3月15日午间双语新闻：全球最大扭蛋商店开业 World's largest capsule toy store

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Spanning over a massive 1,256 sqm floor space, the "Gashapon Department Store," which opened in Tokyo a few weeks ago, is the world's largest capsule toy store, according to Guinness World Records. The new store, located inside Ikebukuro's Sunshine City shopping center, is now home to the largest number of gashapon machines at a single location, boasting a whopping 3,000 capsule toy machines. 
几周前在东京开业的"扭蛋专卖店"占地面积达1256平方米，被吉尼斯世界纪录认定为全球最大的扭蛋专卖店。这家位于池袋太阳城购物中心内的扭蛋专卖店设置有3000台扭蛋机，是全球拥有最多扭蛋机的地方。

There are nearly 40 factories producing gashapon in Japan, delivering more than 200 new types of products every month, but since each type of capsule stays in the market only once, collectors try to buy as many as they can when they come out. 
目前日本全国有近40家扭蛋厂商，每月推出的新产品有200多种，但由于每款扭蛋只上市一次，收集者会试图一次性大量购买。

重点词汇
1、capsule toy
扭蛋玩具

Female flag bearers at Tokyo Olympics
东京奥运将设男女旗手

The International Olympic Committee said in a joint statement with the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the Government of Japan, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will be encouraged to have their flag carried by one female and one male athlete at the opening ceremony. 
国际奥委会与国际残奥委会、东京奥组委、日本政府和东京都政府发表联合声明称，在东京奥运会开幕式上，鼓励所有206个国家(地区)奥委会代表团及难民代表团由男、女两名运动员合举旗帜入场。

The statement said that Tokyo 2020 would be the first-ever gender-balanced Olympic Games in history, with a record number of female competitors at the Paralympic Games. Almost 49% of the athletes participating in the Olympics will be women. 
声明称，东京奥运会将是历史上首次实现性别平衡的奥运会，残奥会女选手人数将创下纪录。东京奥运会近49%的参赛运动员将是女性，比赛安排将具有开创性。

There will be a ground-breaking competition schedule, ensuring equal visibility between women's and men's events and featuring nine more mixed events than at Rio 2016, raising the overall number to 18. IOC and the organizers also called all participating delegations to have at least one female and one male athlete on their respective Olympic teams.
东京奥运会在确保男、女项目平衡的同时，混合项目达到18项，比里约奥运会多了9项。国际奥委会和主办方还呼吁全部参赛代表团中至少有一名男性运动员和一名女性运动员。 

重点词汇
1、first-ever
英 /ˌfɜːst ˈevə(r)/  美 /ˌfɜːrst ˈevər/ 
adj. 首次的，前所未有的

2、gender-balanced
性别平衡的

3、ground-breaking
/'graund,breikiŋ/
adj. 独创的；开拓性的

Toppled spire refurbishment begins 
法巴黎圣母院开始修复

The first eight oak trees destined to replace the destroyed spire of Paris' scorched Notre Dame cathedral have been selected from the Bercé forest in the French Loire region, church officials said. The iconic, 96-meter spire was completely destroyed in the fire that ravaged the Paris monument in 2019. 
巴黎圣母院官员近日表示，首批用以重建被烧毁的巴黎圣母院塔尖的8棵橡树已从法国卢瓦尔河地区的Bercé森林中选定。2019年，历史古迹巴黎圣母院突发大火，其上方高96米的标志性塔尖在大火中轰然倒塌。

It was made by architect Viollet-le-Duc in 1859. The first oaks measure around one meter in diameter. Officials said the 1,000 oaks that are needed to fully rebuild the spire are all scheduled to be cut by the end of March. 
这是1859年建筑师维优雷•勒•杜克负责修建的。第一批橡树的直径约为1米。官员们表示，全面修复塔尖需要1000棵橡树，计划在3月底前全部砍伐完毕。

重点词汇
1、oak
英 /əʊk/  美 /oʊk/ 
n. 橡树；橡木色；橡木家具
adj. 栎树的；栎木制的

2、scorch
英 /skɔːtʃ/  美 /skɔːrtʃ/ 
vt. 烧焦；使枯萎；挖苦
vi. 烧焦；枯萎
n. 烧焦；焦痕

3、ravage
英 /ˈrævɪdʒ/  美 /ˈrævɪdʒ/ 
vt. 毁坏；破坏；掠夺
n. 蹂躏，破坏
vi. 毁坏；掠夺

First-ever tweet up for sale
推特首条推文上线拍卖

The first post on Twitter, which appeared on its co-founder and current CEO Jack Dorsey's account in 2006, is up for sale as an NFT, a non-fungible token. Some social media enthusiasts are ready to spend a fortune on it. Dorsey's almost 15-year-old message, "just setting up my twttr", attracted whopping offers after he posted a link to a tweets marketplace called Valuables on March 5. 
2006年，推特联合创始人兼现任首席执行官杰克•多尔西发布了推特上的第一条推文，目前此条推文正在以NFT代币(一种市面上不流通的非真实货币)形式出售。一些社交媒体"发烧友"已经准备好花大价钱买下它。本月5日，他在推特上分享了一个指向市场平台Valuables的链接，在那里大量买家报价竞拍这条将近发布了15年之久的推文，推文内容为："刚刚建立我的推特账号"。竞价战十分激烈。

The intense bidding war put the Twitter co-founder's post at $363,000 as of Saturday morning. Offers were rising almost every hour, and had risen to $1.5 million by 3pm GMT and to $2.5 million later on Saturday. NFTs are a special type of token. Like cryptocurrencies, they operate on a blockchain, but they don't hold money and serve to show ownership of some other unique assets like art. 
格林尼治时间6日上午8时左右，这条推文的价格达36.3万美元，随后报价几乎每小时都在上涨，到当天15时，价格已涨到150万美元。截至当天晚些时候，出价已飙升至250万美元。NFT代币是一种特殊类型的代币。和加密货币一样，NFT代币并非真实货币，需要在区块链上操作，用来显示对一些其他独特资产(如艺术品)的所有权。

重点词汇
1、fungible
英 /'fʌndʒɪbl/  美 /ˈfʌndʒəbl/ 
adj. 代替的；可取代的
n. 代替物

2、cryptocurrency
n. 加密货币

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