hy We Have Time Zones 時區是怎么來的

Robert McNamara

顏丹 選譯

Time zones， a novel concept in the 1800s， were created by railroad officials who held meetings in 1883 to deal with a major headache. It was becoming impossible to know what time it was.

The cause of confusion was simply that the United States had no time standard. Each town or city would keep its own solar3 time， setting clocks so noon was when the sun was directly overhead.

That made perfect sense for anyone who never left town. But it became complicated4 for travelers. Noon in Boston would be a few minutes before noon in New York City. And Philadelphians experienced noon a few minutes after New Yorkers did.

For railroads， which needed reliable5 timetables， this created a huge problem. “Fifty-six standards of time are now employed by the various railroads of the country in preparing their schedules of running times，” reported the front page of the New York Times on April 19， 1883.

Something had to be done， and by the end of 1883， the United States， for the most part， was operating on four time zones. Within a few years， the entire world followed that example.

So its fair to say the American railroads changed the way the entire planet told time.

時區在19世紀還是一個新奇的概念，是由鐵路官員創造出來的。他們在1883年召開會議以解決一個重大的難題。而現在已經不可能知道會議是幾點召開的了。

造成混亂的原因很簡單，就是美國沒有時間標準。每個鄉鎮或城市都有自己的太陽時，所以按照正午太陽直射頭頂的時間來設置時鐘。

這對那些從未離開過自己所在城鎮的人來說很清楚。但對于旅行者來說，情況變得復雜起來。波士頓的正午比紐約市的正午要早幾分鐘。費城人要比紐約人晚幾分鐘過正午。

對于需要可靠時間表的鐵路部門來說，這導致了一個巨大的問題。”1883年4月19日的《紐約時報》頭版報道說：“目前，全國各鐵路公司在編制運行時刻表時采用了56個時間標準。”

必須要做些什么了。到了1883年年底，美國大部分地區都采用了四個時區制。幾年之內，全世界都效仿了這個范例。

所以可以說，是美國鐵路改變了整個地球報時的方式。

The Decision to Standardize6 Time

The development of the railroads in the years following the Civil War only made the confusion over all the local time zones seem worse. Finally， in the spring of 1883， the leaders of the nations railroads sent representatives7 to a meeting of what was called the General Railroad Time Convention.

On April 11， 1883， in St. Louis， Missouri， railroad officials agreed to create five time zones in North America： Provincial， Eastern， Central， Mountain， and Pacific.

The concept8 of standard time zones had actually been suggested by several professors going back to the early 1870s. At first， it was suggested that there be two time zones， set to when noon occurred in Washington， D.C. and New Orleans. But that would create potential9 problems for people living in the West， so the idea finally developed into four “time belts” set to straddle10 the 75th， 90th， 105th， and 115th meridians.

On October 11， 1883， the General Railroad Time Convention met again in Chicago. And it was formally decided that the new standard of time would take effect a little more than a month later， on Sunday， November 18， 1883.

As the day for the big change was coming closer， newspapers published a great number of articles explaining how the process would work.

The shift only amounted11 to a few minutes for many people. In New York City， for example， the clocks would be turned back four minutes. Going forward， noon in New York would occur at the same moment as noon in Boston， Philadelphia， and other cities in the East.

In many towns and cities， jewelers used the event to drum up business by offering to set watches to the new time standard. And though the new time standard had not been sanctioned12 by the government， the Naval Observatory in Washington offered to send， by telegraph， a new time signal so people could synchronize13 their watches.

時間標準化的決定

美國內戰之后幾年的鐵路發展只使得所有使用本地時間的地區的情況更混亂。最后，在1883年春天，美國鐵路部門的領導人派代表參加了名為“全體鐵路時間大會”的會議。

1883年4月11日，在密蘇里州的圣路易斯，鐵路官員們同意在北美設立五個時區：省區、東部時區、中部時區、山區時區和太平洋時區。

實際上，早在19世紀70年代初就有幾位教授提出過標準時區的概念。起初，有人提議劃分為兩個時區，分別以華盛頓特區和新奧爾良的正午時間為準。但這會給生活在西部的人們帶來潛在的問題，所以這一想法最終演變成了四條橫跨第75度、90度、105度和115度經線的“時間帶”。

