没有钟表，世界会停止吗？Would the world stop without clocks?

Hello, I’m Neil. And welcome to 6 Minute English, where we bring you an interesting topic and six related items of vocabulary.But … there should be two of us … and my co-presenter Rob hasn’t arrived … Rob? …. Rob! … You’re late!
大家好，我是尼尔。欢迎来到六分钟英语。我们将谈论一个有趣的话题以及6个实用单词。但是……应该有两个主持人的……我的搭档罗布还没到。罗布？罗布！你迟到啦！
Am I? What’s the time?
是吗？几点了？
It’s time to start the show. Do you actually own a watch?
节目就要开始了。你难道没有表吗？
No. I rely on my internal clock – it’s pretty good.
没有，我只有生物钟——相当好用。
No, it isn’t – you’re late!
那可不一定——你迟到了！
But I’m usually on time. Now today, we’re talking about what would happen to the world if all the clocks stopped.
但我一般都会按时到的。今天，我们要讨论的话题是，如果所有的钟表都停了，世界会怎么样？
It seems like that wouldn’t worry you much, Rob.
似乎对你没什么影响啊罗布。
You’re right. I think we’re slaves to time – we’ve got digital clocks on everything – smartphones, computers, microwaves, bus stops - it’s hard to get away from it. Did you know the word time is the most common noun in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary?
对的。我认为我们就是时间的奴隶。哪里都有电子表——智能手机、电脑、微波炉、公交车站。哪里都有钟表的影子，难以摆脱。你知道吗？根据牛津英语词典，time这个单词是英语中最常见的名词。
Oh, well, I didn’t know that, Rob! But good timekeeping is extremely important – there are so many things to schedule in a day, and so many deadlines to meet…
好吧。我之前不太了解。但是正确的时间记录非常重要。我们一天当中总有许多安排，还有许多事情要按期完成。
Tick… tock… tick… tock… Well, before we run out of time Neil – and that means use it all up – let’s have a quiz question.Can you tell me what the word ’clock’ originally referred to? Is it a) a pendulum, b) a bell or c) a dial?
嘀……嗒……嘀……嗒。尼尔，在时间耗完之前，也就是用光之前，我们有个小问题。你能告诉我clock这个词最初指的是什么吗？A 钟摆 B 铃声 C 刻度盘
A pendulum is a stick with a weight on the end that swings regularly from side to side.And a dial is the round part of a clock, but there are dials on loads of things – they aren’t just on clocks. And a bell… is… well… a bell!
pendulum——钟摆，是在钟表底部带有一定重量的棍状物，可以规律性地摇摆。dial——刻度盘是指钟表的圆形部分，但很多事物都有刻度盘，不只是钟表。而铃声，就是指铃声。
Well, hurry up, Neil – you’re wasting time with all these explanations!
好吧。加速尼尔，你这些解释浪费了太多时间了。
That’s cheeky coming from you, Rob. I think the answer is probably ’bell’.
这么说很无礼啊罗布。我觉得答案应该是 bell。
Well, you could be right – because not all timepieces go tick tock. In fact, mechanical clocks and watches are quite recent in the history of timekeeping.
嗯，也许你的答案是对的。因为不是所有的钟表都会嘀嗒响。实际上，如今的机械表和手表都没什么声音。
Mechanical means to do with machines. So in the past, before people had mechanical timepieces, how did they know when to arrive at work, for example – or when to finish?
Mechanical意思是与机器相关的。过去人们发明机械钟表之前，人们怎么知道什么时间去工作，或者什么时间结束工作呢？
They would have looked up at the sky, and observed how the position of the sun, the moon, and the stars changed as time passed.
他们一般看天，观察太阳、月亮和星星的位置变化情况。
That doesn’t sound very precise!
那样不太精确吧！
Precise means accurate or exact. It was precise enough for many people.Let’s listen to the Director of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, Dr Silke Ackermann talking about this.
precise意思是精确的、准确的。对许多人来说，那样的方法已经足够精确了。我们来听听牛津历史科学博物馆负责人希尔克·阿克曼的看法。
We certainly gain precision but we completely get devolved or divorced from where time originally came from.
我们现在的时间的确非常精确。但是我们完全脱离了时间最初的来源。
The time we use was based on the movement of the sun and it’s roughly still in sync but… for many societies it wasn’t at all relevant to know that it’s four o’clock.
我们所利用的时间是基于太阳的运动，大体上都是同步的。但是，对许多群体来说，这与知道现在是4点钟完全不相干。
They needed to know how much daylight have I got left, or when is the prayer time I need to observe for completely different reasons,
他们需要知道的是白天还剩多少时间，或者什么时候是祈祷的时间。有各种不同的理由需要遵守时间。
and whilst precision is wonderful it’s also very much a straitjacket.
时间精确的确很有用，但同时也带来许多束缚。
Everybody is dominated by… looking at the watch and smartphone all the time, when we observe people. So we basically became a slave to time.
