挪威小島或將"拋棄時間"

Don't you wish those long summer days could last forever? An island in northern Norway is campaigning to do just that.

難道你不希望那些漫長的夏日能永遠持續下去嗎？挪威北部的一個島正打算這樣做。

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice just around the corner on June 21, Sommarøy -- meaning "Summer Island" -- wants to swap its watches for flower garlands and declare itself the world's first time-free zone.

隨着北半球的夏至（6月21日）臨近，索瑪若伊島（意思是“夏之島”）想要用花環取代鐘錶，盡享夏日，並宣稱這裏是世界上第一個“無時間區域”。

On this island in West Tromsø, north of the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn't set from May 18 right through to July 26, a full 69 days.

這個島位於西特羅姆瑟，北極圈以北，從5月18日直到7月26日的69天中，太陽都不會落山。

The locals, having endured the long polar night from November to January, when the sun doesn't rise at all, make the most of these precious months, with no regard to conventional timekeeping.

在這裏，從11月到次年1月，太陽都不會升起，當地人熬過了漫長的極夜，因此他們會充分利用夏季這寶貴的幾個月，不會顧及傳統的計時。

"There's constantly daylight, and we act accordingly," says islander Kjell Ove Hveding in a statement. "In the middle of the night, which city folk might call '2 am,' you can spot children playing soccer, people painting their houses or mowing their lawns, and teens going for a swim."

島民謝爾-奧韋-赫維丁在一份聲明中說：“白晝一直持續，我們也就按照白天的習慣生活。在午夜，或者城裏人口中的‘凌晨2點’，你可以看到這裏的孩子們在踢足球，人們在粉刷房子或修剪草坪，少年們在游泳。”

Now they want to make it official.

現在人們想讓這種狀態正式化。

Islanders gathered at a town hall meeting to sign a petition for a time-free zone and on June 13, Hveding met with a Norwegian member of parliament to hand over the locals' signatures and to discuss the practical and legal challenges of the initiative.

6月13日，島民們在市政廳會議上簽署了一份要求廢除時間制的請願書，赫維丁會見了一名挪威國會議員，遞交了當地人的簽名，並討論了該方案面臨的實際問題和法律挑戰。

"To many of us, getting this in writing would simply mean formalizing something we have been practicing for generations," he says.

他說：“對我們許多人來說，把這些寫下來只是意味着把幾代人一直在做的事情正式化。”

Islanders hope to be free of traditional opening hours and to introduce flexibility in school and working hours. Fishing and tourism are the main industries on this island with a population of little more than 300 people.

島民希望不再遵從傳統的營業時間，並使上學和工作時間更加靈活。漁業和旅遊業是該島的主要產業，全島只有略超300人。

Hveding says local fishermen and women often spend days on the ocean pursuing their catch, with little regard to timetable.

赫維丁說，當地漁民和婦女經常花幾天時間在海上捕魚，很少考慮時間。

It's clear they mean business. When visitors cross the bridge to the island from the mainland, they aren't greeted with padlocks (symbolizing love locks) like on similar bridges worldwide. The bridge is covered with watches, as people prepare for entry to the land time forgot.

很明顯他們是認真的。當遊客從大陸過橋到島上時，迎接他們的不是世界其他橋上象徵愛情的掛鎖，而是掛滿了手表的一座橋，人們要準備好進入被時間遺忘之地。

Will the islanders succeed in their efforts? It's already paying off in a publicity boost, which could well be the primary aim of the campaign.

島民的努力會成功嗎？這次活動已經引發了公衆關注，這很可能是其主要目的。

The islanders and the Norwegian tourism board are no doubt counting on visitors drawn by the quirky appeal of a Nordic wonderland of endless summer. For fans of the 1973 UK cult film "The Wicker Man," Norway's Summer Island is a fitting stand-in for the midsummer rites on the Scottish island of Summerisle.

毫無疑問，島上居民和挪威旅遊局都希望遊客們能被北歐無盡的夏日美景所吸引。對1973年英國邪典電影《柳條人》的粉絲們來說，挪威的夏之島也適合舉行蘇格蘭薩默爾島（影片中的虛構島嶼）上的仲夏儀式。

Likewise Ari Astor's upcoming folk-horror "Midsommar," opening July 3 in the US, takes a Swedish midsummer festival for its setting and is likely to inspire a fresh audience to seek out a real-life slide of eerie pastoral delights.

同樣，阿里·阿斯特執導的民間恐怖片《仲夏日》即將於7月3日在美國上映，該片以瑞典的一個仲夏節爲背景，很可能會引發新的觀衆去尋找現實生活中怪誕田園幻景的興趣。

In the meantime, the people of Sommarøy have a full five weeks of daylight before a sunset pinks their sky once more. Time to put away those clocks.

同時，在落日再次把天空染成粉紅色之前，索瑪若伊島的居民將享受整整五週的白晝。該把時鐘都收起來了。