日光节约时间

Every year some countries move their clocks forward in the spring only to move them back in the autumn. To the vast majority of the world who doesn’t participate in this odd clock fiddling — it seems a baffling thing to do. So what’s the reason behind it?
有些国家每年在春天时要将时钟调快，就是为了在秋天时调回来。对世界上绝大多数没有参与这奇怪的窜改时间活动的国家来说–这似乎是一件令人困惑的事。所以它背后的原因是什么？

The original idea, proposed by George Hudson, was to give people more sunlight in the summer. Of course, it’s important to note that changing a clock doesn’t actually make more sunlight. That’s not how physics works.
原先的概念，是由George Hudson提出的，为的是要让人们在夏天时享受更多日光。当然，有一点很重要的是，调了时钟实际上不会制造更多阳光。这不是物理学运作的方式。

But, by moving the clocks forward an hour, compared to all other human activity, the sun will seem to both rise and set later. The time when the clocks are moved forward is called Daylight Saving Time, and the rest of the year is called Standard Time.
但是，把时钟调快一个钟头，相对于人类的其他活动，太阳似乎能晚点升起也晚点下山。时钟调快的那一个小时叫做“日光节约时间”，一年中剩下的时间则叫做“标准时间”。

This switch effectively gives people more time to enjoy the sunshine and nice summer weather after work. Hudson, in particular, wanted more sunlight so he could spend more time adding to his insect collection.
这样的转换有效地让人们下班后能享受更多阳光和宜人的夏日气候。Hudson特别想要更多阳光，这样他就能有更多时间增加他的昆虫标本收藏。

When winter is coming, the clocks move back, presumably because people don’t want to go outside anymore. But, winter doesn’t have this effect on everyone. If you live in a tropical place like Hawaii, you really don’t have to worry about seasons, because they pretty much don’t happen.
当冬天来临，时钟就调回来，推测是因为人们再也不想到外头去了。但是，冬天不是在每个人身上都有这种效果。如果你住在像是夏威夷的热带地区，你实在不必担心季节变换，因为季节变换大多不会发生。

Every day, all year, it’s sunny and beautiful, so Christmas is just as good of a day to hit the beach as any other. And so, Hawaii is one of two states in the Union that ignore Daylight Saving Time.

整年的每一天，都是晴朗的美好天气，所以圣诞节就像其它日子一样都很适合到海边。所以，夏威夷是美国联邦内无视日光节约时间的两个州之一。

But, the further you travel from the equator in either direction, the more the seasons assert themselves, and you get colder and darker winters, making summer time much more valuable to the locals. So it’s no surprise that the further a country is from the equator, the more likely it uses Daylight Saving Time.
但，不论哪个方向，你离赤道越远，四季就越加明显，你的冬天会更寒冷、更阴暗，让夏季光阴对当地人来说更加珍贵。所以不意外的，距离赤道越远的国家，越有可能会使用日光节约时间。

Hudson proposed his idea in Wellington in 1895, but it wasn’t well received, and it took until 1916 for Germany to be the first country to put it into practice. Though, the uber-industrious Germans were less concerned with catching butterflies on a fine summer evening than they were with saving coal to feed the war machine.

1895年时Hudson在威灵顿提出了他的想法，但并不受好评，直到1916年德国才成为第一个实行的国家。虽然超级勤奋的德国人关心的不是在舒适的夏日午后来抓抓蝴蝶，而是关心要节省煤炭供给战争机器使用。

The Germans thought Daylight Saving Time would conserve energy. The reasoning goes that it encourages people to stay out later in the summer and thus use less artificial lighting.
德国人认为日光节约时间可以节省能源。理由是它能鼓励人们在夏天时待在户外久一点，因此能少用人工照明。

This sounds logical, and it may have worked in the more regimented society of a hundred years ago, but does it still work in the modern world? That turns out to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer.
这听起来很合逻辑，在一百年前严格管制的社会也许行得通，但它在现代世界也可行吗？结果很意外地是个很难回答的问题。

For example, take mankind’s greatest invention: Air Conditioning — The magic box of cool that makes otherwise uninhabitable sections of the world quite tolerable places to live. But, pumping heat out of your house isn’t cheap, and turning on one air conditioner is the same as running dozens of Tungsten light bulbs.
拿人类最伟大的发明：冷气作为例子–这个神奇的凉爽盒子让世界上一些若无冷气不宜居住的区域变成蛮适合居住的所在。但是，将热气从家里抽出并不便宜，而且打开一台冷气机等同于使用数打钨丝灯泡。

