while driving any vehicle (including a bicycle)". The Dutch transport minister, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, said the law was needed because the advent of social media and unlimited mobile data had changed how people used smartphones and the time they spent on them. Cyclists were excluded from the initial ban because of their lower speeds, Van Niewenhuizen said. "But in fact, using a phone is just as dangerous on a bike as it is in a car," she said. "The fact is that whenever you're on the road you should be paying full attention and not doing anything at all on a phone."
荷蘭的自行車(chē)比人還多，令人們對(duì)安全隱患的擔(dān)憂漸增，因此荷蘭將禁止騎車(chē)時(shí)用手機(jī)。荷蘭2002年已出臺(tái)禁令，禁止汽車(chē)和卡車(chē)司機(jī)開(kāi)車(chē)時(shí)用手機(jī)(免提模式除外)，一項(xiàng)將于明年7月生效的法律草案將在此基礎(chǔ)上把禁令修改為禁止"在駕駛?cè)魏诬?chē)輛(包括自行車(chē))時(shí)使用移動(dòng)電子設(shè)備"。荷蘭交通部長(zhǎng)科拉?凡?鈕文惠真說(shuō)，社交媒體的出現(xiàn)和無(wú)限的數(shù)據(jù)流量已經(jīng)改變了人們使用智能手機(jī)的方式和花在手機(jī)上的時(shí)間，因此實(shí)施這一法律很有必要。凡?鈕文惠真表示，最初的禁令不涉及騎行者，是因?yàn)轵T車(chē)速度相對(duì)較慢。她說(shuō)："但事實(shí)上，騎車(chē)用手機(jī)和開(kāi)車(chē)用手機(jī)一樣危險(xiǎn)。無(wú)論何時(shí)，只要你在馬路上，都應(yīng)該集中注意力，而不要用手機(jī)做任何事。"

>Automobile sales plunge
9月汽車(chē)銷(xiāo)量跌幅創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄
China's automobile sales witnessed the sharpest monthly decline in the past seven years in September. China's automobile sales dropped 11.6% year-on-year to 2.39 million in September and the cumulative sales from January to September were 16.18 million with just 0.6% increase year-on-year, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufactures. Statistics show domestic automobile industry experienced 4% year-on-year negative growth in July, continued to decline 3.8% year-on-year in August and posted the double-digit fall in September. All the top 10 automobile companies saw sales slump in September, except Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the company whose sales increased 14.3% to 122,114. The automobile industry has witnessed continuous growth in 26 consecutive years since 1992 and the last sharpest monthly drop occurred in January 2012 with 26.4% decline.
9月，我國(guó)汽車(chē)月銷(xiāo)量創(chuàng)7年來(lái)最大降幅。根據(jù)中國(guó)汽車(chē)工業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)的數(shù)據(jù)，9月，我國(guó)汽車(chē)銷(xiāo)量為239萬(wàn)輛，同比下跌11.6%；1-9月的汽車(chē)?yán)塾?jì)銷(xiāo)量為1618萬(wàn)輛，同比增幅僅為0.6%。統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，7月，國(guó)內(nèi)汽車(chē)行業(yè)經(jīng)歷了同比4%的負(fù)增長(zhǎng)，8月跌勢(shì)延續(xù)，跌幅同比達(dá)3.8%，9月則出現(xiàn)了兩位數(shù)跌幅。9月，除浙江吉利集團(tuán)外的10大車(chē)企銷(xiāo)量均出現(xiàn)下滑。當(dāng)月，浙江吉利的汽車(chē)銷(xiāo)量增長(zhǎng)14.3%至122114輛。自1992年以來(lái)，汽車(chē)行業(yè)已連續(xù)增長(zhǎng)26年，上一次汽車(chē)月銷(xiāo)量大跌出現(xiàn)在2012年1月，跌幅達(dá)26.4%。

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