英语听力文摘 English Digest 658 为何要确立格林威治标准时间？

 　　Why Was Greenwich Standard Time Created?

　　Imagine getting on a train at twelve noon and heading out on a four-hour trip to another town.

　　You’d expect to arrive at four o’clock in the afternoon, right? But before the last few decades of the 19th century, there was no guarantee that this would happen, and it usually had little to do with slow trains or drunken conductors.

　　Until the end of the 19th century virtually every town across the world kept time according to its own methods, creating problems for industries such as railroads that relied on precise timing¹ to deliver goods.

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　　How To Control The Chaos²

　　To bring order to this chaos, a conference was held in Washington, D.C. in 1884. Delegates from around the world designated Greenwich, England as the starting point from which to create international time zones.

　　But why was this small, London suburb chosen to create what became known as Greenwich Standard Time?

　　GST?

　　Over 100 years before the Washington conference, King George II of England designated Greenwich as zero degrees longitude³ in order to help stabilize⁴ the shipping⁵ trade. If you look at a globe of the earth you’ll see that the vertical⁶ line marked ‘zero’ that runs from the North to the South Pole- zero degrees longitude–runs directly through Greenwich.

　　By the time of the Washington conference many shippers already used the longitude system to keep time when traveling by sea. It was only natural for most countries to adopt this system as the basis for creating standard time for the entire planet.

　　Based on longitude increments⁷ of fifteen degrees, time becomes one hour earlier each longitude west of Greenwich, and one hour later each longitude east of Greenwich. In other words, when it’s twelve noon at zero degrees longitude, it’s one o’clock at fifteen longitude east.

　　为什么要确立格林威治标准时间？

　　设想一下：您正乘坐一辆中午12点整出发的火车前往另外一个城市，路途耗费4个小时。

　　你肯定期望在下午四点能够准时到达，对吧？ 但是，在19世纪末之前，保障准确的抵达时间是基本不可能的，并且这与晚点或醉酒的列车长几乎毫无关系。

　　实际上，直到19世纪末为止， 几乎世界上每个城市都有自己记录时间的方式，这就给需要精确定时发送货物的行业，如铁路运输业等带来无尽的麻烦。

　　怎样控制混乱的时间

　　为了让混乱的时间变得有序，各国代表于1884年在华盛顿特区召开了一次会议。代表们指定英国格林威治作为创建国际时区的起点。

　　为什么这个伦敦郊区小镇会被选定并创建格林威治标准时间呢？

　　格林威治标准时间？

　　在华盛顿会议100多年以前，英国国王乔治二世为了稳定航运业，曾将格林威治标为0度经线所在地。如果你看一下地球仪，你可以看到联通南北极的零度经线正好穿过格林威治。

　　在华盛顿会议召开之时，需要船公司在海运过程中已经使用经度系统来掌控时间。大多数国家自然就容易接受使用这一系统作为确认全球标准时间的基础。

　　以每增加经度15度为基准，格林威治每往西一个时区时间便减少一个小时，而每往东一个时区则增加一个小时。换句话说，当零度经线处是中午十二点时，东经15度处便是下午1点。

1 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 longitude   

n.经线，经度

参考例句：

• The city is at longitude 21°east.这个城市位于东经21度。
• He noted the latitude and longitude,then made a mark on the admiralty chart.他记下纬度和经度，然后在航海图上做了个标记。

4 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

5 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

6 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

7 increments   

n.增长( increment的名词复数 )；增量；增额；定期的加薪

参考例句：

• These increments were mixed and looked into the 5.56mm catridge case. 将各种药粒进行混和，装在5．56毫米的弹壳中。 来自辞典例句
• The Rankine scale has scale increments equal to the FahrenheIt'scale. 兰氏温标的温度间距与华氏温标的相同。 来自辞典例句