Nokea
DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME:
It is a well-known fact that it takes the Earth approximately 365 days to move around the sun. At the same time, the Earth revolves or spins around itself over the course of 24 hours, which explains why there is day and night. One half of the Earth is always facing the Sun and the other half is facing away from it. As a result, there are different time zones dividing the globe. Moving suddenly from one time zone into the other, as when flying for example from Asia to North America, causes jetlag. People feel tired, they wake up suddenly during the night and cannot go back to sleep. It takes time to get used to a new time zone.
Another thing to consider is the slight tilting of the Earth towards the sun. The Earth does not stand straight but leans a little to one side. Therefore, when it revolves around the Sun, the middle part of the Earth is always closer to the Sun and gets more heat. This part is called the equator, and above it lathes tropics. Countries at the tropics get the same amount of daylight all the time. The sun always rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm. In contrast, the tips of the Earth or the Poles get hardly any light at all because they are so far away from the sun.
There are two main seasons at the Poles. There are 6 months of summer, when the sun is always shining, even at night, and there are 6 months of winter, when there is constant darkness.
In between the tropics and the Poles lies the temperate zone, where there are 4 seasons. The sun rises and sets at different times throughout the year. In the spring and summer, it gets light earlier; in the fall and winter it gets dark earlier. People who live in temperate zones take advantage of that fact to get more daylight. At the beginning of spring, countries in Europe and North America re-adjust their clocks. They change the time on their clocks and watches by moving them an hour ahead. As a result, the sun does not set around 7 or 8 pm as usual, but an hour later. This measure is called Daylight Savings Time (DST) and lasts until the beginning of fall, when people move their clocks back one hour to Standard or regular Time.
It is thought that Benjamin Franklin first suggested the introduction of Daylight Savings Time in the 18th century. But, the first serious proposal came in 1907 from William Willet. Yet his idea was shelved by the British government, who refused it because they thought it was unnecessary. Daylight Savings Time was first put into practice by the German government in 1916 in order to save energy during the First World War. Shortly after, the United Kingdom followed suit, with the United States doing the same in 1918.
The law was very unpopular since people had to wake up earlier and many experienced a feeling like jetlag. But the 1970s energy crisis forced the US to make Daylight Savings Time the law. Studies have shown that the introduction of Daylight Savings Time in the spring saved the US 10,000 barrels of oil per day between 1974-1975. It also prevented 2,000 traffic injuries and 50 traffic-related deaths, saving the country $28 million.
Currently, Americans switch to Daylight Savings Time on the first Sunday in April and move back to Standard Time on the last Sunday in October. But as of 2007, the time re-adjustment happened even earlier, in March and November.
What is implied about Benjamin Franklin in the passage on Daylight Savings Time?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The correct answer is C. The passage states that Benjamin Franklin first suggested the introduction of Daylight Savings Time in the 18th century. However, the first serious proposal came in 1907 from William Willet. Franklin's idea was not implemented during his lifetime, but he did propose the concept. Therefore, choices A, B, and D are incorrect. Choice A is incorrect because Franklin did not oppose the idea. Choice B is incorrect because he was not the first to implement it. Choice D is incorrect because he did have a role in proposing the idea.