本文摘要：We all know time is a construct, and right now, its kept by the very precise tick of an international network of around 500 atomic clocks.我们都告诉时间是个简单的概念。目前，世界上有一个由约500台原子钟构成的网络，而我们就通过这些原子钟准确的滴答展开计时。

We all know time is a construct, and right now, its kept by the very precise tick of an international network of around 500 atomic clocks.我们都告诉时间是个简单的概念。目前，世界上有一个由约500台原子钟构成的网络，而我们就通过这些原子钟准确的滴答展开计时。But now researchers have shown that time could be kept even more accurately with a new-generation of clocks called optical clocks, and they want to use the new system to redefine a second - which would mean we could squeeze even more into our days. The optical clock theyve just measured is so precise that it would have lost less than two minutes if it had been running since the birth of the Universe, which is pretty incredible once you wrap your head around it.但是现在研究人员回应，新一代钟表——光学钟——可以更加精确地计时，而且他们想要新的系统来新的定义一秒钟的长度，这也就意味著我们的日子里甚至可以挤进去更加多光阴。刚测量的光学钟十分准确，如果它从宇宙问世之日起开始运行的话，到现在误差还将近两分钟，细心看看真是不可思议。

Global time-keeping is important, because the second - as defined by the International System of Units (SI) - is what our GPS devices, electrical power grids, and financial networks all rely on.全球计时是十分最重要的，因为我们的GPS设备、电网和金融网络全都倚赖着由国际计量系统(SI)定义的“秒”。Thats why we use atomic - or microwave - clocks, which measure the vibration of a caesium atom to keep time, just like the tiny swinging of a pendulum. And since 1967, a SI second has been defined as 9,192,631,770 cycles of those vibrations. But, as specific as that sounds, even the best atomic clocks can still accumulate an error of about 1 nanosecond over a month.这也是我们应用于原子钟或微波钟的原因，它们通过测量铯原子的转动来计时，就像一个钟摆在严重转动。自1967年以来，国际计量系统定义的一秒就是91亿9263万1770次这种微小转动。

但是，尽管听得一起很精准，即使是最差的原子钟在一个月的时间内也依然不会累积出有十亿分之一秒的误差。Optical clocks, on the other hand, are even more precise. They work similarly to atomic clocks, but they measure the oscillations of atoms or ions that vibrate at frequencies about 100,000 times higher than microwave frequencies - which is a whole lot faster, and therefore more accurate.另一方面，光学钟却更加准确。它们的工作原理与原子钟相近，测量原子或离子的振动，但这些原子或离子的转动频率约是微波频率的10万倍左右——这要更快，因此也更加精确。

Our study is a milestone in terms of practical implementation of optical clocks, said one of the researchers, Christian Grebing, from the National Metrology Institute of Germany, The message is that we could today implement these optical clocks into the time-keeping infrastructure that we have now, and we would gain.德国国家计量研究所的一位研究人员克里斯蒂安·格雷宾说道：“就光学钟的实际应用于而言，我们的研究是一块里程碑。也就是说，今天我们可以把这些光学钟划入目前享有的计时基础设施之中，而且，我们不会有所进账。

”That gain is the ability to squeeze more into every second. Us slow humans wouldnt really notice, but things like financial time stamps would be more specific ,and banks would be able to complete even more transactions per second.进账就是可以在每一秒之中挤进更好的时光。我们这些慢腾腾的人类会确实注意到这点变化，但是金融时间砍之类的东西不会更加精准，而银行甚至不会在每秒钟已完成更好的交易。

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