>Royal lantern copies sold
故宮天燈拍出1060萬元

A pair of historically accurate Heavenly Lanterns (tian deng) created by the Palace Museum sold for 10.6 million yuan at a charity auction Tuesday. At the same auction, a pair of Longevity Lanterns (wanshou deng) and five pairs of smaller royal lanterns were sold, according to a Palace Museum press release. The lanterns were accurate copies based on archives from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and used at the museum's special exhibition for Spring Festival this year. The money raised from the auction will be used to sponsor education and cultural programs in impoverished regions.
故宮博物院發(fā)布消息稱，該院制作的一對天燈復(fù)原品在2日的一場慈善拍賣會上以1060萬元落槌。這場拍賣會上還拍出了一對萬壽燈和5對稍小的宮燈的復(fù)原品。這些燈籠是根據(jù)清代檔案精準復(fù)原的，曾在今年春節(jié)故宮舉行的特別展覽中展出。此次拍賣所得將用于資助貧困地區(qū)的教育和文化項目。

>US makes 2033 Mars mission
NASA:2033年載人上火星

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced at a congressional testimony on Tuesday a plan to put humans on Mars by 2033 and would request more money to fund the ambitious plan. It came after NASA's new schedule to land American astronauts on the moon by 2024, four years ahead of its previous schedule, an aggressive plan US Vice-President Mike Pence called a "stated policy of this administration", but American lawmakers worried NASA couldn't meet the deadline. Pence urged NASA last week to return American astronauts to the moon within five years, warning that if NASA cannot do it, it is NASA, not the mission, that must change. Bridenstine cited at the congressional hearing on NASA's budget in fiscal year 2020 the goal of putting astronauts on Mars by 2033 as a reason why NASA needed to accelerate the moon landing plan. The NASA chief said so in response to US congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's question why the country needs a "crash program for the moon". "The moon is the proving ground," said Bridenstine. "We can move up the Mars landing by moving up the moon landing."
美國航天局(NASA)局長吉姆?布里登斯廷2日在國會的一場聽證會上宣布，NASA計劃在2033年將宇航員送上火星，并要求國會為這項雄心勃勃的計劃提供更多資金。此前NASA將美國宇航員登陸月球的時間更改為2024年，比原計劃提前了4年。美國副總統(tǒng)彭斯將這項激進的重返月球計劃稱為"本屆政府的一項國策"，但議員們對NASA能否在最后期限前完成使命表示質(zhì)疑。彭斯上周向NASA施壓，要求其在5年內(nèi)實現(xiàn)宇航員重返月球的任務(wù)，并稱如果NASA辦不到，則NASA需要作出改變，而不是任務(wù)本身。在國會舉行的關(guān)于NASA的2020財政年度預(yù)算的聽證會上，布里登斯廷表示，2033年將宇航員送上火星的目標意味著登月計劃需要提速。面對女議員艾迪?伯尼斯?約翰遜關(guān)于"為什么美國要加速登月腳步"的提問時，布里登斯廷回答道："因為月球是試驗場，載人登月計劃提速，載人火星計劃才能提速。"

>Meghan back on Instagram
哈里梅根官宣社交賬號

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have launched their own Instagram account. The official account for Harry and Meghan, sussexroyal, will be used for "important announcements" and to share the work that drives them. In their first post, Harry and Meghan said: "Welcome to our official Instagram; we look forward to sharing the work that drives us, the causes we support, important announcements, and the opportunity to shine a light on key issues." The first image was a navy background with the couple's royal cypher - the entwined initials H and M below a coronet - in white. It already has more than 1 million followers. It comes as the duke and duchess split their household office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Meghan and Harry's support team will be based at Buckingham Palace, instead of Kensington Palace, from this spring.
蘇塞克斯公爵和公爵夫人近日發(fā)布自己的Instagram賬號。哈里和梅根的官方賬號sussexroyal將用于發(fā)布"重要公告"，分享他們的工作。在他們發(fā)布的第一條帖子里，哈里和梅根說："歡迎來到我們的官方Instagram，我們期待分享我們的工作，我們支持的事業(yè)，重要的公告，以及我們對關(guān)鍵問題的看法。"這對夫婦發(fā)布的首張圖片以海軍藍為底色，上面有代表兩人名字的白色標識，即一頂皇冠下交纏著的H和M。目前該賬號已擁有超過100萬的粉絲。該賬號發(fā)布之時正值蘇塞克斯公爵夫婦與劍橋公爵夫婦正式"分家"。自今年春天起，梅根和哈里的支持團隊的駐地將從肯辛頓宮遷往白金漢宮。

>Independent enrollments cut
高校自主招生名額縮減

Universities in China have reduced their quotas for the independent enrollment of high school graduates. Wuhan University in Hubei province has reduced the quota for independent enrollment from 350 last year to 192 in 2019. Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province, reduced its quota from 420 in 2018 to 120 this year. Universities are also cutting back on the preferential treatment of independently enrolled students. For example, China University of Political Science and Law and the University of Science and Technology Beijing will give fewer extra points this year to students who seek to be admitted through independent enrollment. Independent enrollment, initiated in 2003, is a part of China's educational reforms, giving conditional offers to students who exhibit talents or achievements in specific fields so that they may enter the university with lower admission scores. Currently, 90 universities have allocated 5% of their enrollment slots to independent students with special talents. They admit more than 20,000 such students every year.
我國不少高校對自主招生名額進行了壓縮。位于湖北省的武漢大學(xué)2019年的自主招生計劃為192人，較去年的350人下降明顯。位于湖南長沙的中南大學(xué)今年的自主招生計劃為120人，而去年該校自主招生人數(shù)為420人。高校自主招生的優(yōu)惠政策也有所縮水，例如，中國政法大學(xué)和北京科技大學(xué)今年給予想通過自主招生的方式進入高校的考生的優(yōu)惠分變少。作為中國教育改革的一部分，自主招生始于2003年，其目的是對在特定領(lǐng)域表現(xiàn)出天賦或成就的學(xué)生給予有條件的錄取，使他們可以以較低的錄取分數(shù)進入大學(xué)。目前我國有90所高校實行自主招生，自主招生名額占其總招生名額的5%。每年超過2萬人通過自主招生進入大學(xué)。

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