《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第124期:日不落帝國的日落(2)
Fourteen territories
Britain has 14 overseas territories, the direct remnants of the British Empire.
英國現在有14處海外領土，這些都是曾經的大英帝國的殘留。Many newly independent British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Some of them, like Canada and Australia, have Queen Elizabeth as their official monarch. However, they are independent states that happen to have the same queen; they are not part of any empire.1
許多新獨立出來的英國殖民地都加入了英聯邦，其中一些諸如加拿大、澳大利亞等國家的官方君主都是伊麗莎白女王，但它們都是獨立的國家，只是恰好君主都是同一個而已，它們現在不屬於任何帝國。1
The Sun never sets on all 14 British territories at once (or even 13, if you don't count the British Antarctic Territory). However, if the UK loses one tiny territory, it will experience its first Empire-wide sunset in over two centuries.
太陽不會同時在所有的14處（或13處，如果你不把英屬南極領地算在內的話）領土上落下。不過，只要英國失去一處小領地，它就會經歷200多年來整個帝國的首次日落。Every night, around midnight GMT, the Sun sets on the Cayman Islands, and doesn't rise over the British Indian Ocean Territory until after 1:00 A.M. For that hour, the little Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific are the only British territory in the Sun.
每天晚上在格林威治時間午夜前後，開曼羣島上空的太陽就會落下，而太陽要在凌晨1點以後纔會在英屬印度洋領地升起。在這段時間內，南太平洋上小小的皮特凱恩羣島是唯一能夠看到太陽的英國領地。The Pitcairn Islands have a population of a few dozen people, the descendants of the mutineers from the HMS Bounty. The islands became notorious in 2004 when a third of the adult male population, including the mayor, were convicted of child sexual abuse.
皮特凱恩島上只有幾十人，都是當年英國皇家海軍“邦蒂號”上的叛變船員的後裔。2004年一樁醜聞讓這個小島變得臭名遠揚，因爲包括市長在內的三分之一的成年男性居民性侵兒童的罪名成立。As awful as the islands may be, they remain part of the British Empire, and unless they're kicked out, the two-century-long British daylight will continue.
不管這個小島有着怎樣不堪的往事，它仍是大英帝國的一部分。除非你把它一腳踢出帝國版圖，否則大英帝國長達2個世紀之久的白天仍將繼續。Will it last forever?
永遠都是白天嗎？Well, maybe.
呵呵，也許吧。In April of 2432, the island will experience its first total solar eclipse since the mutineers arrived.
再過400多年，在2432年的5月份，這個小島將經歷自叛逃者登陸以來首次日全食。Luckily for the Empire, the eclipse happens at a time when the Sun is over the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. Those areas won't see a total eclipse; the Sun will even still be shining in London.
對於大英帝國來說有一點是幸運的，那就是日食發生的時候太陽在加勒比海地區開曼羣島上空。這些地區不會看到日全食，而且在倫敦太陽還好好地掛在空中呢。In fact, no total eclipse for the next thousand years will pass over the Pitcairn Islands at the right time of day to end the streak. If the UK keeps its current territories and borders, it can stretch out the daylight for a long, long time.
事實上，在接下去的幾千年裏皮特凱恩島上空都不會發生日全食，也就不會終結大英帝國的日不落神話。如果英國還能繼續保持現有的領土範圍的話，那麼它的白天還能持續好長好長一段時間呢。But not forever. Eventually-many millennia in the future-an eclipse will come for the island, and the Sun will finally set on the British Empire.
但不會永遠都是白天。最終在幾千年後的某一天，皮特凱恩島上空將會發生日全食，長久以來掛在大英帝國上空的太陽也就終於會落下。1 That they know of.
1． 任何他們所知的帝國。
