評論
打印
First, weather would no longer be important, since it is primarily a phenomenon of the atmosphere. Rain, snow, sleet, fog would not trouble the underground world. Even temperature variations are limited to the open surface and would not exist underground. Whether day or night, summer or winter, temperatures in the underground world remain equable and nearly constant.The vast amounts of energy now expended in warming our surface surroundings when they are too cold, and cooling them when they are too warm, could be saved. The damage done to manmade structures and to human beings by weather would be gone. Transportation over local distances would be simplified. (Earthquakes would remain a danger, of course.)
首先，氣候將變得無關緊要，因為它主要是大氣層的一種現象。雨、雪、霰、霧將不會給地下世界帶來麻煩。甚至氣溫的變化也局限于露天地表，而在地下則不存在這種變化。不論白天黑夜，炎夏寒冬，地下世界的溫度將保持平穩，近乎恒溫。如今，當我們的地表環境太冷時，則需要取暖，而太暖時，又需降溫，耗費大量的能量。若搬到地下生活，則統統可以省去。天氣對人造的建筑物以及人類本身的損害將不復存在。地區性的交通問題也將大為簡化。（當然，地震將依然是個危險。）
Second, local time would no longer be important. On the surface, the tyranny of day and night cannot be avoided, and when it is morning in one place, it is noon in another, evening in still another and midnight in yet another. The rhythm of human life therefore varies from place to place. Underground, where there is no externally produced day, but only perpetual darkness, it would be artificial lighting that produces the day and this could be adjusted to suit man's convenience.
其次，地方時間將無關緊要。地球表面晝夜分明，誰也無法避免，一處是早晨，另一處是中午，再一處是黃昏，又一處是午夜。所以人類生活的節奏因地而異。在地下，沒有外界生成的白天，而只有永恒的黑暗，人工照明形成白晝，這就可以根據人的需要加以調整。
The whole world could be on eight-hour shifts, starting and ending on the stroke everywhere,at least as far as business and community endeavors were concerned. This could be important in a freely mobile world. Air transportation over long distances would no longer have entail"jet lag." Individuals landing on another coast or another continent would find the society they reached geared to the same time of day as at home.
整個世界都可以實行八小時輪班制，各地都可能做到同時上班，同時下班，至少公務活動和社會活動可以如此。這對于一個自由流動的社會來說極為重要。乘飛機長途旅行將不會再引起"時差反應"。抵達大洋彼岸或另一片大陸的人會發現他們所到的那個社會與自己家鄉一樣都是按照同一時間運行的。
