“天时人事日相催，冬至阳生春又来。”大家都知道，冬至是北半球全年中白天最短、黑夜最长的一天，但是你可能不了解的是，冬至却不是日出最晚、日落最早的一天。本文就带你了解几个关于冬至的趣味小知识。
1.冬至英文solstice的意思是“太阳静止不动”
SolsticederivesfromtheLatintermsolstitium,containingsol,whichmeans"sun,"andthepastparticiplestemofsistere,meaning"tomakestand."Thiscomesfromthefactthatthesun’spositionintheskyrelativetothehorizonatnoon,whichincreasesanddecreasesthroughouttheyear,appearstopauseinthedayssurroundingthesolstice.
冬至英文solstice源于拉丁文solstitium，sol意思是“太阳”，stitium是sistere的过去分词形式，意思是“停下来”。这是基于对正午时分太阳在天空中位置的观察，太阳的位置会随着四季轮回升降，而在冬至前后太阳似乎停下来不动了。
2.古代文化将冬至视为死亡和重生的时节
Theseemingdeathofthelightandveryrealthreatofstarvationoverthewintermonthswouldhaveweighedheavilyonearlysocieties,whoheldvariedsolsticecelebrationsandritesmeanttoheraldthereturnofthesunandhopefornewlife.Cattleandotheranimalswereslaughteredaroundmidwinter,followedbyfeastingonwhatwasthelastfreshmeatforseveralmonths.
冬月里黑夜漫漫，太阳似乎远去了。在饥饿的威胁下，古人会举行各种冬至庆祝活动和仪式来迎接太阳的回归，期待新生的来临。冬至时节古人会宰杀牲口和其他动物，然后在接下来几个月尽情享用最后的鲜肉。
3.冬至前后地球距离太阳最近
Thoughitdoesn’tfeellikeitintheNorthernHemisphere,EarthisclosertothesuninearlyJanuary—approximately3millionmilescloser—thanitisinearlyJuly.Theshortestdistancebetweenthesunandaplanetiscalledperihelion;in2021,EarthwasatperiheliononJanuary2.
尽管身在北半球的你可能感觉不到，但是地球在1月初比7月初距离太阳更近，近了大约300万英里。太阳和一颗行星最短的距离叫作近日点，2021年地球于1月2日到达近日点。
Despitetheproximitytothesun,thereasonforcoldtemperaturesisbecausetheNorthernHemispherereceiveslesssunlightandhascoolertemperaturesinwinterduetoEarth’s23.5-degreetilt.TheNorthernHemisphereistiltedawayfromthesuninwinter,andtowarditinJuly.
尽管距离太阳更近，但是温度却很低，这是由于地球倾斜23.5度导致北半球在冬天接收到的阳光更少，因此天气也更冷。北半球在冬天是背离太阳的方向倾斜着身子公转，而在夏天（7月）是向着太阳倾斜。
4.冬至是一年中白昼最短的一天，但不是日落最早的一天
Thoughthewintersolsticeisthedaywiththeleastamountofsunlight,that’snotbecauseofthesunset.Infact,theearliestsunsethappensabouttwoweeksprior—in2021inNewYork,forexample,thewintersolsticeisDecember21,buttheearliestsunsetsoccuronDecember7and8(at4:28pm).
Thediscrepancyisduetothewaywecalculatetime.Ourclocksoperateonanexact24-hourschedule,butourdaysaretechnicallyalittlelongerorshorter.Onedayequalsthetimebetweenwhenthesunisatitshighestpointinthesky,calledsolarnoon,andthenext.
Asolardayisslightlylongerthan24hoursduringthesummerandwintersolsticesandslightlyshorterduringthespringandfallequinoxesbecauseofEarth’stiltandorbit.DuringthewintersolsticeinNewYorkonDecember21,solarnoonisactually11:54amEST.