当我们观察人群的时候，每个人都一直看手表或手机。我们几乎成了时间的奴隶。
So in the past, they had different reasons for wanting to know the time, is that it?
所以过去，他们有各种不同的原因想要知道时间，对吗？
Yes – in ancient times, people were concerned about the changing of the seasons and how this affected them.When it was time to plants crops, or when to harvest them. When the rainy season was going to start…
是的。古时候，人们关注季节的变迁极其对自身的影响。何时播种，何时收获，雨季何时到来等等。
Now you mention it, in the Muslim world, the start of Ramadan is traditionally calculated by the rising of the crescent moon – which changes every year.And you can’t calculate that with modern methods of timekeeping.
说起这个，在穆斯林国家，斋月的开始传统上从新月开始计算，新月每年都有变化。所以你不能按照现代的时间计算。
You’re catching on, Neil! Now, what does Dr Ackermann mean when she says precision is a straitjacket?
理解的不错。尼尔，阿克曼说的精确度是一种束缚是什么意思?
She means that always wanting to be precise about time can limit what we do in a way that is damaging.
她是说对时间要求特别精确会对我们的处事方式造成限制。
So we need to take our time – relax a bit… That’s my philosophy for life.
所以我们要不慌不忙，放松一点……这是我的生活哲学呀。
But we are seriously running out of time now, Rob – so please hurry up and tell us the answer to today’s quiz question.
但是罗布，我们的节目时间不多了。所以抓紧时间告诉大家今天小测验的答案！
OK. Well, the answer is bell. So, you were right, Neil! The word clock is derived from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell".A silent instrument that doesn’t have a bell has traditionally been known as a timepiece. But today a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time.
好好好。答案就是bell，铃声。你答对了尼尔。clock这个词来源于凯尔特语中的clagan和clocca，意思是铃声。一种无声的装置，传统上被视为计时装置。但是如今的clock则是一种测算和展示时间的装置。
Well, moving quickly on, let’s go through the words we learned today.First up was ’run out of time’ – or use it all up. You can run out of pretty much anything…
好的。继续加速。我们来回顾一下今天的单词。首先是run out of time，用光、耗尽。你可以用光任何东西。
’Oh no! We’ve run out of sugar! Who’s going to the shops to buy some more?’
“天呐，我们把糖吃光了，谁能再买点来？”
Number two – ’pendulum’ – a stick with a weight on the end that swings regularly from side to side, controlling the movement of a clock.
第二个pendulum钟摆，一根规律性摇摆的、有一定重量的棍状物，控制时钟的移动轨迹。
’The pendulum on my Grandfather Clock has stopped swinging.’
“我的老爷钟上的钟摆不动了。”
Sorry to hear that, Rob. Number three – a ’dial’ is the round part of a clock.But more generally, it refers to a round instrument that shows you the amount of something, for example, heat, pressure or speed.
真遗憾，罗布。第三个——dial刻度盘，钟表的圆形部分。但是一般来说，指的是用来展示某物的数量，比如热量、压力或速度。
’The hands moved slowly round the clock dial.’
“这双手沿着钟表刻度盘缓慢移动。”
Phones used to have dials that you turned to make a phone call. Here’s the verb: ’I dialled his number but he didn’t answer.’
打电话的时候需要先拨号。这里是动词：“我拨打他的号码，但是他没有接。”
Alfred Hitchcock made a film called ’Dial M for Murder’! OK – number four is ’mechanical’ – to do with machines. ’Our plane was delayed because of a mechanical problem.’
阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克曾导演过一部电影“电话谋杀案”！好了，看第四个mechanical机械的——与机器有关。“我们的飞机因为机械故障延误了。”
Number five – ’precise’ – which means accurate and exact.So ’What type of mechanical problem? Could you be more precise, Rob?’
第五个——precise精确的，意思是精确、准确的。所以“什么样的机械故障呢？你能说的再精确点么罗布？”
No, I don’t have time, Neil! Number six is ’straitjacket’.
不，我没时间了尼尔！第六个是straitjacket，约束，紧身衣。
Which means limiting what somebody can do in a way that is damaging.It’s also a jacket with long arms that are tied behind a person to stop them from behaving violently.
意思是用一种有害的方式限制某人的处事方法。同样也是一件长袖的、紧身的外衣，限制人们的暴力行为。
’Oh, no, not the straitjacket! I promise I’ll behave myself, Neil.’
“我不要穿紧身衣。我答应一定规规矩矩的，尼尔。”
OK, if you really promise, Rob.
好吧罗布，如果你能说到做到。
Right. Well, we’ve run out of time! Please check out our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages.
好的。我们的时间用光了！大家记得访问我们的Instagram、Twitter、Facebook还有YouTube主页哦
Goodbye!
再见！
Bye-bye!
拜拜！