SE-Ed: Why Does a Week Have Seven Days?

Why does a week have seven days?

为什么一周有七天？

Why not five, or ten, or even twelve?

为什么不是五天、十天，甚至十二天？

A day comes from the Earth turning once.

一天来自地球自转一圈。

A year comes from one trip around the Sun.

一年来自绕太阳一圈。

But the week? That one is a little stranger.

那一周呢？这个就有点奇怪了。

Let's start with the Moon.

我们从月亮说起。

Every night, its shape changes a little.

每天晚上，它的形状都会变一点。

Each big change takes about seven days.

每一次大的变化大约需要七天。

Long ago, this made the Moon a handy clock.

很久以前，这让月亮成了一个方便的时钟。

There's just one problem, though.

不过，有一个问题。

The numbers don't fit perfectly,

这些数字并不完全吻合，

so the Moon isn't the whole story.

所以月亮并不是全部答案。

Thousands of years ago, people in Babylon studied the sky.

几千年前，巴比伦人仔细观察着天空。

They noticed seven bright lights that moved among the stars.

他们注意到有七个明亮的光点在群星间移动。

The Sun, the Moon, and five planets they could see.

太阳、月亮，还有他们能看到的五颗行星。

For them, seven became a very special number.

对他们来说，七成了一个非常特别的数字。

The Jewish calendar also has a rest day every seventh day.

犹太历也是每到第七天就有一个休息日。

You can still see these old ideas in English.

这些古老的观念至今仍保留在英语里。

Sunday is the Sun's day, and Monday is the Moon's.

Sunday是太阳日，Monday是月亮日。

Saturday was named after the planet Saturn.

Saturday是以土星Saturn命名的。

And Thursday comes from Thor, the Norse god of thunder!

而Thursday来自北欧雷神Thor！

In French, Tuesday is "mardi", the day of Mars.

在法语里，星期二是“mardi”，也就是火星日。

Believe it or not, the Romans once had eight-day weeks!

信不信由你，罗马人曾经一周八天！

Slowly, the seven-day week spread across their empire.

慢慢地，七天一周在整个帝国传开了。

In the year 321, Emperor Constantine made Sunday a day of rest.

公元321年，君士坦丁大帝把星期日定为休息日。

Since then, much of the world has followed the same pattern.

从那以后，世界上大部分地方都沿用了这个模式。

Some countries tried to change it, though.

不过，也有一些国家试图改变它。

After the French Revolution, France switched to ten-day weeks.

法国大革命后，法国改用十天一周。

Workers got only one day off in ten!

工人十天里只能休息一天！

Not surprisingly, people hated it,

不出所料，人们很讨厌这种安排，

so Napoleon brought back the old week.

于是拿破仑恢复了原来的一周。

In 1929, the Soviet Union tried five-day weeks instead!

1929年，苏联则尝试了五天一周！

Family members often had different days off, so they rarely met.

一家人常常不在同一天休息，所以很少见面。

By 1940, the seven-day week was back again.

到了1940年，七天一周又回来了。

So the week isn't really a law of nature.

所以，一周其实并不是自然法则。

It's a habit we've shared for thousands of years.

它是我们共同延续了几千年的习惯。

And honestly, who would want to give up the weekend?

说实话，谁愿意放弃周末呢？