西班牙人吃飯晚的真正原因

It is 10pm in the Madrid neighbourhood ofLa Latina, one of the city’s oldest areas, and the cobbled streets thrum withthe sounds of people enjoying plates of gambas al ajillo (garlicprawns) and cocido Madrile?o (a hearty chickpea, pork and chorizostew). Restaurants are bustling at an hour when, in most other countries, chefswould be hanging up their aprons for the night.

夜晚10點，在馬德里附近的拉·拉提那——馬德里最古老的區域之一，卵石鋪就的街道上回蕩着人們享用Gambas al ajillo（蒜蓉大蝦）和cocido Madrile?o （一種量很大的鷹嘴豆、豬肉和口利佐香腸做成的燉菜）時歡樂的杯盤撞擊聲。在這個時間段，馬德里的餐館裏人頭攢動，而在其他大部分國家，餐館大廚們已經把圍裙掛起來下班了。

While travellers might attribute Spain’slate mealtimes to the country’s laidback Mediterranean attitude, the realreason is a little more peculiar. Spaniards are living in the wrong time zone,and have been for more than 70 years.

遊客們把西班牙的遲來的吃飯時間歸結爲懶散的地中海居民習慣，但真正的原因卻有點奇怪。西班牙人生活在錯誤的時區，而且已經這樣生活了超過70年。

Spain goes by Central European Time,putting it in sync with Serbia (Credit: Facto Foto/Getty)

西班牙採用歐洲中央時間，與塞爾維亞同步（版權：Facto圖片/Getty ）

Glance at a map and you’ll realise thatSpain – sitting, as it does, along the same latitude as the UK, Portugal andMorocco – should be in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). But Spain goes by CentralEuropean Time (CET), putting it in sync with the Serbian capital Belgrade, morethan 2,500km east of Madrid.

看一眼地圖，你會意識到西班牙處於與英國、葡萄牙和摩洛哥相同的緯度上——應該採用格林威治時間（GMT）。但是西班牙採用歐洲中央時間（CET），這讓馬德里跟塞爾維亞首都貝爾格萊德——一座2500公里外的城市的時間同步。

So why are Spaniards living behind theirgeographic time zone?

那麼爲什麼西班牙人要採用這種跟實際地理位置對不上的時區劃分呢？

In 1940, General Francisco Franco changedSpain’s time zone, moving the clocks one hour forward in solidarity with NaziGermany.

在1940年，弗朗西斯科·弗朗科將軍改變了西班牙的時區，把時鐘往前提了一小時，以便跟納粹德國保持一致。

For Spaniards, who at the time were utterlydevastated by the Spanish Civil War, complaining about the change did not evencross their minds. They continued to eat at the same time, but because theclocks had changed, their 1pm lunches became 2pm lunches, and they weresuddenly eating their 8pm dinners at 9pm.

對西班牙人來說，飽嘗了內戰痛苦之後，他們壓根就沒想過抗議時間調整這件事。他們還在老時間吃飯，但因爲鐘錶被調過了，他們下午1點的午餐變成了2點的午餐，晚上8點的晚餐突然變成了9點的晚餐。

After World War II ended, the clocks werenever changed back. However, in 2016, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that thegovernment was working on a plan to implement a new workday schedule ending at6pm as opposed to 8pm. One important element of the plan was uating thepossibility of changing Spain’s time zone from CET to GMT – something that hassparked a heated discussion throughout the country.

二戰結束後，時鐘並沒有被調回來。但是在2016年，西班牙首相馬里亞諾·拉霍伊宣佈政府正在研究落實一個新的工作日時間安排方案，把晚餐從8點提前到6點。這個方案的一個重要因素就是論證把西班牙的時區從CET改爲GMT的可能性——這在全國範圍內引起了熱議。

With work days ending at 8pm, Spaniardssave their social lives for the late hours (Credit: Stefano PolitiMarkovina/Alamy)

工作在晚上8點結束，西班牙人把社交活動留給了深夜（版權：Stefano Politi Markovina/Alamy）

Being 60 minutes behind the correct timezone means the sun rises later and sets later, bestowing Spain with gloriouslylong summer evenings and 10pm sunsets. Those who run Spain’s tourist resortsbelieve that more sunlight is a large draw for visitors. The regionalgovernment of the Balearic Islands ? which includeMallorca, Menorca and Ibiza ? is strongly againstreturning to GMT and has even campaigned to maintain year-round summer time(CET+1) to allow visitors to take full advantage of the region’s mild winter climate.

