新西兰英语 452 The shortest day

 　　Today is the shortest day of the year for the Southern Hemisphere¹. In New Zealand, we have nearly 9 hours of daylight today – to be exact, 8 hours, 56 minutes and 24 seconds at latitude² 43 degrees south. Tomorrow will be 3 seconds longer. Last night was the longest night: 15 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The winter solstice was at 5.16am. This is the time the sun seems to be at its most southern point from the Earth.

　　In the Antarctic Circle, the sun just hits the horizon at midday and then disappears. The rest of the time it is dark.

　　Although this is the time of the winter solstice, winter has been late coming this year. In most parts of New Zealand, the weather in May and early June was mild. Skiers are waiting for snow on the mountains. July is usually our coldest month.

　　This is a time of celebration for Maori. They celebrate their New Year or Matariki from June 4th until July 4th. Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades, a star cluster³ in the constellation⁴ Taurus. You can see this group of stars about half an hour before sunrise, from early June. Many cities have Matariki festival events such as concerts, poetry, art exhibitions, story telling and kite flying.

　　Listen to Winter Solstice 2009 to hear more about the shortest day and Matariki.

　　Vocabulary

　　cluster – a group together

　　constellation – a group of stars which form a pattern. Taurus forms a bull’s head.

　　solstice – this comes from the Latin “sol” which means “sun” and “sistere” which means “to stand still”.

　　Questions

　　1. Does your country celebrate the winter or summer solstice?

　　2. Do you find the long winter nights depressing?

　　3. What do you think it is like in the Antarctic when it is dark for 24 hours at this time of year? How do they manage to feel cheerful?

1 hemisphere   

n.半球，半球地图

参考例句：

• This animal is to be found only in the Southern Hemisphere.这种动物只有在南半球才能找到。
• In most people,the left hemisphere is bigger than the right.多数人的左脑比右脑大。

2 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

3 cluster   

n.串，簇，群，组；vi.群集，丛生；vt.集中

参考例句：

• She held a cluster of flowers in her arms.她抱着一束鲜花。
• A cluster of tourists was surrounded in the hill.一群游客被困在了山中。

4 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。