没有钟表人们如何看时间?

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How could we tell time if there were no watches or clocks anywhere in the world？

如果世界上任何地方都]有钟或表，我们该怎么看时间呢？

The sun was probably the world’s first“clock”， except in the far north， where the Eskimos live. There， it’s dark most of the winter， and light most of the summer. But in most of the world， people have used the sun for a clock. Even today， if you don’t have a clock， you still know that when the sun shines， it’s day， and when it’s dark， it’s night. The sun can also tell you if it’s morning， noon， or afternoon.

除了在爱斯基摩人居住的极北之地，太阳或许是世界上第一个“时钟”。在那儿，冬季大部分时间都是黑夜，夏季大部分时间都是白昼。在世界上大多数地方，人们把太阳当做时钟来使用。即使今天，如果你没有钟，你仍旧知道太阳照耀时，是白天；天黑了，就是夜晚。太阳还能告诉你是早上，中午还是下午。

People who live near the sea can tell time from the tides1. In the daytime， for about six hours， the water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours. The same thing happens again at night. There are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours.

住在海边的人根据潮汐来看时间。白天的时候，大概在6个小时里，岸边水位越涨越高。接下来的六个小时则会越来越低。同样的事夜间又会重复一次。每24小时会有两次涨潮和两次落潮。

Seamen on a ship learn how to tell time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is their clock.

船上的船员会通过观察月亮和星星来看时间。整个星空就是他们的时钟。

In some places in the world the wind comes up at about the same time every day or changes direction2 or stops blowing. In these places the wind can be the clock.

世界上的某些地方会在每日相同的时间起风，或改变风向，或者停止刮风。这些地方的风可以当作时钟。

A sand clock is an even better clock. If you had fine dry sand in a glass shaped like the one in the picture， you would have what is called an hourglass3. The sand in the hourglass goes from the top part to the bottom part in exactly one hour. When the hourglass is turned over， the sand will take another hour to go back again.

沙钟是一种更好的时钟。如果你将干燥的细沙放在如右图中样式的玻璃瓶中，你就有了一个所谓的“沙漏”。沙漏中的沙从顶部流到底部的时间就是整整一个小时。当沙漏翻转过来的时候，沙子再次流回底部又要一个小时。