【明報專訊】Eason has hacked into Dr Panda's computer and messed up its clock! The other Smarties' watches are synchronised with it and therefore also not showing the correct time. Worse still, they are in different time zones! How does time differ around the world?

We have days and nights because the Earth rotates around its own axis, and only a part of it receives sunlight. It is daytime when the sun shines on where you live and, simultaneously it is night-time elsewhere. When you are having a class, children in London (倫敦) are in bed and those in Sydney (悉尼) may have finished school!

Day and night

The countries in the world fall into different time zone(s). The prime meridian, at which longitude is defined to be 0 degree, runs through Greenwich (格林威治), London. There are 24 standard time zones. The time difference between a time zone and an adjacent one is one hour. Hong Kong is in the Eastern hemisphere, and is in the GMT+8 time zone. That means Hong Kong is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (格林威治標準時)!

Time zone

“ Dr Panda: Big Ben is accurate to within one second. I can use it to reset the time! ”

■ Mission 1

Bill visits a famous monument in New York, but it is somehow messed up! What is it? Find out by rearranging the pictures in order to reveal the hidden word!

Answer:

Statue of _______

■ Mission 2

Dr Panda has got his weapon fixed, and the Smarties have learned about the time zones they are in. What about you? Can you colour the time zone which Hong Kong is in?

■ Mission 3

Seeing the shape of Burj al Arab (帆船酒店) makes MoMo wonder how time and distance were measured in the past when people sailed the sea. Let's learn more by filling in the blanks with correct prepositions.

The difficulty 1. ____ measuring distance and time at sea caused many shipwrecks, especially 2. ____ 1707, when four ships sank and over 1,500 men died.

Many tried to develop proper ways of navigation. The British government offered to award the 1714 Longitude Prize 3. ____ anyone who could measure longitudes. John Harrison, a carpenter who subsequently became a clockmaker, invented and kept improving a longitude watch. 4. ____ doing so, he won the prize many times and received more prize money than anybody else.

(answers on next text)

■ Key words

time zone 時區

prime meridian 本初子午線

longitude 經度

■ Glossary

synchronise (v) 使同步

axis (n) 軸心

simultaneously (adv) 同時地

adjacent (adj) 毗連的

hemisphere (n) 半球

shipwreck (n) 海難

navigation (n) 導航

carpenter (n) 木匠