It's About Time

It's About Time, written by Mara Rockliffe.

《关于时间》，作者：玛拉·罗克利夫。

Knowing what time it is. Do you know what time it is? If you do, you probably are looking at a clock or watch.

要知道现在是几点哦。 你知道现在几点吗？ 如果你知道的话，大概率是正在看时钟或者手表对不对？

Using the sun Long ago people didn't have clocks or watches like you do when the Sun rose They got up and when the Sun went down they went to bed They told time by the position of the Sun in the sky

利用太阳计时 很久以前，人们还没有你现在用的这种时钟和手表，太阳升起的时候 他们就起床，太阳落山的时候他们就上床睡觉 他们靠太阳在天空中的位置来判断时间

People discovered that they could use a stick and the sun to tell time. This was called a shadow clock. They put a stick in the ground, pointing straight up. The direction of the stick's shadow and how long or short it was told them the time.

人们发现可以用一根小木棍和太阳来判断时间 这种计时工具叫做影子钟 他们把一根木棍插在地里，直直地朝上立着 木棍影子的方向，还有影子的长短，就能告诉他们现在是几点啦

A better kind of shadow clock was called a sundial. Sundials had a pointer and a base. The pointer cast a shadow on marks around the base. People could tell time by reading the marks. But shadow clocks were not good for telling time on cloudy days or at night.

还有一种更先进的影子钟叫做日晷 日晷有一根指针和一个底座 指针会在底座周围的刻度上投下影子 人们只要读取刻度上的数值就能知道时间啦 不过影子钟在阴天或者晚上就没办法用来计时啦

using fire and water. One kind of clock that didn't need the sun was a water clock. A water clock was a container with a tiny hole in the bottom. Water would steadily drip out of the hole. Marks on the inside of the container showed the time. It took one hour for the water to go down one mark.

利用火和水计时 有一种不需要太阳的计时工具叫做水钟 水钟是一个底部开了个小洞的容器 水会从洞里慢慢地、稳稳地滴出来 容器内侧的刻度就是用来显示时间的 水位每下降一个刻度，就过去了一个小时哦