There is a fun fact. Each year, people in all 28 European Union (EU) member countries are asked to change their clocks twice. They move forward by one hour (12 p.m. becomes 1 p.m.) on the last Sunday of March and back by one hour (1 p.m. goes back to 12 p.m.) on the last Sunday in October. This is called “daylight saving time (DST, 夏/冬令时)”.
But in 2019, they will no longer need to do so. On Sept 14, 2018, the EU announced that it will stop practicing DST in October 2019, USA Today reported. The change comes following an online survey conducted in EU countries. Eighty-four percent of the 4.5 million Europeans who took the survey said they oppose (反对) seasonal clock changes.
DST was first introduced in Germany during the World Wars and became law across the continent (大陆) in 1996. It helps people make better use of longer summer days and save energy.
For example, with DST, people get up and go to bed an hour earlier during the summer. By having an extra hour of sunlight, people can save electricity, since they don’t need to turn their lights on.
However, after over 20 years of DST, people believe that the practice is out of date, especially since we now have energy-saving technology like LED light. “We are clearly headed toward smart cities, smart buildings and smart solutions which will bring much more savings than a change of the clock,” European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic told Deutsche Welle.
Others have pointed out that clock changing can lead to imbalance (失衡) in our bodies’ internal (体内的) clocks and cause long-term health problems, Reuters noted.
【小题1】“Daylight saving time” lasts about ________ a year.| A．five months | B．six months | C．seven months | D．eight months |
| A．In France. | B．In Germany. | C．In the US. | D．In the UK. |
| A．Because it helped people save energy. | B．Because it was fashionable and modern. |
| C．Because people wanted to enjoy longer nights. | D．Because people opposed seasonal clock changes. |
| A．What we can use to save energy. | B．Why changing clocks is no longer needed. |
| C．What changes new technology can bring. | D．Why clock changing can harm our health. |
