时差N小时 每年400天

Yael, do you notice the days changing length over the course of the year?

雅埃尔，你有没有注意到一年中每一天的长度在改变么？

Sure, Don, it stays light later in the summer and gets dark earlier in the winter.

当然了，唐，夏天白天长些，冬天天黑得早些。

No, that's not it. I mean the whole day feels longer.

不，我说的不是这件事。我的意思是一整天感觉变长了些。

I'm not sure that's possible, Don aren't days always 24 hours long?

我不确定它是不是真的，难道一天不总是24个小时么？

Well, it actually takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds for the Earth to rotate¹ on its axis².

其实，实际上，地球绕地轴自转一周需要23小时56分零4秒。

But in fact the Earth's rotation³ is slowing down all the time because of the gravitational pull of the moon.

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?

这就意味着一天真让人觉得变长了？

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.

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。

I doubt I would have noticed that.

人们会注意到么？

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。

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 fossil⁴ evidence from tropical⁵ corals that existed at that time, and they have about 400 daily growth rings per year.

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。

So someone was enjoying all those extra sunny days.

所以过去的人能享受这些多出来的日子。

1 rotate   

v.（使）旋转，转动；使轮流

参考例句：

• The doctor asked the patient to rotate his eyes.医生叫病人转动一下眼球。
• You can rotate the wheel with your hand.你可以用手转动轮子。

2 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

3 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

4 fossil   

n.化石，食古不化的人，老顽固

参考例句：

• At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
• The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。

5 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。