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1. According to archaeological evidence, at least 5,000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting.
查看参考译文 ▾根据考古证据，至少在5000年前、远在罗马帝国出现之前，巴比伦人就开始计量时间，并引入历法来协调公共活动、规划货物运输，尤其是规范种植与收割。
2. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.
查看参考译文 ▾他们的历法建立在三个自然周期之上：太阳日（由地球自转带来的明暗交替标记）、阴历月（随月球绕地球运行的月相变化）、以及太阳年（由地球绕太阳公转伴随的季节更替所界定）。
3. And, for those living near the equator in particular, its waxing and waning was more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons.
查看参考译文 ▾而且，尤其对那些住在赤道附近的人来说，月相的盈亏比季节的更替更为明显。
4. The cosmic significance the Egyptians placed in the 12 decans led them to develop a system in which each interval of darkness (and later, each interval of daylight) was divided into a dozen equal parts.
查看参考译文 ▾埃及人对这12个旬星赋予的宇宙意义，促使他们发展出一套系统，把每一段黑夜（后来也包括每一段白昼）划分为十二个等长部分。
5. Temporal hours, which were first adopted by the Greeks and then the Romans, who disseminated them through Europe, remained in use for more than 2,500 years.
查看参考译文 ▾不等时辰先被希腊人采用，后被罗马人接纳，并由罗马人传入欧洲，沿用长达2500多年。
6. The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it dipped below hour lines inscribed on the inner surface.
查看参考译文 ▾随着水面下降、没过内壁刻着的时刻线，下降的水位便标示出流逝的时辰。
7. Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean, they could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of northern Europe.
查看参考译文 ▾尽管这些装置在地中海一带表现令人满意，但在北欧多云且常结冰的天气里，它们并不总是可靠。
8. The schemes that divided the day into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, Babylonian hours at sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in Germany, at midnight.
查看参考译文 ▾那些把一天分为24等份的方案，因计时的起点不同而各异：意大利时从日落算起，巴比伦时从日出算起，天文时从正午算起，而德国一些大型公共钟所用的"大钟时"则从午夜算起。
9. The revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that provided its motive force nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1,300 years) that transferred the power; it was the part called the escapement.
查看参考译文 ▾这台新计时器的革命性之处，既不是提供动力的下落重锤，也不是传递动力的齿轮（齿轮已存在至少1300年），而是那个叫"擒纵机构"的部件。
10. The motion of a pendulum rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a precise amount.
查看参考译文 ▾钟摆的运动使这一装置摆动，从而逐一锁住再释放擒纵轮的每个齿，进而让它精确地转动特定角度。