雙語科技百科(天文) 第19期 二十四節氣
The 24 Seasonal Division Points
According to the way of numbering the years in Chinese lunar calendar,there are two seasonal division points in each month，making 24 in a year.
按照中國農曆的紀年法，每個月都有兩個節氣，一年共有24個節氣。節氣是中國農曆特有的。古人在長期的生產勞動中，逐漸認識了氣候變化的規律，他們根據太陽和地球的相互關係，把一年的天數分成24等分，用來表示季節和氣候的變化。這樣，差不多每巧天就有一個節氣，每個月就有兩個節氣了。二十四節氣在公曆中的日期幾乎是固定的，上半年(1-6月)的節氣都在每個月的6日和21日前後;下半年(7一12月)的節氣都在每個月的8日和23日前後。The seasonal division points are peculiar to China’s lunar calendar. In the long period of productive labor, ancient men gradually realized the rule of climate change. According to the relationship between the sun and the earth，they divided all the days in a year into 24 parts to indicate the change of seasons and climate. Thus，there is a seasonal divi-sional point about every 15 days and iwo seasonal divisional points within each month. The time of the 24 sea-sonal division points in the Gregorian calendar is almost fixed:those in the first half of the year(from January to June) all fall around the sixth or 21st day of the month，and those in the lat-ter half of the year(from July to De-cember )，on about the eighth or 23rd day of the month.
二十四節氣的名稱分別是:立春、雨水、驚蟄、春分、清明、穀雨、立夏、小滿、芒種、夏至、小暑、大暑、立秋、處暑、白露、秋分、寒露、霜降、立冬、小雪、大雪、冬至、小寒、大寒。
The names for the 24 seasonal division points are:Beginning of Spring，Rain Water, Waking of Insects，Vernal Equinox，Pure Brightness，Grain Rain，Beginning of Summer, Grain Budding，Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice，Slight Heat, Great Heat， Beginning of Autumn，Limit of Heat，White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost’s Descent, Beginning of Winter, Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Sol-stice，Slight Cold，and Great Cold，respectively.
立春、立夏、立秋、立冬表示四季的開始。春分、秋分是一年中晝夜一樣長的兩天。夏至是一年中白天最長、黑夜最短的一天。冬至是一年中白天最短、黑夜最長的一天。The Beginning of Spring，Beginning of Summer, Beginning of Autumn and Be-ginning of Winter mark the start of four seasons. The Vernal Equinox and the Au-tumnal Equinox are the two points where the day and night are equal;
雨水是開始下雨的意思。The Summer Solstice has the longest day and shortest night in a year, while the opposite is true for the Winter Solstice
驚蟄表示春雷響過以後，冬眠的昆蟲被驚醒了。The Rain Water means the start of the spring rains. The Waking of Insects indi-Gates that the spring thunder awakens hibernating insects.
清明是說春天到了以後，明淨的春色代替了冬季寒冷枯黃的景色。The Pure Brightness means the onset of spring when a bright and clean spring scene replaces the cold，withered and yellow scene in winter.
穀雨表示從此雨水增多，對五穀的生長很有好處。The Grain Rain indicates that from that day，there will be more rainfall，which is beneficial to the growth of crops.
小滿表示在夏季成熟的農作物籽粒開始飽滿了。The Grain Budding shows that crops that will ripen in summer start to show plump seeds.
芒種告訴人們小麥已經成熟了。The Grain in Ear tells people that the wheat has ripened.
小暑、大暑表示天氣炎熱的程度，大暑是一年中最熱的時候。The Slight Heat and Great Heat indicate the full onset of summer, with the Great Heat being the hottest day of the year
處暑表示炎熱的天氣快要過去了。The Limit of Heat shows that scorching summer days will soon be gone.
白露告訴人們開始下露水，天氣就要冷了。The White Dew tells people that dew appears in the morning to show that the weather is turning cold，and，as this intensifies，we move on to the Cold Dew.
寒露表明露水已重，天寒加劇。The Frost’s Descent means the appearance of the first frost of the season.
霜降是開始下霜的意思。The Slight Snow and Great Snow mean the arrival of the snowy season.
小雪、大雪表示到了下雪的時節和雪量大小的差別。The Slight Cold and Great Cold indicate the degree of coldness in winter，with the Great Cold being the coldest day of the season.
小寒、大寒表示冬天寒冷的程度，大寒是一年中最冷的時候。The 24 seasonal division points have great influence on China’s farming. For the convenience of memory，people compiled The Song for the 24 Seasonal Division Points:
二十四節氣對中國的農業生產起着很大的作用，人們爲了方便記憶，還編出了《二十四節氣歌》:Following the Beginning of Spring and Rain Water, the Waking of Insects awak-ens the Vernal Equinox, and then come the Pure Brightness and Grain Rain，After the Beginning of Summer, Grain Budding，Grain in Ear, and Summer Sol-stice，the Slight Heat is connected with Great Heat.
春雨驚春清谷天，夏滿芒夏暑相連，The Beginning of Autumn and Limit of Heat are followed by the White Dew，Autumnal Equinox，Cold Dew and then the Frost’s Descent,And the Beginning of Winter leads to the Slight Snow, Great Snow, Winter Sol-stice，Slight Cold and Great Cold.
秋處露秋寒霜降，冬雪雪冬小大寒。In the first half of the year, the seasonal division points fall on the sixth or 21st day of the month，And those in the latter half year occur on the eighth or 23 rd day of the month.
上半年是六、二一，下半年是八、二三。