If people get more sunshine, but don’t use it to go outside, then Daylight Saving Time might actually cost electricity, not save it. This is particularly true in a place like Phoenix, where the Average Summer High is 107 degrees, and the record is 122.
如果人们有更多阳光，却不出门使用，日光节约时间实际上可能会耗费电力，而不是节省。这在像是凤凰城的地方特别正确，那里平均夏日高温是华氏107度（约摄氏41度），最高记录是122度（约摄氏50度）。

If you suggest to an Arizonian to change their clocks in the summer to get more sunshine, they’ll laugh in your face. Sun and higher electricity bills are not what they want, which is why Arizona is the second state that never changes their clocks.
如果你建议一名亚利桑那州居民在夏天调时钟来得到更多阳光，他们会当着你的面大笑。太阳和更贵的电费账单不是他们想要的，这也是为什么亚利桑那州是第二个从未调整时钟的州。

Another problem with trying to study Daylight Saving Time is rapid changes in technology and electrical use. As technology gets better and better and better, more electricity is dedicated to things that aren’t light bulbs.
另一个试着研究日光节约时间的问题是科技和用电的急遽变化。科技进步、进步、再进步，越来越多的电力就用在不是灯泡的东西上。

And the lure of a hot, sweaty, mosquito-filled day outside is less appealing than technological entertainments and climate-controlled comfort inside.
而室外炎热、汗流浃背、充满蚊子的白昼魅力，可不比科技娱乐以及空调舒适的室内来的有吸引力。

Also the horrifically energy inefficient Tungsten light bulbs that have remained unchanged for a century are giving way to CFLs and LEDs — greatly reducing the amount of energy required to light a room.
还有已经留存一世纪没有变化、能源效能奇低的钨丝灯泡，正让路给CFL和LED节能灯–大大地减少需要照亮一间房的能源量。

So, even assuming that Daylight Saving Time is effective, it’s probably less effective with every passing year.
所以，即便假设日光节约时间是有效的，可能每过一年效果就会差一点。

The bottom line is while some studies say DST costs more electricity, and others say it saves electricity, the one thing they agree on is the effect size: not 20% or 10% but 1% or less, which, in the United States, works out to be about $4 per household.
最后的结果是，虽然有些研究表示日光节约时间耗费更多电力，有些则说节省电力，他们都同意的一件事是效果大小：不是20%也不是10%，而是1%甚至更少，在美国，结果每户约是4美元。

$4 saved or spent on electricity over an entire year is not really a huge deal either way. So the question now becomes: Is the hassle of switching the clocks twice a year worth it?
一整年省下或是多付4美元的电费不管怎样实在都不是一件大事。所以现在问题变成：一年调两次时钟这麻烦值得吗？

The most obvious trouble comes from sleep deprivation — an already too common reflection in the western world that DST makes measurably worse.
最明显的麻烦来自于睡眠剥夺–一个西方世界已经非常普遍的反思，日光节约时间让它更加糟糕。

With time-tracking software we can actually see that people are less productive the week after the clock changes. This comes with huge associated costs.
透过时间追踪软件，我们可以实际看到人们在调完时钟后的那个礼拜是比较没生产力的。这带来了巨大的相关成本。

To make things worse, most countries take away that hour of sleep on a Monday morning. Sleep deprivation can lead to heart attacks and suicides, and the Daylight Saving Time Monday has a higher than normal spike in both.
让情况更糟的是，大部分国家带走了星期一早上一小时的睡眠时间。睡眠剥夺可能会导致心脏病和自杀，而在日光节约时间内的周一，两者发生的机会都比平常更高。

Other troubles come from scheduling meetings across time zones. Let’s say that you’re trying to plan a three-way conference between New York, London and Sydney — not an easy thing to do under the best of circumstances, but made extra difficult when they don’t agree on when Daylight Saving Time should start and end.
其他麻烦则来自于跨时区会议的时间安排。比方说你试着要在纽约、伦敦和雪梨间安排一场三方会议–在最佳的情况之下也不是件容易做的事，但当他们在日光节约时间应该何时开始和结束没有取得一致，就变得格外困难了。

