HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We answer a question about a new time change in the United States. HOST: This Sunday, March eleventh, most Americans will set their clocks ahead one hour. They will begin daylight saving time earlier this year. Faith Lapidus explains.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Each spring, most people in the United States move their clocks ahead one hour because of what is called daylight saving time. The only states that do not are Hawaii and most of Arizona.
Daylight saving time provides another hour of daylight in the evening. Its chief purpose is to save energy by reducing the use of electricity for lighting. Many countries first used daylight saving time during war time. Britain and the United States used it during World War One. The United States also used it during World War Two.
After the war, many American states established some kind of daylight saving time. But this became confusing. So, in nineteen sixty-six, Congress established daylight saving time for the nation. It began the last Sunday in April and ended the last Sunday in October. In the nineteen seventies, that period was extended as a result of a fuel shortage in the United States.
In nineteen eighty-six, new legislation changed the start of daylight saving time to the first Sunday in April. It still ended on the last Sunday in October. Americans continued to set their clocks one hour ahead in the spring and one hour back in the fall. They remembered to do this with the expression: "Spring ahead and fall back." Two years ago, Congress passed a law to lengthen daylight saving time by four weeks to save even more energy. That is why the time change will now begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.
Some businesses tried to stop the legislation. That is because computer systems used by banks, airlines and other businesses must be changed to recognize the new start date for daylight saving time. Any device that has an internal clock could be a problem and must be changed. Most internal clocks in computing devices are set for the old daylight time change.
Many companies have been working to reset electronic mail devices, personal computers and information-center computers. Most of Europe starts daylight saving time on March twenty-fifth. But most of Asia, Africa and South America do not observe daylight saving time at all.
I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
It was written by Dana Demange, Jill Moss and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer.
And join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA?s radio magazine in Special English.
