Get the most out of sunshine in the summertime.
在夏天時充分利用陽光吧!
Benjamin Franklin was in Paris in 1784 when he
proposed what would eventually become known as
daylight saving time (DST). He argued that by simply moving the clocks ahead an hour in the springtime, people could live by "sunshine rather than candles."
DST was designed to
make the most of the daylight hours in the summer, but it has achieved only
marginal success. In 1916, Britain first
attempted DST when
Parliament passed an act that started British Summer Time (BST). _(1)_ At the beginning of World War I, the US adopted DST to
conserve the fuel that was needed to produce electricity, and by 1918 it was law. Even so, the use of DST was very
inconsistent in the US. _(2)_ In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which stated that clocks would "spring forward" at 2:00 AM on the last Sunday of April and "fall back" at 2:00 AM on the final Sunday in October. _(3)_
Because of state laws, DST was only first
instituted in Indiana in 2006. _(4)_ The study concluded that people used two to four percent more electricity during DST, costing consumers US$9 million in Indiana. Pollution
emissions rose and cost the state
an estimated US$5.5 million, mostly from the use of
air conditioners. _(5)_ With US President Barack Obama promising to conserve resources, the sun may finally be setting for daylight saving time.
(A) This farming state then
measured the
impact of DST to see if it really worked.
(B) Now, the dates have been changed to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.
(C) Many states
ignored the law
altogether, causing confusion with train and plane schedules.
(D) While Benjamin Franklin was correct about candles, he
had no way of knowing about
air conditioning, which was invented many years after his death.
(E) The first day BST
was put into operation, it caused
mass confusion and
a storm of opposition in Britain.
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