In the spring, Sydney is 11 hours ahead of London, and New York is 5 hours behind. But then New York is the first to enter Daylight Saving Time and moves its clock forward an hour. Two weeks later London does the same. In one more week, Sydney, being on the opposite side of the world, leaves Daylight Saving Time and moves its clock back an hour.
在春天，悉尼比伦敦快11个小时，而纽约慢5个小时。但接着纽约是第一个进入日光节约时间，并把时钟调快一小时的。两周后伦敦做了相同的事。再过一周，悉尼，在世界的另外一端，离开日光节约时间，并将时钟调慢一小时。

So in the space of 3 weeks, New York is 5 hours behind London, then 4 hours and then 5 hours again. And Sydney is either 11, 10 or 9 nine hours from London, and 16, 15 or 14 hours from New York. And this whole crazy thing happens again in reverse six months later.
所以在这三周的时间，纽约比伦敦晚了5小时，然后晚4小时，又再次晚5小时。而雪梨要不就是比伦敦早了11、10、或9个小时，要不就是早纽约16、15或14小时。这整件疯狂的事在六个月之后又会反转过来再次发生。

Back in the dark ages, this might not have mattered so much, but in the modern, interconnected world, planning international meetings happens thousands and thousands of times daily. Shifting and inconsistent time zones isn’t doing Netizens any favors.
如果回到黑暗时期，这可能不是那么重要，但在现代相互连结的世界，国际会议的安排每天都会发生几千次。持续变换、不一致的时区不会帮上网友们任何忙。

And, countries aren’t even consistent about Daylight Saving Time within their own borders.
而且，许多国家在自己境内甚至也没有就日光节约时间取得一致。

Brazil has Daylight Saving Time, but only if you live in the south. Canada has it too, but not Saskatchewan. Most of Oz does DST, but not Western Australia, The Northern Territory or Queensland.

巴西使用日光节约时间，但只有你住在南部才会用到。加拿大也有，但Saskatchewan省没有。大部分的澳洲人使用日光节约时间，但西澳、北领地或昆士兰则没有。

And, of course, the United States does have Daylight Saving Time, unless you live in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands or… as mentioned before, Hawaii and Arizona. But Arizona isn’t even consistent within itself.
还有，当然，美国的确有使用日光节约时间，除非你住在波多黎各、维京群岛、美属萨摩亚、关岛、北马里亚纳群岛，或是…先前提过的，夏威夷和亚利桑那州。但亚利桑那州自己境内也不一致。

While Arizona ignores Daylight Saving Time, the Navaho Nation inside of Arizona follows it. Inside of the Navaho Nation is the Hopi Reservation, which like Arizona, ignores daylight saving time.

虽然亚利桑那州无视日光节约时间，但境内的Navaho Nation却遵循着它。而Navaho Nation内的Hopi原住民保留区，就像亚利桑那州一样无视日光节约时间。

Going deeper, inside of the Hopi Reservation is another part of the Navaho Nation, which does follow Daylight Saving Time. And finally, there is also part of the Hopi Reservation elsewhere in the Navaho Nation which doesn’t. So driving across this hundred-mile stretch would technically necessitate 7 clock changes, which is insane.
更深入点，在Hopi 保留区里有Navaho Nation的另一部分，遵循日光节约时间。最后，在Navaho Nation内另外一部分的Hopi保留区则没有遵循它。所以开车开过这绵延百里的土地，技术上会需要7次时间变换，这很疯狂。

While this is an unusual local oddity, here is a map showing the different daylight saving and time zone rules in all their complicated glory. It’s a huge mess, and constantly needs updating as countries change their laws. Which is why it shouldn’t be surprising that even our digital gadgets can’t keep the time straight occasionally.
尽管这是个不正常的当地怪事，这是一张地图，从他们繁复的丰功伟业之中，展示出不同的日光节约和时区规范。这真是乱七八糟，当国家修改法律时也需要持续更新。这就是为什么不意外的，甚至连我们的数字小工具有时也跟不上时间变换。

So to review: Daylight Saving Time gives more sunlight in the summer after work, which depending on where you live, might be in advantage or not. And it may or may not save electricity.

所以来复习一下：日光节约时间在夏天下班后给你更多阳光，端看你住在哪里，可能是好处也可能不是。可能也可能不会节省能源。

But one thing is for sure — it’s guaranteed to make something that should be simple, keeping track of time, quite complicated. Which is why when it comes time to change the clocks, there’s always a debate about whether or not we should.
但有件事是确定的–它必定将原本应该要简单、能掌握时间的事情变得相当复杂。这就是为什么当要调整时钟的时候，总是有我们该不该这么做的争论。