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Hello!
大家好!
This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Max in China about the difference between a.m. and p.m.
本周《名师答疑》，我们回答来自中国的麦克斯提出的问题，即a.m.和p.m.有什么区别。
Dear VOA teachers, This is Max from China.
亲爱的美国之音的老师们，我是中国的麦克斯。
During a listening exam I heard a saying like this,
在一次听力考试中，我听到这样一句话：
"The incident happened on the 400 block of Rutland Road just after 12:30 PM," and it was described as midnight.
"事件发生在拉特兰路400号街区，当时刚过12:30 p.m."，这个时间被描述为午夜时分。
I’m confused.
我有点困惑。
I think that 12:30 PM should be at noon during the day, and if I want to say the time of midnight I think AM is correct.
我认为12:30应该是在中午，如果我想说午夜的时间，我认为用AM才是正确的。
Which one is right?
哪一种用法是对的呢？
Thank you for helping me solve this problem.
谢谢你帮我解决这个问题。
Best regards, Max.
最好的祝福，麦克斯。
Dear Max, Thank you for writing to us.
亲爱的麦克斯，谢谢你的来信。
You are correct!
你说得对！
In the United States, we do not use a 24-hour clock in day-to-day speech.
在美国，我们在日常交流中不使用24小时计时制。
But some special fields that demand very clear communication use a 24-hour clock.
但在一些要求交流内容非常清晰的特殊领域，人们使用的是24小时制。
So, you might hear a person describe such time as "military time."
所以，你可能会听到一个人把这样的时间描述为"军事时间"。
A 24-hour clock is more commonly used internationally than it is in America.
24小时制在国际上比在美国使用得更普遍。
We use a 12-hour clock and abbreviations from Latin to tell time, a.m. (ante meridiem, meaning before midday) and p.m. (post meridiem, meaning after midday).
我们用12小时制和拉丁文缩写来表示时间，a.m.意思是中午之前，p.m.意思是中午之后。
Our morning clock starts at 12:00 a.m.
我们上午的时间从12:00 a.m.开始。
That is 0:00 (zero hundred hours), or midnight, internationally.
也就是零点，国际上的说法是午夜。
Morning, or a.m. hours, go until 12:00 p.m., which would also be 12:00 on an international, 24-hour clock.
上午的时间(a.m.)一直到12:00 p.m.，也就是国际24小时制的12点。
But most of the time, we do not show a difference between the two forms of timekeeping in everyday speech.
但在大多数情况下，我们在日常语言中并没有显示这两种计时方式的区别。
For example, we know that, if a friend wants to meet at 2:00 local time, hopefully they do not want to meet at 2:00 in the morning.
例如，我们知道，如果朋友想在当地时间2点见面，那么但愿他们不是想在凌晨2点见面。
Let us look at a few examples to compare times.
我们看几个例子来比较时间。
My supervisor planned the meeting for 3 p.m.
我的主管把会议安排在下午3点。
This means that the meeting will take place at 3:00 in the afternoon.
这意味着会议将在下午3点举行。
That new superhero movie is so long; it lasted until 1 a.m.
那部新出的超级英雄电影太长了，一直放映到凌晨1点。
This means that the movie did not finish until 1:00 in the morning (after midnight).
这意味着电影直到凌晨1点(午夜过后)才结束。
I have an evening class from 4:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
我的晚课从下午4点半一直上到晚上7点。
This example means that the class continued from the afternoon into the evening.
这意味着这堂课从下午一直持续到晚上。
Now, consider a clock for comparison.
现在，想一想时钟，进行一下比较。
The clock is at 10:10.
钟指的是10点10分。
If it is the morning we would say it as 10:10 a.m.
如果是早上，我们会说是上午10点10分。
This would be the same internationally.
这和国际上的说法一样。
But, if it were before midnight, we would read it as 10:10 p.m. or 22:10 on a 24-hour clock.
但是，如果是在午夜之前，我们会把它读成晚上10点10分，或者是24小时制的22点10分。
A fun way to remember a.m. and p.m. is to listen to the song AM to PM by singer Christina Milian.
记住a.m.和p.m.的一个有趣方式就是听一听歌手克里斯蒂娜·米利安的歌曲《从上午到下午》。
The lyrics go: "Somebody hit the lights, so we can rock it day and night.
歌词是这样写的："有人开了灯，这样我们就可以日夜摇摆起来，
People gettin' down, that's right, from AM to PM. "
大家一起来，没错，从凌晨直到下午。"
In the song, the party is starting in the early hours of the morning (after midnight) in the a.m.
在这首歌中，派对在凌晨(午夜后)开始。
And the party is so long that it goes into the afternoon, or the p.m. hours.
而且时间很长，一直持续到下午，也就是p.m.。
Please let us know if these examples and explanations have helped you, Max!
请让我们知道这些例子和解释是否对你有帮助，Max！
And that’s Ask a Teacher.
以上就是《名师答疑》。
I’m Faith Pirlo.
我是费思·皮尔洛。
