美国参议院通过立法---终止“标准时间”

Twice a year for as long as I can remember, we reported on the biannual time change observed by the United States and dozens of other countries.

在我的记忆中，我们每年会有两次报道美国和其他几十个国家遵守的半年一次的时间变化。

Whatever would we talk about if the practice were to stop?

如果不再有这种惯例了，我们究竟会谈些什么呢?

But that is our first topic today, the potential end of Standard Time.

但这是我们今天的第一个话题，标准时间可能会终结。

Right now, America is on the other kind of civil time, Daylight Saving Time.

现在，美国使用的是另一种民用时间，美国夏令时(日光节约时间)。

We sprang forward to that, moving our clocks ahead one hour earlier this week.

本周早些时候, 我们向前迈进了一步，将我们的时钟向前拨了一个小时。

However, a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, meaning we'd no longer change our clocks twice a year, has just sailed through the U.S. Senate

然而，美国参议院刚刚通过了一项使夏令时永久化的法案，这意味着我们不再需要一年调两次时间。

and if it passes in the House and is signed by President Joe Biden, bye-bye time change in America.

如果该法案在众议院获得通过，并由乔·拜登总统签署，那么美国就不再需要变换时间了。

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, a Republican who sponsored the bill, said this isn't the most important issue facing the country but it's one with a lot of agreement.

来自佛罗里达州的共和党参议员马可·卢比奥是这项法案的发起人。他表示，这不是美国面临的最重要的问题，但这是一个众说一致的问题。

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island, a Democrat who sponsored the bill said not falling back in autumn would add a little sunlight into most people's lives.

美国罗德岛州民主党参议员谢尔顿·怀特豪斯发起了这项法案。他说，在秋天时间不用往回拨会给大多数人的生活增添一点阳光。

So the idea has support of Democrats and Republicans but it's not clear if or when the House will take up the bill.

该想法得到了民主党和共和党的支持，但尚不清楚众议院是否或何时会接受该法案。

And if it's ultimately approved, the new law wouldn't take effect until November of 2023.

如果最终该法案获得通过，新法律要到2023年11月才会生效。

The reason why is that the U.S. transportation industry has already planned out its schedules for the months ahead.

原因是美国运输业已经计划好了未来几个月的时间表。

It requested the extra time to prepare for the adjustment.

这要求需要额外的时间为调整作准备。

The main goal of Daylight-Saving Time in summer was to save electricity.

在夏季采用夏令时的主要目的是为了省电。

The practice getting widespread use during World War One.

这一做法在第一次世界大战期间被广泛使用。

The U.S. Congress made it permanent in 1966, but it's not required by law.

美国国会在1966年将其定为永久性存在，但法律并没有这么要求。

So no one fines or jails Hawaii and most of Arizona for not observing it.

因此，没有人会因为夏威夷和亚利桑那的大部分地区不遵守这项规定而罚款或监禁。

Studies have been mixed on whether DST actually saves electricity.

关于夏令时是否真的节约电力的研究意见不一。

The U.S. government has found that it does a tiny bit for each household that adds up to a large amount nationwide.

美国政府已经发现，每个家庭只能节约一点点电，但全国范围内加起来却有很大的数额。

A different study by an economic research group found that it increases demand for electric heating and cooling and that balances out what people save on lighting.

一个经济研究小组的另一项研究发现，这增加了对电加热和电制冷的需求，抵消了人们在照明方面节约的电力。

Either way, will there be any widespread disagreement about the new law?

不管怎样，新法律会存在广泛的分歧吗?

That's harder to say.

这很难说。

Permanent Daylight Saving Time would mean more sunlight in the early evening hours of winter,

永久的夏令时将意味着冬天傍晚的早些时候会有更多的阳光，

but falling back moves the time of dawn closer to when we wake up, so we're not starting and ending our winter days in the dark.

但往回拨时间会使黎明的时间更接近我们醒来的时间，所以我们不会在黑暗中开始、结束冬天的日子。

We expect to hear more opinions about this in the days ahead.

我们希望在未来几天听到更多关于这一点的意见。