每日新闻播报（October 19）

>Cherry blossoms in October
日本樱花罕见反季绽放
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.
日本的樱花盛开季通常从3/4月份开始。但今年却出现了异乎寻常的景象：樱花在10月竞相开放。日本气象网站WNI称，从偏向亚热带气候的九州海岸到更为寒冷的北海道地区，迄今日本全国有354地报告有樱花盛开的情况。WNI称，在日本放送协会国际台气象专家森早矢香看来，台风似乎是秋季樱花开放的"罪魁祸首"。夏季，促进植物生长的蛋白FT大量释放，叶片也同时向花蕾释放阻止其意外过早绽放的激素。不过最近袭击日本的台风携着狂风一路横扫，使树上许多叶片脱落。此外，从海水中带来的盐损伤了许多残存的叶子。这被认为是出现非常罕见的10月开花的原因。没了释放抑制开花激素的叶子，秋季不温不火的气温与春季类似，樱花树"被骗"突然开花。

>'Personal rating' attacked
哈佛招生歧视案件开审
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日开始的一项庭审中，控方律师称，哈佛大学故意使用含糊的"个人评价"来拒绝亚裔美国申请人而照顾其他种族背景的学生。此次庭审对其他数十所美国高校意义重大。哈佛大学的律师团队在波士顿联邦法院作的开庭陈述中否认存在任何歧视行为，称种族仅仅是考虑因素之一，只会增加学生被录取的可能性。"学生支持公平招生"组织的律师在长达1小时的开庭陈述中指控哈佛大学通过使用"个人评价"分数来衡量"勇气"和"可爱度"等性格特质，故意歧视亚裔美国人。

>Cyclists face cellphone ban
荷兰禁止骑行者看手机
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."
荷兰的自行车比人还多，令人们对安全隐患的担忧渐增，因此荷兰将禁止骑车时用手机。荷兰2002年已出台禁令，禁止汽车和卡车司机开车时用手机(免提模式除外)，一项将于明年7月生效的法律草案将在此基础上把禁令修改为禁止"在驾驶任何车辆(包括自行车)时使用移动电子设备"。荷兰交通部长科拉•凡•钮文惠真说，社交媒体的出现和无限的数据流量已经改变了人们使用智能手机的方式和花在手机上的时间，因此实施这一法律很有必要。凡•钮文惠真表示，最初的禁令不涉及骑行者，是因为骑车速度相对较慢。她说："但事实上，骑车用手机和开车用手机一样危险。无论何时，只要你在马路上，都应该集中注意力，而不要用手机做任何事。"

>Automobile sales plunge
9月汽车销量跌幅创纪录
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，我国汽车月销量创7年来最大降幅。根据中国汽车工业协会的数据，9月，我国汽车销量为239万辆，同比下跌11.6%；1-9月的汽车累计销量为1618万辆，同比增幅仅为0.6%。统计数据显示，7月，国内汽车行业经历了同比4%的负增长，8月跌势延续，跌幅同比达3.8%，9月则出现了两位数跌幅。9月，除浙江吉利集团外的10大车企销量均出现下滑。当月，浙江吉利的汽车销量增长14.3%至122114辆。自1992年以来，汽车行业已连续增长26年，上一次汽车月销量大跌出现在2012年1月，跌幅达26.4%。

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