' Time waits for no man ' — or so the saying goes . We can't stop time and we can't control it , although sometimes , in our minds , we think time flies — for example , when the weekend arrives , we feel it's over in no time ! But if this year in particular feels like it's passing more quickly than others have done , there could be a scientific explanation why . Of course , we know a year is usually 365 days long . Clever scientists calculated this a long time ago . They also worked out that every four years , we need an extra day to keep our calendar in sync — this is called a leap year . But 2021 isn't one of those years , and yet it's not behaving like a normal year . Scientists and astrophysicists have done the math and discovered the Earth is moving faster than it ever has in the last 50 years . This means that 2021 is going to be the shortest year in decades . Apparently , this is because the Earth is spinning faster on its axis , quicker than it has done in decades , and the days are therefore shorter . But they are only short by a tiny amount — around 0.05 milliseconds — so don't panic if you haven't noticed ! However , long-term these milliseconds add up . Astrophysicist Graham Jones and Konstantin Bikos from Time and Date told The Independent newspaper : “ If the Earth's rotation continues to quicken , we may at some point require a negative leap second . If this happens , our clocks would skip a second in order to keep up with the hurrying Earth .” Since 1972 , 27 leap seconds have only been added to our time and none have been taken away . This really is only of concern for atomic clocks — the most accurate timekeeping devices in history . Studying the Earth's rotation and then subtracting or adding a leap second to these clocks can ensure they remain aligned and keep us on time . But now , maybe we need to get a move on before this ' shorter ' year is gone in a split second !
俗话说，时间不等人。我们无法让时间停下来，也无法控制它，尽管有时，在我们的脑海中，我们觉得时间过得飞快——例如，当周末到来时，我们觉得它很快就结束了！但是，如果今年特别让人感觉它比往年过得更快，那么其中的原因可能有科学解释。当然，我们知道一年通常是 365 天。聪明的科学家早就计算出了这一点。他们还发现，每四年，我们需要额外的一天来保持日历的同步，这一年被称为闰年。但2021年不是这样的年份，而且它的表现也不像一个正常的年份。科学家和天体物理学家进行了数学计算，发现地球的运动速度比过去五十年来任何时候都要快。这意味着2021年将是几十年来最短的一年。显然，这是因为地球自转速度比过去几十年都要快，因此白天也变短了。但它们只短了一点点——大约0.05毫秒——所以如果你没有注意到的话，也不要恐慌！然而，毫秒也会积小成多。来自“世界日期及时间网”的天体物理学家格雷厄姆·琼斯和康斯坦丁·比科斯告诉《独立报》说:“如果地球的自转继续加快，在某一时刻我们可能需要一个负闰秒。如果发生这种情况，我们的时钟就会需要减少一秒，以跟上快速转动的地球。”自1972年以来，我们的时间增加了 27 个闰秒，没有一个闰秒被减少过。这实际上只与历史上最精确的计时设备——原子钟有关。研究地球自转，然后在这些时钟上减去或增加一个闰秒，可以确保它们与地球转动保持一致，让我们的时间准确。但现在，也许我们需要在这“较短”的一年转瞬即逝之前继续前进！
1、' Time waits for no man ' — or so the saying goes . 俗话说，时间不等人。
2、in no time 立刻、很快
3、in particular 特别、尤其
4、a long time ago 很久以前[副词短语]
5、sync n.同步 v.使同步
6、astrophysicist n.天体物理学家
7、rotation n.旋转
8、keep up with跟上
9、get a move on 继续前进、快点、抓紧
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