美国国家公共电台 NPR--Don't forget to turn your clocks back Sunday. It could be the last time you do it

Don't forget to turn your clocks back Sunday. It could be the last time you do it

Transcript¹

If the Senate gets its way, this weekend will be the last time we turn our clocks back an hour. But the House is holding up a bill to make Daylight Saving time permanent amid health concerns.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If you can just make it to this weekend, you get an extra hour of sleep.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Daylight saving time ends. And the clocks go back. For some people working bad hours, this is a relief. For others, it's an adjustment. And, of course, for all of us, sunset abruptly² comes one hour sooner.

MARTIN: Florida Senator Marco Rubio is ready to be done with that early sunset. His Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate in March.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARCO RUBIO: We don't have to keep doing this stupidity anymore. And why we would enshrine this in our laws and keep it for so long is beyond me. But hopefully this is the year that this gets done. And pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come.

MARTIN: If the bill becomes law, we would stay on daylight saving time after switching back to it next spring. Rubio says that should lead to fewer accidents during the evening rush hour, which will take place more often in daylight. It also gives kids longer to play outside before dark.

INSKEEP: But the bill has yet to pass the House, which is hearing from scientists with a different view. Dr. Karin Johnson is a neurologist and director of the Sleep Medicine program at Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass.

KARIN JOHNSON: So a lot of the arguments are using short-term data of what happens around the time of clock change, but are not what happens when you go permanently³ to one time or the other.

INSKEEP: Suppose you looked past those disorienting first days after the time switch. Researchers looked at the health effects of people who live on daylight saving time longer term.

JOHNSON: We also see with that hour-later sunrise and sunsets about 9% more cancers in men and 12% more cancers in women. We see increased obesity⁴ rates about 10 to even up to 30% higher when you're - have those later sunrises and sunsets. So it affects a lot of different, special cardiovascular and other medical conditions.

MARTIN: It goes like this - when your circadian rhythm isn't aligned⁵ with sunlight, it affects hormones⁶ connected with good health. So Dr. Johnson agrees with Senator Rubio that switching back and forth⁷ is not ideal, but does offer the opposite solution.

JOHNSON: So I'd like to see permanent standard time because it is best aligned with our bodies' rhythm. And that just makes life a little easier. When we're aligned with our rhythms, we can sleep easier. We can think easier. We can wake up easier. And all those things lead to better health.

MARTIN: And there's one more thing. She says daylight time's especially hard on many lower-income workers, the people who are up early to pick up the trash, open the store, start a long commute⁸ or make the doughnuts.

JOHNSON: If we go to permanent daylight savings⁹ time, we're going to increase structural¹⁰ disparities. And this is not what we want to do. So we really want to go to permanent standard time for the workers, to make people's lives a little bit easier.

INSKEEP: At least for now, this discussion is hypothetical. As Congress debates, we have two more days on daylight time and then the extra hour Sunday morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE WERKS' "INTO THE MOSS")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

3 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。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

6 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

9 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

10 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。