由於比正確的時間晚了60分鐘，太陽升起時間變晚，落下時間也變晚，這給予了西班牙漫長的夏季夜晚，太陽在晚上10點才落下。西班牙的旅遊從業者們認爲更長的白天能極大地吸引觀光者。巴利阿里羣島——包括了馬略卡、梅諾卡和伊比薩島——的地方政府強烈反對迴歸GMT時間，甚至爲了保留夏時制（CET+1）而抗爭，以便讓旅遊者能夠充分享受本地溫和的冬季氣候。

But for many Spaniards, living in the wrongtime zone has resulted in sleep deprivation and decreased productivity. Thetypical Spanish work day begins at 9am; after a two-hour lunch break between 2and 4pm, employees return to work, ending their day around 8pm. The laterworking hours force Spaniards to save their social lives for the late e-time television doesn’t start until 10:30pm.

但是對很多西班牙人來說，錯誤的時間讓他們睡眠不足，工作效率降低。西班牙標準的工作時間從上午9點開始，在下午2點到4點是午餐時間，之後僱員們要工作到晚上8點才下班。這讓西班牙人不得不把社交活動放在了深夜。電視的黃金時段從夜裏10點半纔開始。

Meanwhile, in the northwestern region ofGalicia, the sun doesn’t rise until after 9am in winter, meaning that residentsare starting their day in the dark.

同時，在西北部的加里西亞，冬季太陽升起時間晚於上午9點，這意味着居民們要摸黑上班。

The time difference results in long summerevenings and 10pm sunsets (Credit: PhotoStock-Israel/Alamy)

錯誤的時區劃分使夏季夜晚變長，太陽在晚上10點落山（版權： PhotoStock-Israel/Alamy）

“The fact that the time in Spain doesn’tcorrespond to the sun affects health, especially sleep,” said José Luis Casero,president of the National Commission for the Rationalization of SpanishSchedules, an organisation that has been campaigning for Spain to return to thecorrect time zone since 2006. “If we changed time zones, the sun would rise onehour earlier and we’d wake up more naturally, meal times would be one hourearlier and we’d get an extra hour’s sleep.”

“事實上，西班牙目前採用的時間跟太陽照射時間不符，這會影響健康，尤其是睡眠，”胡塞·路易·卡塞羅——西班牙時間合理化國家委員會的主席說。這一組織從2006年起開始爲西班牙迴歸正確的時區而奮鬥。“如果我們改變時區，太陽會提前一小時升起，我們也會更自然地醒來，飯點會提前一小時，我們就多了一小時的睡眠時間。”

Spaniards have traditionally coped withtheir late nights by taking a mid-morning coffee break and a two-hour lunchbreak, giving them the opportunity to enjoy one of the country’s most infamoustraditions: the siesta.

西班牙人爲了適應遲來的夜晚，會在上午設一個喝咖啡時間以及兩個小時的午休，這讓人們能夠享受這個國家最聲名狼藉的傳統：午睡。

Changing the workday would threatenSpaniards’ customary naptime, although whether or not citizens would mind isstill up for debate. A January 2017 study byresearch company Simple Lógica found that less than 18% of Spaniards napregularly, while nearly 60% never take a siesta. In fact, business owners inmany of the country’s major cities and holiday resorts remain open during themidday break to cater to tourists.

改變工作時間會威脅到西班牙人習慣的午睡時間，儘管人們是不是介意這一點還有待爭論。一項在2017年1月由Simple Lógica公司所做的調查顯示不到18%的西班牙人有午睡習慣，而將近60%的人從不午睡。事實上，在這個國家的大城市和景區的店主們在午休時間仍然營業，以便賺遊客們的錢。

Meanwhile, those who do nap expressfrustration when changes in their daily routine prevent them from sleepingmid-day.

同時，午睡者們抱怨對他們日常生活節奏的改變讓他們不能睡午覺。

“We should really banish the siesta inSpain because it doesn’t fit with reality,” Casero said. “And with the changeof time zone bringing meal times forward and giving us an extra hour of sleep,there would be less need for a rest at midday.”

“我們應該在西班牙取消午睡制度，因爲這根本不實際，”卡塞羅說。“隨着時區的改變，晚飯時間提前，我們就多了一個小時的睡眠時間，這樣就不需要睡午覺了。”

Changing the workday would threatenSpaniards’ customary siesta (Credit: Ignacio Perez Diez/Getty)

改變時區會威脅到西班牙人的午睡習慣（版權：Ignacio PerezDiez/Getty ）

When it comes down to it, economist NuriaChinchilla, an expert in work-life balance at the Instituto de EstudiosSuperiores de la Empresa business school in Barcelona, feels that quality oflife for Spaniards is more pressing than preserving an extra hour or two ofevening light for tourists.

總結起來，經濟學家努利亞·欽奇拉——巴塞羅那IESE商學院的工作生活平衡研究專家——認爲提高西班牙人的生活質量遠比爲旅遊者多保留一個或兩個小時的夏夜來得重要。

“We have continuous jetlag,” she said.“Tourism will always be there and tourists don’t care. The number of hours ofsunlight will be the same, whether it is an extra hour in the morning or in theevening.”

“我們的時差倒不完，”她說。“旅遊業一直都有，旅遊者們也不在乎。白天的時長不會變，不管所謂早上多了一小時還是晚上多了一小時。”