幾乎從不準點的蘇格蘭塔鐘

Arrive in Edinburgh on any given day and there are certain things you can guarantee. The fairy-tale Gothic of the royal castle， built on an extinct volcanic plug. The medieval riddle of alleys and lanes. The majesty of the churchyards and macabre spires set against a barb of basalt crags， all as if created by a mad god.

Yet there is one other given in the Scottish capital， and it is the hallmark of Princes Street， the citys main road that runs east to west joining Leith to the West End. The time on the turret clock atop The Balmoral Hotel in the east is always wrong. By three minutes， to be exact.

While the clock towers story is legendary in Edinburgh， it remains a riddle for many first-timers. To the untrained eye， the 58m-high landmark is simply part of the grand finale when surveyed from Calton Hill， Edinburghs go-to city-center viewpoint. There it sits to the left of the Dugald Stewart Monument， like a giant exclamation mark above the glazed roof of Waverley Train Station.

Likewise， the sandstone baronial tower looks equally glorious when eyed from the commanding northern ramparts of Edinburgh Castle while peering out over the battlements. It is placed at the citys very center， between the Old Town and the New Town， at the confluence of all business and life. Except， of course， that the dials big hand and little hand are out of sync with Greenwich Mean Time.

This bold irregularity is， in fact， a historical quirk first introduced in 1902 when the Edwardian-era building opened as the North British Station Hotel. Then， as now， it overlooked the platforms and signal boxes of Waverley Train Station， and just as porters in red jackets met guests off the train， whisking them from the station booking hall to the interconnected reception desk in the hotels basement， the North British Railway Company owners wanted to make sure their passengers—and Edinburghs hurrying public—wouldnt miss their trains.

Given an extra three minutes， they reasoned， these travellers would have more time on the clock to collect their tickets， to reach their carriages and to unload their luggage before the stationmasters whistle blew. Still today， it is a calculated miscalculation that helps keep the city on time.

That the clock is wrong every day of the year is not technically true， either. Its time is stretched to accommodate an annual event. On New Years Eve， or Hogmanay as Scots call it， the tower welcomes a special one-off house call， when an engineer is dispatched to remedy the timekeeping error. Plain and simple， the clock needs to be right for the traditional countdown to the midnight bells. Beyond that， everyone relies on it being wrong.

Today， the wrong time is taken for granted in Edinburgh， not because of retrospective sentimentality， but because familiarity breeds affection. Thered be a public outcry if it was ever on time. Remember， this is Scotland. People wouldnt put up with it.

在愛丁堡，人們覺得這座塔鐘時間不準是理所當然的，這并不是因為人們感懷過去，而是因為熟悉會生發感情。如果哪天這座鐘準時了，大眾會強烈抗議。記住，這是蘇格蘭。人們不會容忍鐘是準時的。

In this city of meticulous town planning， dependable tourist crowds and annual festivals， thats something you could set your watch by. Those extra three minutes reveal everything about living here， right now.

這座城市里有著一絲不茍的市鎮規劃，值得信賴的旅游人潮和年度節慶，這些你都可以用來校對你的手表。那多出的三分鐘則揭示了這里的生活和當下的一切。

隨便哪一天到愛丁堡，有一些景象是你一定會看到的：童話中的哥特式皇家城堡屹立在一座死火山的熔巖管道口上，那些充滿謎團的中世紀小巷和道路，莊嚴壯觀的教堂墓地與令人毛骨悚然的尖塔和鉤狀的玄武巖峭壁相映生輝，所有這一切都宛若出自狂放的上帝之手。

然而在蘇格蘭的首府還有一件東西，是王子大街的標志。這條大街是城市的主干道，由東向西穿行，并在西端與賴斯匯合。東端的巴爾莫勒酒店樓頂的塔鐘時間一直不準。準確地說差了三分鐘。

這座鐘塔的故事在愛丁堡家喻戶曉，然而對初來乍到的人來說它卻依舊成謎。在普通人眼里，這個58米高的地標僅僅只是當人們從卡爾頓山丈量這座城市時所看到的“收官之作”的一部分，在卡爾頓山上人們可以俯瞰愛丁堡市中心。鐘塔位于杜格爾德·斯圖爾特紀念碑左邊，仿佛一個巨大的驚嘆號矗立在威佛利火車站的釉色樓頂之上。

相似的是，當人們從愛丁堡城堡那居高臨下的北城墻眺望城垛的時候，這座由砂石筑成的華麗塔樓顯得同樣宏偉壯觀。它恰巧位于城市的中心，在老城與新城之間，匯聚了所有的商業活動和民生生活。當然，除了有一點——表盤的分針和時針與格林尼治標準時間并不同步。

這一明顯的“不合規”之處其實是一則歷史趣談，它首次出現于1902年，當時這座愛德華時期建筑作為北不列顛車站酒店剛開業。接下來，正如現在這樣，它俯瞰著威佛利火車站的月臺和信號塔，仿若身著紅衣的列車服務員在車外迎送旅客，帶著他們飛快地從車站售票大廳來到酒店地下室的互通接待處。北不列顛鐵路公司想要確保他們的旅客，以及愛丁堡步履匆忙的大眾不會錯過火車。

Word Study

spire /'spa??（r）/ n. （教堂等頂部的）尖塔，尖頂

quirk /kw?：k/ n. （尤指偶發的）怪事，奇事

whisk /w?sk/ v. 匆匆帶走;迅速送走

Jamie whisked her off to Paris for the weekend.

remedy /'rem?di/ v. 改正;糾正;改進

retrospective /'retr?'spekt?v/ adj. 回顧的;涉及以往的