夏日无尽头？挪威小岛或将“抛弃时间”

日出又日落，对地球上的绝大部分人来说，一天的作息都照此安排。然而，对挪威一个小岛上的居民们来说，他们的夏天是没有黑夜的。于是他们开始思考，还要按照每天24小时安排这段时间的作息吗？

Don't you wish those long summer days could last forever? An island in northern Norway is campaigning to do just that.

难道你不希望那些漫长的夏日能永远持续下去吗？挪威北部的一个岛正打算这样做。

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice just around the corner on June 21, Sommarøy -- meaning "Summer Island" -- wants to swap its watches for flower garlands and declare itself the world's first time-free zone.

随着北半球的夏至（6月21日）临近，索玛若伊岛（意思是“夏之岛”）想要用花环取代钟表，尽享夏日，并宣称这里是世界上第一个“无时间区域”。

garland ['gɑːlənd]：n.花环

On this island in West Tromsø, north of the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn't set from May 18 right through to July 26, a full 69 days.

这个岛位于西特罗姆瑟，北极圈以北，从5月18日直到7月26日的69天中，太阳都不会落山。

The locals, having endured the long polar night from November to January, when the sun doesn't rise at all, make the most of these precious months, with no regard to conventional timekeeping.

在这里，从11月到次年1月，太阳都不会升起，当地人熬过了漫长的极夜，因此他们会充分利用夏季这宝贵的几个月，不会顾及传统的计时。

"There's constantly daylight, and we act accordingly," says islander Kjell Ove Hveding in a statement. "In the middle of the night, which city folk might call '2 am,' you can spot children playing soccer, people painting their houses or mowing their lawns, and teens going for a swim."

岛民谢尔-奥韦-赫维丁在一份声明中说：“白昼一直持续，我们也就按照白天的习惯生活。在午夜，或者城里人口中的‘凌晨2点’，你可以看到这里的孩子们在踢足球，人们在粉刷房子或修剪草坪，少年们在游泳。”

持续69天的夏日

Now they want to make it official.

现在人们想让这种状态正式化。

Islanders gathered at a town hall meeting to sign a petition for a time-free zone and on June 13, Hveding met with a Norwegian member of parliament to hand over the locals' signatures and to discuss the practical and legal challenges of the initiative.

6月13日，岛民们在市政厅会议上签署了一份要求废除时间制的请愿书，赫维丁会见了一名挪威国会议员，递交了当地人的签名，并讨论了该方案面临的实际问题和法律挑战。

"To many of us, getting this in writing would simply mean formalizing something we have been practicing for generations," he says.

他说：“对我们许多人来说，把这些写下来只是意味着把几代人一直在做的事情正式化。”

Islanders hope to be free of traditional opening hours and to introduce flexibility in school and working hours. Fishing and tourism are the main industries on this island with a population of little more than 300 people.

岛民希望不再遵从传统的营业时间，并使上学和工作时间更加灵活。渔业和旅游业是该岛的主要产业，全岛只有略超300人。

opening hours：营业时间，开放时间

Hveding says local fishermen and women often spend days on the ocean pursuing their catch, with little regard to timetable.

赫维丁说，当地渔民和妇女经常花几天时间在海上捕鱼，很少考虑时间。

It's clear they mean business. When visitors cross the bridge to the island from the mainland, they aren't greeted with padlocks (symbolizing love locks) like on similar bridges worldwide. The bridge is covered with watches, as people prepare for entry to the land time forgot.

很明显他们是认真的。当游客从大陆过桥到岛上时，迎接他们的不是世界其他桥上象征爱情的挂锁，而是挂满了手表的一座桥，人们要准备好进入被时间遗忘之地。

mean business：是当真的，不是开玩笑

没有时间的岛屿

Will the islanders succeed in their efforts? It's already paying off in a publicity boost, which could well be the primary aim of the campaign.

岛民的努力会成功吗？这次活动已经引发了公众关注，这很可能是其主要目的。

The islanders and the Norwegian tourism board are no doubt counting on visitors drawn by the quirky appeal of a Nordic wonderland of endless summer. For fans of the 1973 UK cult film "The Wicker Man," Norway's Summer Island is a fitting stand-in for the midsummer rites on the Scottish island of Summerisle.

毫无疑问，岛上居民和挪威旅游局都希望游客们能被北欧无尽的夏日美景所吸引。对1973年英国邪典电影《柳条人》的粉丝们来说，挪威的夏之岛也适合举行苏格兰萨默尔岛（影片中的虚构岛屿）上的仲夏仪式。

cult film：邪典电影

stand-in['stændin]：n.替身

Likewise Ari Astor's upcoming folk-horror "Midsommar," opening July 3 in the US, takes a Swedish midsummer festival for its setting and is likely to inspire a fresh audience to seek out a real-life slide of eerie pastoral delights.

同样，阿里·阿斯特执导的民间恐怖片《仲夏日》即将于7月3日在美国上映，该片以瑞典的一个仲夏节为背景，很可能会引发新的观众去寻找现实生活中怪诞田园幻景的兴趣。

In the meantime, the people of Sommarøy have a full five weeks of daylight before a sunset pinks their sky once more. Time to put away those clocks.

同时，在落日再次把天空染成粉红色之前，索玛若伊岛的居民将享受整整五周的白昼。该把时钟都收起来了。