VOA慢速英语--Don’t Forget to Turn Back the Clock!

Many Americans have a chance to sleep in a little longer this weekend.

In the early hours of Sunday, November 3, Daylight Saving Time comes to an end in most of the country. People are supposed to turn their clocks back an hour. So, they will have one more hour to rest.

But there are exceptions. The time change is not observed in the states of Arizona or Hawaii or United States territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin¹ Islands.

Daylight saving time is the tradition of moving the clocks forward one hour in March and turning them back again in November. Americans use the expression "spring forward, fall back" to remember which way to set their clocks.

American Benjamin Franklin first proposed the time change in 1784. He liked the idea of moving clocks forward to take advantage of more sunlight during the summer months.

Franklin wrote, "Every morning, as soon as the Sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing: and if that is not sufficient, let cannon² be fired in every street to wake the sluggards..."

This led some people to believe that the proposal to move the time forward was just an attempt to make late sleepers⁴ get up early.

In 1915, Germany and Britain agreed to the time change during World War I to save energy. When the United States entered the war, Congress passed a law in 1918 to adopt Daylight Saving Time. The practice ended in 1920 because American farmers objected, but returned in 1942 after the U.S. entered World War II.

After the fighting stopped, American states and towns were given a choice whether to keep daylight saving time. For a time, this led to a free-for-all system, with people never really sure about the timing⁵ of bus and train service. Congress passed a law to keep the time uniform across the country; however, several states, including Hawaii and Arizona, kept control of the local time.

The idea behind daylight saving time was to save energy. With more sunlight later in the day, people would use less electric lighting⁶. But scientists now say people use even more energy to operate air-conditioners for the long, hot days of summer.

The Time and Date website says fewer than 40 percent of countries around the world use daylight saving time, or DST. In Europe, where the time change was first adopted, the European Parliament voted in March to end it by 2021. European Union member countries, however, can choose to stay on DST, known as "summer time," or return to normal time, or "winter time."

In the United States, some states are trying to decide whether to stay on DST year-round or just end the time change altogether.

Florida became the first state to approve a proposal for observing DST year-round and California soon may follow. Other states, like Texas, are looking to stay in standard time permanently⁷. All measures will require U.S. Congressional approval.

One of the Americans who wants to end the time change is President Donald Trump⁸. Trump wrote on Twitter earlier this year, "Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!"

Words in This Story

advantage - n. benefit or gain

sufficient - adj. enough, having or providing as much as is needed

cannon - n. a large gun that shoots heavy stone balls

sluggard³ - n. a lazy person

uniform - adj. staying the same at all times in all places

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

3 sluggard   

n.懒人；adj.懒惰的

参考例句：

• I will not,like a sluggard,wear out my youth in idleness at home.我不愿意象个懒人一样待在家里，游手好闲地把我的青春消磨掉。
• Seryozhka is a sluggard.谢辽日卡是个懒汉，酒鬼。

4 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

7 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。