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(shí)區(qū)在19世紀(jì)還是一個(gè)新奇的概念，是由鐵路官員創(chuàng)造出來(lái)的。他們?cè)?883年召開(kāi)會(huì)議以解決一個(gè)重大的難題。而現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不可能知道會(huì)議是幾點(diǎn)召開(kāi)的了。

造成混亂的原因很簡(jiǎn)單，就是美國(guó)沒(méi)有時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。每個(gè)鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)或城市都有自己的太陽(yáng)時(shí)，所以按照正午太陽(yáng)直射頭頂?shù)臅r(shí)間來(lái)設(shè)置時(shí)鐘。

這對(duì)那些從未離開(kāi)過(guò)自己所在城鎮(zhèn)的人來(lái)說(shuō)很清楚。但對(duì)于旅行者來(lái)說(shuō)，情況變得復(fù)雜起來(lái)。波士頓的正午比紐約市的正午要早幾分鐘。費(fèi)城人要比紐約人晚幾分鐘過(guò)正午。

對(duì)于需要可靠時(shí)間表的鐵路部門(mén)來(lái)說(shuō)，這導(dǎo)致了一個(gè)巨大的問(wèn)題?！?883年4月19日的《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》頭版報(bào)道說(shuō)：“目前，全國(guó)各鐵路公司在編制運(yùn)行時(shí)刻表時(shí)采用了56個(gè)時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)?！?/p>

必須要做些什么了。到了1883年年底，美國(guó)大部分地區(qū)都采用了四個(gè)時(shí)區(qū)制。幾年之內(nèi)，全世界都效仿了這個(gè)范例。

所以可以說(shuō)，是美國(guó)鐵路改變了整個(gè)地球報(bào)時(shí)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(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的決定

美國(guó)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)之后幾年的鐵路發(fā)展只使得所有使用本地時(shí)間的地區(qū)的情況更混亂。最后，在1883年春天，美國(guó)鐵路部門(mén)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人派代表參加了名為“全體鐵路時(shí)間大會(huì)”的會(huì)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(shè)立五個(gè)時(shí)區(qū)：省區(qū)、東部時(shí)區(qū)、中部時(shí)區(qū)、山區(qū)時(shí)區(qū)和太平洋時(shí)區(qū)。

實(shí)際上，早在19世紀(jì)70年代初就有幾位教授提出過(guò)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)區(qū)的概念。起初，有人提議劃分為兩個(gè)時(shí)區(qū)，分別以華盛頓特區(qū)和新奧爾良的正午時(shí)間為準(zhǔn)。但這會(huì)給生活在西部的人們帶來(lái)潛在的問(wèn)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(jīng)線的“時(shí)間帶”。

1883年10月11日，“通用全體鐵路時(shí)間大會(huì)”在芝加哥再次召開(kāi)。該大會(huì)正式?jīng)Q定新的時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將在一個(gè)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(gè)報(bào)紙發(fā)表了大量文章，解釋這一過(guò)程將如何進(jìn)行。

對(duì)于許多人來(lái)說(shuō)，這次變革只相當(dāng)于幾分鐘（的改變）。例如，在紐約市，時(shí)鐘會(huì)調(diào)慢4分鐘。從此，紐約的正午時(shí)間和波士頓、費(fèi)城以及東部其他城市相同。

在許多城鎮(zhèn)，珠寶商們通過(guò)提供按新的時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)校準(zhǔn)手表的服務(wù)來(lái)招攬生意。盡管新的時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)沒(méi)有得到聯(lián)邦政府的批準(zhǔn)，但華盛頓的海軍天文臺(tái)已經(jīng)提出通過(guò)電報(bào)發(fā)送一個(gè)新的時(shí)間信號(hào)，以便人們校準(zhǔn)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(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間遇到的阻力

似乎大多數(shù)人都不反對(duì)新的時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，它作為進(jìn)步的標(biāo)志被人們廣泛接受。尤其是鐵路上的旅客，對(duì)此表示贊賞。1883年11月16日《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的一篇文章指出，“從美國(guó)緬因州波特蘭到南卡羅來(lái)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(diào)整手表時(shí)間了。”

隨著鐵路實(shí)行時(shí)間調(diào)整，以及許多城鎮(zhèn)的自發(fā)接受，一些混亂的插曲出現(xiàn)在了報(bào)紙上。1883年11月21日《費(fèi)城問(wèn)訊報(bào)》的一篇報(bào)道說(shuō)，一位債務(wù)人被命令在前一天早上的9：00到波士頓法庭報(bào)到。該報(bào)總結(jié)說(shuō)：

“按照慣例，可以寬限可憐的債務(wù)人一小時(shí)。他在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間的9點(diǎn)48分出現(xiàn)在官員面前，但該官員裁定他是在10點(diǎn)以后出現(xiàn)的，判定他違約。這個(gè)案子可能會(huì)被移交到最高法院?！?/p>

類似的事件表明，每個(gè)人都需要采用新的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間。然而，在有些地方，阻力持續(xù)了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。接下來(lái)的夏天里，在1884年6月28日，《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》刊登了一篇文章，詳細(xì)描述了肯塔基州路易斯維爾市是如何放棄標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間的。路易斯維爾把所有的鐘都調(diào)快了18分鐘回到了他們的太陽(yáng)時(shí)。

路易斯維爾市的問(wèn)題在于，雖然銀行調(diào)整為鐵路的時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，但其他企業(yè)卻沒(méi)有。因此，人們?cè)诤荛L(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間里都對(duì)每天的工作時(shí)間到底什么時(shí)候結(jié)束而感到困惑。

當(dāng)然，在整個(gè)19世紀(jì)80年代，大多數(shù)企業(yè)都看到了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間的價(jià)值。到了19世紀(jì)90年代，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間和時(shí)區(qū)已經(jīng)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(shí)區(qū)走向全球

英國(guó)和法國(guó)早在幾十年前就各自采用了全國(guó)時(shí)間標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，但由于它們是較小的國(guó)家，因此不需設(shè)定多個(gè)時(shí)區(qū)。1883年美國(guó)成功采用了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間，這為時(shí)區(qū)如何走向全球樹(shù)立了榜樣。

第二年，巴黎的一個(gè)時(shí)間會(huì)議開(kāi)始制定全球時(shí)區(qū)。最終，全世界開(kāi)始使用我們今天所知道的時(shí)區(qū)。

美國(guó)政府于1918年通過(guò)了《標(biāo)準(zhǔn)時(shí)間法案》，制定了官方時(shí)區(qū)。今天，大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為時(shí)區(qū)的存在是理所當(dāng)然的，并不知道時(shí)區(qū)實(shí)際上是鐵路公司提出的一個(gè)解決問(wèn)題的方案。

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：thoughtco.com）