>Musk opens underground tunnel
馬斯克測試'地下高速路'
Elon Musk unveiled his underground transportation tunnel on Tuesday, allowing reporters and invited guests to take some of the first rides in the revolutionary albeit bumpy subterranean tube - the tech entrepreneur's answer to what he calls "soul-destroying traffic". Guests boarded Musk's Tesla Model S and rode along the tunnel. The demo rides were considerably slower - 64 km per hour - than what Musk says the future system will run at: 240 km per hour. The car jostled significantly during the ride, which was bumpy enough to give one reporter motion sickness. Musk touted the newly finished 1.83 km tunnel segment as a breakthrough in low-cost, fast-digging technology being pioneered by his nascent tunneling firm, the Boring Company.
埃隆?馬斯克18日揭開了他打造的地下交通隧道的神秘面紗，允許記者和受邀嘉賓成為這條盡管顛簸但頗具革命性的地下管道的首批乘客。這位科技企業(yè)家希望借助這種地下隧道來治愈他所說的"破壞靈魂的交通"?？腿藗兊巧弦惠v特斯拉Model S，沿著隧道兜風(fēng)。盡管馬斯克表示，未來這一軌道系統(tǒng)的時速將達到240公里，但試乘時汽車的時速要慢得多，僅為64公里。汽車在行駛過程中顛簸不已，導(dǎo)致一名試乘的記者開始暈車。馬斯克稱贊這段新建的長1.83公里的隧道是他初創(chuàng)的隧道挖掘公司"無聊公司"在低成本、快速挖掘技術(shù)上的突破。

>Parrot uses Alexa to order
鸚鵡操控語音助手購物
A mischievous parrot who was booted from an animal sanctuary for his foul mouth has found a friend in Amazon's Alexa device. Rocco, an African gray, was caught using the voice assistant to play his favorite music, tell jokes and even order snacks. Thankfully the device's parental lock system prevented the clever boy from actually purchasing any items - which included strawberries, ice cream and even a kettle. Owner Marion Wischnewski said she took the parrot in after he was removed from a sanctuary operated by the UK's National Animal Welfare Trust for swearing too much. Rocco, who was taught to curse by a previous owner, is evidently loving his new home, interacting with Alexa up to 40 times a day and mastering countless household sounds. He can make various mobile ringtones, the beep of the microwave and the squeaking of the refrigerator door, as well as the sound of an ice cream van or a reversing truck, according to Wischnewski.
一只因為說臟話被動物收容所掃地出門的淘氣鸚鵡在亞馬遜的Alexa設(shè)備中找到了知己。非洲灰鸚鵡羅科被發(fā)現(xiàn)用語音助手Alexa播放它最喜歡的音樂、講笑話甚至訂購零食。所幸Alexa的家長鎖系統(tǒng)阻止了這只聰明的小家伙真的買下任何商品——包括草莓、冰淇淋甚至還有一只水壺。羅科的主人瑪麗昂?維什涅夫斯基表示，羅科因為說太多臟話而被英國國家保護動物基金會運營的一家收容所掃地出門后，她收養(yǎng)了這只鸚鵡。羅科是從原來的主人那里學(xué)會說臟話的。它顯然非常喜歡自己的新家，每天與Alexa互動多達40次，還精通日常生活中的各種聲音。維什涅夫斯基稱，羅科能模仿好幾種手機鈴聲、微波爐的嗶嗶聲、冰箱門的咯吱聲以及冰激凌車和卡車倒車的聲音。

>Alien life might be purple
外星生命可能是紫色的?
The conclusion of a new research paper suggests that the first life on Earth might have had a lavender hue. In the International Journal of Astrobiology, microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and postdoctoral researcher Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside, argue that before green plants started harnessing the power of the sun for energy, tiny purple organisms figured out a way to do the same. There is even some evidence that modern purple-pigmented salt-loving organisms called halophiles might be related to some of the earliest life on Earth, which thrived around methane vents in the ocean. Alien life could be thriving in the same way, the researchers said.
一篇新研究論文的結(jié)論指出，地球上最早的生命可能擁有薰衣草的顏色。馬里蘭大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院微生物學(xué)家希拉迪蒂亞?達斯薩爾馬和加利福尼亞大學(xué)里弗賽德分校博士后研究員愛德華?施維特曼在《國際天體生物學(xué)雜志》上發(fā)表論文指出，在綠色植物開始吸收太陽光以獲取能量之前，微小的紫色生物體就已經(jīng)在這么做了。甚至有一些證據(jù)表明，被稱為"嗜鹽菌"的紫色喜鹽現(xiàn)代微生物可能與地球上某些最早的生命形式有關(guān)，這些生命曾經(jīng)在海洋中的甲烷噴口附近旺盛生長。研究人員說，外星生命可能在以同樣的方式繁衍。

>2.9M to sit postgrad exam
研究生報考人數(shù)達290萬
A total of 2.9 million Chinese will sit the national entrance exam for postgraduate studies from Dec 22 to 24, the Ministry of Education said Wednesday. The ministry has released numbers of telephone hotlines on its website to receive public tip-offs regarding cheating on the postgraduate entrance exam and other violations. A few suspects have been seized for exam-related fraud amid a nationwide crackdown ahead of the entrance exam, said the ministry.
全國碩士研究生招生考試將于本月22日至24日舉行。教育部19日表示，全國考研總?cè)藬?shù)達290萬。教育部已在官網(wǎng)上公布群眾舉報研究生招生考試期間作弊及其他違規(guī)違法行為的熱線電話號碼。教育部稱，研究生招生考試前夕，全國開展打擊涉考詐騙的專項行動，已抓獲多名犯罪嫌疑人。

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