美國大陸正式引用四個標準時區：1883年11月18日

在美國擁有時區之前，人們在全國旅行時是如何知道時間的呢？在發明鐵路之後，人們從甲地要到乙地必須花很長的時間才能到達，當時使用的是「太陽時間」 (sun time) 。當你從東岸要出發到西岸的時候，每隔12英里就必須調慢一分鐘，這樣你才能一直知道正確的時間。

當人們開始搭乘火車在一天內旅行數百英里，計算時間就成為一個很大的問題。鐵路線也必須設立正確的火車抵達與出發時刻表，但是每個城市的時間都不一樣，那該怎麼辦呢？


Before the U.S. had time zones, how did people traveling across the country know what time it was? Until the invention of the railway, it took such a long time to get from one place to another, that local "sun" time could be used. When traveling to the east or to the west, a person would have to change his or her watch by one minute every 12 miles in order to always have the correct time.

When people began traveling hundreds of miles in a day by train, calculating the time became a problem. Railroad lines needed to create schedules for departures and arrivals, but every city had a different time!

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