Strange things happen to time when you travel, because the earth is divided into twenty-four time zones①, one hour apart. You can have days with more or fewer than twenty-four hours, and weeks with more or fewer than seven days.
If you make a five-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean, Your ship enters a different time zone every day. The time changes one hour as you enter each zone. Traveling west, you set your clock back;traveling east, you set it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours.
If you travel by ship across the Pacific, you cross the International Date Line. By agreement, this is the point where a new day begins. When you cross the line, you change your calendar② one full day, backward or forward. Traveling east, today becomes yesterday;traveling west, it is tomorrow!
① zonen. 地带,地区,分区,时区
② calendarn. 日历,历书
时区和国际日期变更线
你在旅行中,在时间方面会有一些奇怪的事情发生,因为地球分成24个时区,每时区间相隔一小时。在你度过的日子中,可能有多于或少于24小时的;在你度过的星期中,也可能有多于或少于7天的。
假如你进行为期5天越过大西洋的旅行,你的船每天都进入一个不同的时区,每进入一个时区,时间便改变1小时。朝西旅行,你把时钟往后拨;往东旅行,你把时钟向前拨。你旅行中的每一天要么是25小时,要么是23小时。
如果你乘船越过太平洋,你将穿过国际日期变更线。按协定,这是新的一天开始的地方。穿过这条线时,你要在日历上往后或往前更动一整天。朝东旅行,今天变成昨天;往西旅行,今天就是明天。