春分：124年來最早的春天

春分：124年來最早的春天

Here’s one bit of good news: Spring is coming early this year.

有一個好消息：今年春天來得很早。

In fact, the vernal equinox, which marks the official beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, is arriving on Thursday.

事實上，標志著北半球春季正式開始、南半球秋季正式開始的春分已經(jīng)在周四到來。

That’s the earliest arrival of spring in America in 124 years.

這是124年來春天來的最早的一次。

According to the astronomy reference book “Astronomical Table of the Sun, Moon and Planets,” the exact moment of the equinox will occur Thursday night at 11:49 p.m. ET (0349 GMT on March 20).

根據(jù)天文學(xué)參考書“太陽、月亮和行星的天文表”，春分的確切時刻將發(fā)生在美國東部時間周四晚上11:49(格林尼治標準時間3月20日0349)，北京時間3月20日11時50分。

The Earth will at that moment reach the point in its orbit where its axis isn’t tilted toward or away from the sun.

地球?qū)⒃谀且豢痰竭_其軌道上的一個點，在這個點上，地球的軸不向太陽傾斜，也不遠離太陽。

There are two reasons, according to Space.com, that the vernal equinox is coming a bit early this year: Daylight Savings Time and the leap year having added an extra day to February.

據(jù)Space.com網(wǎng)站報道，今年春分來得有點早，原因有二：夏時制和閏年給2月份增加了一天。

Despite the early arrival of astronomical spring, meteorological spring is already here , according to forecasters. Accuweather claims that designation is from March 1 through the end of May.

據(jù)氣象預(yù)報員介紹，盡管天文之春提前到來，但氣象之春已經(jīng)來臨。Accuweather聲稱，指定春季日期是從3月1日到5月底。

Either way, the cherry blossoms, chirping birds and monarch butterflies that we associate with the new season will find their way.

不管怎樣，櫻花，啁啾的小鳥和帝王蝶，我們都會找到它們的新季節(jié)。