为什么在跨年之夜“降下”水晶球？

陈延洲

When Adolph Ochs purchased the floundering1 New York Times in 1896， he made it his mission to make the newspaper the number one paper in all of New York. He started by forming the New York Times Company and made himself the majority owner， ensuring the financial health of the paper. Next， he lowered the price of a daily edition from three cents to one cent. Readership began to ascend2. Then， he moved the entire staff into a new shiny building in the middle of Manhattan， to a place called Longacre Square， later renamed Times Square.

当阿道夫·奥克斯在1896收购陷入困境中的《纽约时报》时，他把将《纽约时报》办成全纽约的头号报纸当作了他的使命。他创办纽约时报公司，自己持有多数股权，从而确保了报纸的财务健康。接下来，他把每份报纸的价格从3美分降到了1美分。读者人数开始攀升。然后，他将公司全体迁入曼哈顿中部朗埃克广场的一座全新闪亮的办公大楼中，该广场后来更名为时代广场。

But Ochs was a man of fine tastes and big imagination. To celebrate the 1904 New Year and to show off the Times new digs， Ochs threw a lavish3 New Years celebration that was to be “the talk of the town.” He hosted an all-day street festival climaxing4 with a midnight fireworks display from the base of the Times building. Reportedly at midnight “the joyful sound of cheering， rattles5 and noisemakers from the over 200，000 attendees could be heard from as far away as Croton-on-Hudson， thirty miles north.” Despite the city later putting a kibosh6 on the fireworks display， the Times Square New Years Eve bash was born.

奧克斯是一个高品位的、富有想象力的人。为了庆祝1904年的新年和展示《纽约时报》的新驻地，奥克斯举行了一场盛大的新年庆祝活动，成了街谈巷议的话题。他举办了一个为期一天的街头狂欢活动，在纽约时报大楼脚下举行午夜烟花表演时，活动达到了的高潮。据报道，在午夜时分，“20多万名参与活动的人发出的欢呼声、嘈杂声和喧闹声，地处北面30英里外的哈德逊河畔的克罗顿都能听到。”尽管后来纽约市的烟花表演告吹，但时代广场的跨年之夜狂欢节却诞生了。

Even without fireworks， Ochs found a new way New Yorkers could celebrate the incoming new year in style and with glorious light. In 1907， Ochs commissioned7 the building of an electrically-lit ball to be lowered on the flagpole8 of the roof of One Times Square （the new name of the newspapers building）. A “time ball” had been the suggestion of the newspapers head electrician， Walter Painer， who had seen one in use on top of the close-by Western Union building.

即使没有烟花，奥克斯也找到了一种纽约人庆祝新年的既时尚又炫目的新方法。1907年，奥克斯委托制造了一个电灯球，放在时代广场一座（报社大楼的新名称）屋顶的旗杆上。《纽约时报》的首席电工沃尔特·佩纳曾建议使用“时间球”，他曾在附近的西联大厦顶部看到过一个正在使用的“时间球”。

Time balls had been a favored way of broadcasting the time to sea travelers in the 19th century. The first one was built in 1829 by inventor Robert Wauchope. These soon became regular features in ports across the world. When the ball began its descent9 （1 pm in many parts of the world and noon in the US）， people would set their clocks to match the ball. By the beginning of the 20th century， with the advent10 of radio and other more advanced technologies， the time ball became obsolete11. In 1907， the time ball， while not completely considered archaic yet， was beginning to become something people just enjoyed watching.

在19世纪，时间球是向海上旅行者播报时间的一种广受欢迎的方式。第一个时间球是由发明家罗伯特·沃克霍普于1829年建造的。时间球很快就成为了世界各港口的常规配置。当球开始下降时（在世界许多地方是下午1点，而在美国则是正午），人们会根据时间球来调准他们的时钟。直到20世纪初，随着无线电和其他更先进的技术出现，时间球逐渐过时了。在1907年，还没有完全过时的时间球，开始渐渐变成仅供人们观赏的东西。

Incandescent12 light bulbs were a relatively new invention， having just begun being mass-marketed to consumers around the turn of the twentieth century. The newness of this innovation appealed to Adolph Ochs and he fashioned his “New Years Eve Ball” with one hundred 25 watt light bulbs. The rest of the ball was made out of iron and wood. Though it was only five feet in diameter13， it weighed nearly 700 pounds. Ochs had a young immigrant metalworker by the name of Jacob Starr make the ball. Starr was also given the responsibility of lowering it at the specified time. On New Years Eve， 1907， at exactly the stroke of midnight， Starr lowered the ball signifying that it was 1908 and the beginning of a New Years tradition.

白炽灯泡是一个相对较新的发明，大约在20世纪初才开始大规模面向消费者销售。这项新颖的发明吸引了阿道夫·奥克斯，他用一百个二十五瓦的灯泡制成了他的“跨年之夜水晶球”。球体的其余部分是用铁和木头制作的。虽然它的直径只有五英尺，但它重约700磅。奥克斯让一位名叫雅各布·斯塔尔的年轻移民金属工人制作了这个球。斯塔尔也负责在规定的时间降下这个球。1907年的跨年之夜，午夜钟声敲响的那一刻，斯塔尔降下了这个球，象征着1908年的到来，也开启了这一新年传统。

The balls construction over time， in many ways， mimicked14 the history of industry in the United States. In 1920， they would replace the original ball with one made solely out of iron， showing off the steel strength of America. The ball didnt drop in 1942 and 1943—the only time it didnt drop in the last 110 years—due to wartime light restrictions and industrial production focused on the war efforts.

随着时间的流逝，球的建造从许多方面烙下了美国工业发展的历史印迹。1920年，他们用纯铁制的球代替了原来的球，展示了美国钢铁业的实力。1942年和1943年，是在过去的110年中仅有的没有降下球的年份，这是由于战时的灯火管制和工业生产服务于战争的需要。

In 1955， the heavy iron ball was replaced by a much lighter aluminum15 ball. Strobe lights and a computerized lighting system were added in 1995， signifying the age of ubiquitous16 computers.

1955年，沉重的铁球被一个轻得多的铝球替代了。在1995年，闪光灯和计算机化的照明系统的使用，预示着普适计算时代的到来。

The new millennium brought a new ball outfitted with 504 Waterford Crystals， 168 halogen17 bulbs， and spinning mirrors. The weight of the ball jumped from two hundred pounds to over 1，070 pounds.

千禧年帶来的是一个装备有504块沃特福德水晶、168个卤素灯泡和旋转镜的新球。球的重量从200磅增加到了1070磅以上。

Today， the ball is twelve feet in diameter， more than double its original 1907 size. The new ball features LEDs and computerized lighting patterns. It sits on top of One Times Square year-round for tourists and locals alike to marvel18 at， but its only on one day a year that we actually see the ball drop.

如今，这个球的直径是12英尺，比1907年最初的球大一倍多。新球的特点是运用了发光二极管和计算机化的照明模式。它全年都在时代广场一座的楼顶上，让游客和当地人都惊叹不已，但实际上每年只有一天我们能看到球降下。