chinadaily.com.cn 2020-11-23 15:04
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>Obama's highly anticipated book
歐巴馬回憶錄成暢銷書
Barack Obama is well on his way to becoming the bestselling author of the year. It is a title previously bestowed on his wife, Michelle Obama, whose book "Becoming" rocketed to the top of the charts in 2018.
貝拉克·歐巴馬即將成為年度暢銷書作家。他的妻子米歇爾·歐巴馬曾贏得過這個稱號，她所著的《成為：米歇爾·歐巴馬自傳》在2018年飆升至圖書銷售榜榜首。
Now the former president's new memoir, "A Promised Land," is breaking records for the book's publisher, Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
如今，這位前總統的新回憶錄《應許之地》正在打破該書出版商、企鵝蘭登書屋旗下的皇冠出版社的紀錄。
"A Promised Land" offers Obama's take on some of his most notable moments in office, from wrestling a global financial crisis to passing the Affordable Care Act.
從應對全球金融危機到通過《平價醫療法案》，《應許之地》記錄了歐巴馬執政期間最重要的一些時刻。
Hundreds of thousands of people pre-ordered "A Promised Land" ahead of Tuesday's release date.
在11月17日正式發售之前，已有數十萬人預訂了這本書。
Those pre-order sales, plus first-day sales, totaled 887,000 units "in all formats and editions in the US and Canada," Penguin Random House said on Wednesday.
企鵝蘭登書屋11月18日表示，在美國和加拿大，該書"各種版本"的預訂量加上首日銷量總計達88.7萬冊。
The publisher said this result represented "the largest first-day sales total for any book ever published" by the company.
這家出版商表示，這是公司"有史以來出版的圖書中首日銷量最高的"。
Newlyweds read their wedding vows after getting their marriage certificates in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, on Aug 25. ZHAO QIRUI/FOR CHINA DAILY
>Marriages benefit from lockdown
疫情期間夫妻關係改善
One in five of marriages in the UK have benefited from the national lockdown, research has revealed.
研究表明，英國五分之一的夫妻在疫情封鎖期間關係有所改善。
A study carried out by the Marriage Foundation found 20% of married couples felt their relationship had strengthened, while only 9% said theirs had worsened during the pandemic.
英國婚姻基金會開展的這項研究發現，20%的已婚夫婦認為他們的關係得以改善，只有9%的人表示夫妻關係在疫情期間惡化了。
Harry Benson, the Marriage Foundation's research director and one of the report's authors, said: "Our study debunks claims that lockdown is leading to a divorce boom.
婚姻基金會研究主任、報告的作者之一哈利·本森說："我們的研究讓'封鎖導致離婚潮'的說法不攻自破。
The data strongly suggests the opposite – spending more time with your husband or wife has been beneficial for large numbers of the UK's 12.8 million married couples."
數據有力地表明，事實正好相反，對於英國1280萬對夫妻中的大部分人來說，花更多時間和另一半相處益處良多。"
A logo is pictured on Sotheby’s before the resuming of live jewellery auctions after the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown in Geneva, Switzerland, June 21, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
>Pink diamond sold for $26.6M
'玫瑰之魂'鑽石拍出1.76億
A giant, flawless pink diamond sold for $26.6 million at auction in Switzerland, according to Sotheby's auction house.
據蘇富比拍賣行稱，一顆巨大的、無瑕的粉色鑽石在瑞士拍賣會上以2660萬美元(約合人民幣1.76億元)的價格拍出。
On its website, the "Spirit of the Rose" diamond is described as a "superb and magnificent fancy vivid purple-pink diamond."
在蘇富比官網上，拍賣行將這顆"玫瑰之魂"鑽石描述為"頂級的、華麗的豔彩紫粉鑽"。
"Fancy vivid" is the gemological term for the deepest shade of pink diamonds.
"豔彩"是最深色粉鑽的寶石界術語。
The stone was unearthed in northeastern Russia in July 2017 and originally weighed 27.85 carats.
這顆鑽石於2017年7月開採於俄羅斯東北部，原石重27.85克拉。
It took over one year for gemologists to cut and polish the Spirit of the Rose down to its current 14.83 carat size; the gem is the largest pink diamond ever mined in Russia.
寶石專家用了一年多的時間對"玫瑰之魂"進行切割打磨，該粉鑽成型後重14.83克拉，為俄羅斯有史以來開採出的最大粉鑽。
[Phpto/Pexels]
>Why plane windows are rounded
飛機舷窗為何是圓形的
While not everyone will have pondered the subject while staring out of the window during a flight, the question as to why airplanes have circular windows rather than square ones is interesting.
雖然不是每個人都會在飛行中凝視窗外的時候思索一個問題：為什麼舷窗是圓形的而不是方形的。但這個問題很有趣。
Over the years, aerospace engineering has made huge leaps in airplane technology, meaning planes can carry more passengers and go faster.
多年來，航空航天工程在飛機技術上取得了巨大的飛躍，這意味著飛機可以運載更多的乘客，飛行速度更快。
The planes have also changed shape to increase safety – including the windows.
同時，為了提高安全性，飛機在外形上也做出了相應的改變。舷窗，便是變化之一。
Where there's a corner, there's a weak spot.
哪裡有拐角，哪裡就有弱點。
Windows, having four corners, have four potential weak spots, making them likely to crash under stress – such as air pressure.
方形舷窗有四個角，就有著四個潛在的薄弱點，使它們很可能在壓力作用下破裂，比如大氣壓力。
By curving the window, the stress that would eventually crack the window corner is distributed, and the likelihood of it breaking is reduced.
因此，讓窗緣線條彎曲，來分散窗口四角的壓力，從而降低了窗戶破碎的可能性。
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