Years Ago, The Year Was 400 Days Long 多年前，一年长达400天
Don: Yaël, do you notice the days changing length over the course of the year?
东：雅瑶，你有注意到一年中每一天的长度在改变么？
Yaël: Sure, Don, it stays light later in the summer and gets dark earlier in the winter.
雅瑶：当然了，东，夏天白天长些，冬天天黑得早些。
Don: No, that’s not it. I mean the whole day feels longer.
东：不，我说的不是这件事。我的意思是一整天感觉变长了些。
Yaël: I’m not sure that’s possible, Don aren’t days always 24 hours long?
雅瑶：我不确定它是不是真的，东，难道一天不总是24个小时么？
Earth’s Rotation
地球自转
Well, it actually takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds for the Earth to rotate on its axis. But in fact the Earth’s rotation is slowing down all the time because of the gravitational pull of the moon.
其实，实际上，地球绕地轴自转一周需要23小时56分零4秒。但实际上，因为有月球的万有引力作用，地球自转一直在变慢。
Does this mean that the days really do feel longer? Nope. The moon slows us down by about two milliseconds a century, so that even 1 million years ago days were only twenty seconds shorter.
这就意味着一天真让人觉得变长了？不。每过一个世纪，月球使我们慢了2毫秒。因此，即使比起一百万年前的某一天，现在也仅仅慢了20秒。
Would People Notice?
人们会注意到么？
I doubt I would have noticed that.
我不认为我能注意到。
Maybe not a million years ago. But 400 million years ago days were 21 and a half hours long, which you would have noticed.
可能不是一百万年前，而是4亿年前的某一天，当时一天长21.5小时，这样你可能就能注意到。
400 Days Per Year
一年400天
What you really would have noticed is that the time it takes the Earth to get around the sun hasn’t changed, so that back then there were 400 days a year.
你真正能意识到的是：地球绕着太阳公转的时间没有改变，所以那时一年有400天。
Scientists have found fossil evidence from tropical corals that existed at that time, and they have about 400 daily growth rings per year. So someone was enjoying all those extra sunny days.
从存活在那时的热带珊瑚中，科学家已经发现了化石证据。它们每年大约有400个生长日轮。所以过去的人能享受这些多出来的艳阳天。 |