Alexa, what’s the weather today?

Alexa ，今天的天氣如何？

Right now in NewYork, it's 65°F

紐約現在是華氏 65 度

with clear skies and sun.

且天氣晴朗

Today’s forecast has partly sunny weather with a high of 77°F and a low of 61°F.

今天的天氣預測，多雲時晴，氣溫最高華氏 77度，最低 61度

UHHHH…

嗯...

I still don’t understand the use of Fahrenheit.

我還是不了解如何使用華氏溫度

Virtually every country on earth uses Celsius to measure temperature.

事實上地球上的每一個國家都是用攝氏計算溫度

But the US still uses Fahrenheit.

只有美國還在用華氏

And for that reason, we —at Vox— often get comments like these.

因為這個緣故，我們在節目中常常收到這種意見

*Okay, we get it.*

「好的，我們知道了」

Besides the fact that the majority of the world uses it—

除了世上大多數國家都用使用攝氏之外－

the metric system makes conversions a lot easier.

公制讓換算更加方便了

The Celsius scale even looks simpler.

要看懂攝氏溫度計也更簡單

It has freezing and boiling points at nice, round numbers— zero and 100.

它的冰點和沸點都是整數— 0和100

Where in Fahrenheit, it’s a bit of a mess.

而華氏就比較複雜

And of course, this isn’t just an issue of aesthetics or weather updates.

當然，這不僅僅是有關審美觀或更新天氣制度的問題

America’s unwillingness to switch over to the metric system has had serious consequences.

美國不願改用公制已經造成嚴重後果

In 1999, a 125 million dollar satellite sent to Mars, disappeared in the Martian atmosphere.

在 1999 年，一枚發射到火星、價值 1.25 億美金的人造衛星，在火星大氣層消失了

It’s a setback to years of work already done in the vastness of space — all it takes is one navigation error.

對於已經發展多年的太空探索工作而言，這是一項挫折—只因為

And this colossal mistake was largely due to a

一個導航上的錯誤

conversion error between US and metric measurements.

而這個巨大的錯誤發生的主因

Fahrenheit was really useful in the early 18th century.

就是美制與公制的單位換算發生錯誤所導致

At the time, no one really had a consistent way to measure temperature.

在十八世紀早期，使用華氏計算溫度的確很有用

But then a German scientist came up with the Fahrenheit scale when he invented the

在當時，還沒有人發明測量溫度的方法

mercury thermometer in 1714.

但後來一位德國科學家在 1714 年發明了水銀溫度計後，

To make the scale, the most popular theory is that he picked the temperature of an ice/water/salt

華氏溫度計便誕生了

mixture at the zero mark.

為了製造這個溫度計，當時最盛行的理論就是將冰/水/鹽混合成液體之溫度

He then put the freezing point of water, which is higher than a salt mixture, at 32.

標示為零度

And placed the average temperature of the human body at 96.

然後他把水的冰點設定在 3 2度，比鹽水混合液的冰點稍高

From there, he placed the boiling point of water at 212 degrees.

並將人的正常體溫設定在96度

In 1724, Fahrenheit formalized that scale and was inducted into the British Royal Society, where his system was a big hit.

依照這個方式，他設定水的沸點為 212 度

As Britain conquered huge parts of the globe in the 18th and 19th centuries, it brought

在 1724 年，物理學家華倫海特正式使用了這些刻度，並且該刻度也被引入了英國皇家學院

the Fahrenheit system and other Imperial measurements,

這是華氏系統的一大成功

such as feet and ounces along with them.

在 18 和 19 世紀英國征服了大半個地球

And Fahrenheit became a standard system for the British Empire across the globe.

並將華氏及英制度量衡，

In the meantime, the metric system was gaining popularity during the French Revolution.

例如英呎和盎司，一起帶到世界各地

It was put in place to unify the country at the national level.

華氏便成為了橫跨全球的大英帝國所使用的標準單位

So by the second half of the 20th century, Celsius became popular in many parts of the

在此同時，公制單位則於法國大革命時期開始流行

world, when many English-speaking countries began using the metric system.

公制被用來作為統一國家的工具

Even America attempted to switch over.

於是在 20 世紀後半，當許多英語系的國家開始採用公制時

The change would have been good for trade and scientific communications with the rest of the world.

攝氏也被廣泛的應用在世界各地

So, Congress passed a law, the 1975 Metric Conversion Act—

甚至美國也想換成公制

which led to the United States Metric Board that would educate people about the system.

這項改變將有助於與其世界上他國家進行商業與科學上的交流

This created the only metric highway sign in the US— the Interstate 19 connecting Arizona to Mexico.

因此，美國國會於 1975 年過了一項「公制轉換法案」法案

But it didn’t go much further than that.

並成立了「美國公制委員會」來教育人民如何使用公制系統

The problem was that unlike the UK, Canada or Australia, the law made the switch voluntary

這造就了美國唯一一條使用公制標誌的高速公路—連結亞利桑那和墨西哥邊境的19 號州際公路

instead of mandatory.

但是這僅僅是曇花一現

And of course people resisted the change, and the Metric Board couldn't enforce the conversion.

不像英國，加拿大或澳洲，美國的這項法案是自願性質

So, President Reagan ended up disbanding the board in 1982.

而非強制性的

The next nudge to metricate came when the metric system became the preferred measure

當然民眾會排斥改變，公制委員會也無法強制大家轉換

for American trade and commerce in 1988.

因此，雷根總統在 1982 年將委員會解散

But nothing really stuck with the general public...

當公制在 1988 年成為美國貿易和商業的首選措施時

Even though bizarre measurements like Feet and Fahrenheit are not doing them any favors.

政府再繼續推動這項制度

Students have to train for two sets of measurements, making science education even more difficult.

但美國人民並不買單

And companies spend extra dollars producing two sets of products,

雖然他們也沒有因為使用華氏和英呎這種怪異的量度單位而得到什麼好處

one for the US and the other for metric.

學生必須要學會使用兩種系統，使得學習科學變得更困難

There’s also an argument for public health.

公司也必須投入更多成本將產品做出兩套標準

According to the CDC, about 3 to 4000 kids are brought to the ER due to unintentional

一套專供美國人用，另一套給使用公制系統的國家使用

medication overdose, every year.

還有大眾健康方面的問題

And conversion errors for dosage are to blame.

根據美國疾病管制局統計，每年約有三到四千名孩童因為無意中使用過量藥劑

So it seems like a no brainer— America needs to switch to the metric system to match the rest of the world.

被送去急診

But it is still struggling to make that change.

罪魁禍首就是在用兩種系統轉換劑量時發生錯誤造成的

That’s because it’ll take a lot of time and money but there’s no financial proof

所以事情看起來再簡單不過了—美國需要改用公制來融入世界

that this will all be worth it.

但是要做成這項改變仍面臨很大的挑戰

So unless that change is proven to be economically better…

因為這會花費很多的時間和金錢，但從經濟的角度卻無法證明

We’re not going to be using celsius anytime soon.

這麼做是值得的

What’s 77°F in Celsius?

所以除非證明改用公制可以促進濟繁榮

77°F is 25°C.

否則我們不會使用攝氏

Ah!

華氏 77 度是攝氏幾度？

Okay.

華氏 77 度是攝氏 25 度