Photos and scripts are based on nationalgeographic.com. Chinese translations are provided by raindrops®
May 1, 2007
Czechoslovakia, 1967
捷克斯洛伐克
Photograph by James P. Blair
Children dance around a maypole in a centuries-old tradition that is still thriving in eastern Europe. Maypoles are erected in villages across the region on the first of May in celebration of youth and the arrival of spring.
Twin Cities citizens take to their lakes as soon as warm weather permits, and a daily sight-seeing cruise departing from the shores of Minneapolis's Boom Island Park is one way visitors can join the fun.
一伺天气转暖,双城的居民就会投入到他们热爱的湖中。游客们可以乘坐每日始发于明尼阿波斯里Boom Island Park海岸的观光油轮,来加入当地人,享受湖泊赐予的无限乐趣。
May 3, 2007
Venice, Italy, 1994
意大利威尼斯
Photograph by Sam Abell
Spectators in motorboats wait for the racing gondolas to pass during Il Palio Delle Quattro Antiche Repubbliche Marinare, a regatta which pits rowers from each of Italy's maritime republics—Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi—against each other. With streets no bigger than sidewalks, rowing is serious business in Venice, which has 42 boating associations and no cars.
The next Palio will be held in Venice in May 2007.
在第二届Palio Delle Quattro Antiche Repubbliche Marinare节上,摩托艇的乘客正等待赛船通过。Palio Delle Quattro Antiche Repubbliche Marinare节是一个赛舟会,集合了意大利所有的海边共和国(包括威尼斯,热那亚,比萨和Amalfi)的赛船手互相角逐。威尼斯的街道和人行道差不多宽。在威尼斯,划船很重要:这里有42个划船协会,却没有汽车。
下届Palio赛船会将于2007年5月在威尼斯举行。
May 4, 2007
Near Kairouan, Tunisia, 1979
突尼斯,靠近凯万
Photograph by David Alan Harvey
"A farm boy in no particular hurry allows his donkey to browse on wild poppies as they shamble along toward field work near Kairouan, a city holy to Muslims."
在凯万近郊,一个悠闲的村童徜徉在去田地的途中,任由他的驴子在野罂粟从中进食。凯万是穆斯林的圣地。
May 5, 2007
Sydney, Australia, 1978
Photograph by Robert W. Madden
A duck leaves a clear trail as it swims through algae-covered waters in Sydney—but the duck isn’t the only "green" lover in this bustling city. Laborers working on Sydney's famed opera house refused to build an underground parking garage next door for fear of killing three historic fig trees in the Botanic Gardens.
Viewed from a mountain summit, the canopy of Minkebe Forest in Northern Gabon lies shrouded in mist.
Photographer Mike Nichols took this shot while accompanying explorer Michael Fay on his grueling 15-month, 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) trek across Africa to catalog the region’s pristine forests and promote their protection. As a result of Fay’s efforts, President El Hadj Omar Bongo of Gabon set aside more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) of land to form a national park system protecting 13 separate parks.
Famous for its pearl-filled waters, Broome anchors the Dampier Peninsula, part of the famous Kimberley region in northwest Australian. This region was one of the earliest settled areas of the continent, receiving settlers from Indonesian islands some tens of thousands of years ago.
Members of a refugee Burmese tribe in Thailand, a Padaung family bathes in a stream. Padaung women are often fitted with brass neck rings. These rings help elongate their necks—a look prized among this group—albeit at the expense of crushed collarbones and rib cages.
Three sparse oriental pines give some early morning shade to people looking out at the Yellow Sea in Qingdao, China. The city in northeast China is home to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology, a respected research center where scientists have worked to develop strains of kelp used for food and as stabilizers in medications and cosmetics.
A man passes one of the lakes of central Afghanistan Band-e-Amir, a series of five mineral-enriched, sapphire lakes that punctuate the dusty, travertine peaks near central Afghanistan抯 Hindu Kush.
Legend has it the lakes were formed by Caliph Ali who miraculously raised the retaining walls to dam a dangerous river, thereby impressing a local pagan king who converted to Islam.