还记得千年虫的恐慌吗？由于当时的程序无法读取1999年以后的数据，我们担心计算机将会瘫痪。现在的问题是“闰秒”现象，当我们的时钟被不断调整时，计算机不能够处理“闰秒”的添加。对于我们所有人来说，或许是到了应该重新认识时间的时候了。
注释：
1.scare n. 惊恐, 恐慌
2.readjust vt. 重新调整, 再调整
3.meridian n. 子午线
4.unpredictable adj. 不可预知的
5.transaction n. 业务，交易
6.theoretical adj. 理论上的
Technology vs. Time
ANCHOR
Now remember the Y2K scare when it was feared that computers would freeze-up because they weren’t programmed to read data after 1999. Well, now there’s concern that computer software can’t handle the addition of ‘leap seconds’ as our clocks are continually readjusted. So as Jim Bolden now reports, it may be time for all of us to rethink what time it really is.
CORRESPONDENT
Once upon a time the world got along quite happily with local time based on the sun. Then international shipping forced the need for a universal clock to start somewhere. So Greenwich Meantime, or GMT, was born here outside London in 1884.
ROBIN CATCHPOLE, GREENWICH ROYAL OBSERVATORY
Yes this is the...is the prime meridian if you like. The line that separates the eastern hemisphere from the western hemisphere.
CORRESPONDENT
But no one officially uses GMT anymore. It died in the seventies when governments adopted Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC. The only problem with UTC is, it’s too accurate and the unpredictable earth won’t play along.
ROBIN CATCHPOLE
When you get to the milliseconds, you run into the major problem that the great timekeeper of the universe, at least we used to say we thought, in other words, the rotation of the earth, isn’t accurate to the milli-second level.
CORRESPONDENT
When the earth slows down, scientists add leap seconds to our clocks. There have been 22 such changes in the last 30 years. But things like satellite GPS phones, computers, lasers, and almost anything with a chip, doesn’t add these leap seconds, unless someone re-writes the software each time. So many devices are now running behind our watches.
JOHN LAVERTY, NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY
You might have a financial transaction being timed at the resolution better than one second , and if you get some kind of trade that’s confused, because somebody thinks they’re ahead and in fact they were behind. So it’s because of that theoretical possibility that some people think it may be better to change.
CORRESPONDENT
Change the way we tell time that is, forget leap seconds, say a few academics, so computers, GPS phones, atomic clocks and people are all on the same time, and let our descendants sort it out later.
ROBIN CATCHPOLE
We will be a second out after a few years and, you know, after 100 years or so we might be 30 seconds out of kilter with the...the actual rotation of the earth.
CORRESPONDENT
GMT, UTC, GPS, atomic time, solar time, you take your pick. But as academics and scientists continue to debate whether to uniform time around the world, they’re keenly aware that many people are saying, if time isn’t broke don’t fix it. Jim Bolden, CNN, Greenwich, England.
“瞬间”的麻烦
主播
还记得千年虫的恐慌吗？由于当时的程序无法读取1999年以后的数据，我们担心计算机将会瘫痪。现在的问题是“闰秒”现象，当我们的时钟被不断调整时，计算机不能够处理“闰秒”的添加。对于我们所有人来说，或许是到了应该重新认识时间的时候了。吉姆•波顿现在报道。
记者
从前，世界各地使用基于太阳的地方时，一切都相安无事。然而，世界航运业迫切地需要一种在某个地方开始的通用时钟。于是1884年在这里——伦敦郊外的格林威治，格林威治标准时间（GMT）诞生了。
罗宾•卡奇普尔，格林威治皇家天文台
是的，这就是本初子午线，它把地球分为东半球和西半球。
记者
但是不会再有人正式使用格林威治时间了。（上个世纪）70年代政府开始采用协调世界时，即UTC，格林威治时间寿终正寝。UTC的惟一的问题是，它过于精确，不可预知的地球运动无法与之相适应。
罗宾•卡奇普尔
当接触毫秒的时候，你遇到了一个大问题：宇宙的大钟——至少我们过去常说我们这样认为—— 换句话说，地球自转并没有精确到毫秒的水平。
记者
当地球（自转）慢下来的时候，科学家便给我们的时钟添加闰秒。在过去的30年里，如此改变共有22次。 但是卫星全球定位电话、计算机、激光器和几乎所有带芯片的东西都没有添加闰秒，除非有人每次都重写软件。于是现在很多设备运行得比我们的手表慢。
约翰•莱弗蒂，国家物理实验室
你可能有项金融交易，它决定于少于一秒的时间里；再设想你有一些生意出现混乱，原因是某人认为他们是提前的，而事实上却是滞后的。 正是由于这种理论上的可能性，有人认为改变（记录时间的方法）也许会更好一点。
记者
有学者建议改变我们记录时间的方法，忽略闰秒，这样计算机、全球、定位电话、原子钟和人们的时间将会一致，将（闰秒的问题）留给我们的后人去解决。
罗宾•卡奇普尔
几年后我们将会有1秒的误差，那么你就知道，大约100年后我们的时间可能会与地球自转的实际情况相差30秒。
记者
GMT、UTC、GPS、原子时、太阳时，由你选择。但是当学者和科学家继续争论是否该统一世界时间时，他们其实相当清楚，许多人认为，如果时间问题不是很严重就无须修正。吉姆•波顿，CNN, 英国格林威治报道。