1883年10月11日，“通用全體鐵路時間大會”在芝加哥再次召開。該大會正式決定新的時間標準將在一個多月后的星期日，即1883年11月18日生效。

隨著大變革日期的臨近，各個報紙發表了大量文章，解釋這一過程將如何進行。

對于許多人來說，這次變革只相當于幾分鐘（的改變）。例如，在紐約市，時鐘會調慢4分鐘。從此，紐約的正午時間和波士頓、費城以及東部其他城市相同。

在許多城鎮，珠寶商們通過提供按新的時間標準校準手表的服務來招攬生意。盡管新的時間標準沒有得到聯邦政府的批準，但華盛頓的海軍天文臺已經提出通過電報發送一個新的時間信號，以便人們校準他們的手表。

Resistance to Standard Time

It seems most people had no objection14 to the new time standard， and it was widely accepted as a sign of progress. Travelers on the railroads， in particular， appreciated it. An article in the New York Times on November 16， 1883， noted， “The passenger from Portland， Me.， to Charleston， S.C.， or from Chicago to New Orleans， can make the entire run without changing his watch.”

As the time change was set up by the railroads， and voluntarily accepted by many towns and cities， some incidents of confusion appeared in newspapers. A report in the Philadelphia Inquirer on November 21， 1883， described an incident where a debtor15 had been ordered to report to a Boston courtroom at 9：00 on the previous morning. The newspaper story concluded：

“According to custom， the poor debtor is allowed one hours grace16. He appeared before the commissioner at 9：48 oclock， standard time， but the commissioner ruled that it was after ten oclock and defaulted17 him. The case will probably be brought before the Supreme Court.”

Incidents like that showed the need for everyone to adopt the new standard time. However， in some places， resistance continued for a long time. An item in the New York Times the following summer， on June 28， 1884， detailed how the city of Louisville， Kentucky， had given up on standard time. Louisville set all its clocks ahead 18 minutes to return to solar time.

The problem in Louisville was that while the banks adapted to the time standard of the railroad， other businesses did not. So the confusion about when business hours actually ended each day existed for a long time.

Of course， throughout the 1880s most businesses saw the value of standard time. By the 1890s standard time and time zones were accepted as ordinary.

標準時間遇到的阻力

似乎大多數人都不反對新的時間標準，它作為進步的標志被人們廣泛接受。尤其是鐵路上的旅客，對此表示贊賞。1883年11月16日《紐約時報》的一篇文章指出，“從美國緬因州波特蘭到南卡羅來納州查爾斯頓，或從芝加哥到新奧爾良的乘客，全程可以不用再調整手表時間了。”

隨著鐵路實行時間調整，以及許多城鎮的自發接受，一些混亂的插曲出現在了報紙上。1883年11月21日《費城問訊報》的一篇報道說，一位債務人被命令在前一天早上的9：00到波士頓法庭報到。該報總結說：

“按照慣例，可以寬限可憐的債務人一小時。他在標準時間的9點48分出現在官員面前，但該官員裁定他是在10點以后出現的，判定他違約。這個案子可能會被移交到最高法院。”

類似的事件表明，每個人都需要采用新的標準時間。然而，在有些地方，阻力持續了很長時間。接下來的夏天里，在1884年6月28日，《紐約時報》刊登了一篇文章，詳細描述了肯塔基州路易斯維爾市是如何放棄標準時間的。路易斯維爾把所有的鐘都調快了18分鐘回到了他們的太陽時。

路易斯維爾市的問題在于，雖然銀行調整為鐵路的時間標準，但其他企業卻沒有。因此，人們在很長一段時間里都對每天的工作時間到底什么時候結束而感到困惑。

當然，在整個19世紀80年代，大多數企業都看到了標準時間的價值。到了19世紀90年代，標準時間和時區已經普遍被人們接受了。

Time Zones Went Worldwide

Britain and France had each adopted national time standards decades earlier， but as they were smaller countries， there was no need for more than one time zone. The successful adoption of standard time in the United States in 1883 set an example of how time zones could spread across the globe.

The following year a time convention in Paris began the work of designating time zones worldwide. Finally， the time zones around the globe we know today came into use.

The United States government made the time zones official by passing the Standard Time Act in 1918. Today， most people simply take time zones for granted and have no idea that time zones were actually a solution18 raised by the railroads.

時區走向全球

英國和法國早在幾十年前就各自采用了全國時間標準，但由于它們是較小的國家，因此不需設定多個時區。1883年美國成功采用了標準時間，這為時區如何走向全球樹立了榜樣。

第二年，巴黎的一個時間會議開始制定全球時區。最終，全世界開始使用我們今天所知道的時區。

美國政府于1918年通過了《標準時間法案》，制定了官方時區。今天，大多數人認為時區的存在是理所當然的，并不知道時區實際上是鐵路公司提出的一個解決問題的方案。

（英語原文選自：thoughtco.com）