很多地方还冰天雪地呢,夏令时就来了!
3月8号,本周日,美国开始实施日光节约时间(Daylight Saving Time)﹐也就是所谓的夏令时,时钟往前拨快1小时。手机、电脑等联网电子产品将自动调整时间。
据称最早有夏时制构思的是美国著名政治家、科学家本杰明·富兰克林,他在任美国驻法国大使期间,由于习惯于当时美国农村世家的早睡早起生活,早上散步时看到法国人10点才起床,夜生活过到深夜。于是他在1784年给《巴黎杂志》的编辑写了一封信,信上说法国人的生活习惯浪费了大好的阳光,建议他们早睡早起,说每年可以节约6千4百万磅蜡烛。但富兰克林当时并没有建议实行夏时制,只是建议人们应该早睡早起。因为当时根本还没有统一的时区划分。不过夏时制在英语里就是“节约阳光时间”的意思。
直到1907年,英国建筑师威廉·维莱特(William Willett)才正式向英国议会提出夏时制的构思,主要是为了节省能源和提供更多的时间用来训练士兵,但议会经过辩论没有采纳。由于其名声不及富兰克林,所以很多人们都将富兰克林当为夏时制的发明者,而忽略了维莱特。
目前全球有70多个国家和地区使用夏令时,美国除亚利桑那(州内的Navajo Nation除外,那里是"一州两制")、夏威夷、波多黎哥、维尔京群岛、关岛和美属萨摩亚群岛外,均使用夏令时。
图中为目前(红色)、过去(浅紫)和从未(深灰)使用夏令时的国家和地区,
Day Light Savings Time (Summer Time)
The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called "Summer Time" in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Countries have different change dates. Glide your cursor over the map to see how changing the clocks affects different latitudes.
For most of the US (except Hawaii and most of Arizona), Daylight Saving Time starts at 2am on the second Sunday of March (March 8 this year) and ends at 2am on the first Sunday of November. Set your clock forward one hour to begin Day Light Savings Time. Using the double meaning of words, we remind ourselves of which direction to turn the clock by saying, “Spring [jump] forward, Fall [tumble] back.”
Daylight Saving Time gives us the opportunity to enjoy sunny summer evenings by moving our clocks an hour forward in the spring.
Yet, the implementation of Daylight Saving Time has been fraught with controversy since Benjamin Franklin conceived of the idea. Even today, regions and countries routinely change their approaches to Daylight Saving Time.