拉提納 (La Latina)
街區是馬德里最古老的地區之一。晚上 10 點，在鵝卵石鋪就的街道上人聲鼎沸，到處都有人在享用 gambas al ajillo（蒜蓉蝦）和 cocido
Madrileño（馬德里燴肉，一種包括鷹嘴豆、豬肉和西班牙辣香腸的豐盛燉菜）。這個時間，大多數其他國家餐廳都已經打烊，但這裏的餐廳仍然人潮湧動。
儘管旅行者可能會認為，西班牙用餐時間晚是因為這個國家人們悠閒的地中海式生活方式，但真正的原因卻可能有點奇怪。這個原因就是，70
多年以來，西班牙人一直生活在錯誤的時區裏。
看一下地圖，您就會發現西班牙與英國、葡萄牙和摩洛哥位於相同經度，應該採用格林尼治標凖時間（GMT）。但是，西班牙卻採用歐洲中部時間（CET），與馬德里以東
2,500 公里的塞爾維亞的貝爾格萊德同步。
1940 年，佛朗哥將軍（General Francisco Franco）將西班牙的時區往前調了一個小時，以便與納粹德國同步。
那時候，西班牙人備受西班牙內戰摧殘，完全沒心思去抱怨時間的更改。他們繼續按照以前的時間吃飯，但因為記時的方式改變，他們午飯的時間也就由下午 1 點變成 2 點，以往晚上 8 點的晚餐時間也突然之間變成了 9 點。
二戰結束後，西班牙並沒有恢復自己的時間。然而，2016 年，西班牙首相馬里亞諾·拉霍伊（Mariano Rajoy）宣佈了一項計劃，讓政府制定新的工作日時間表，將工作的結束時間由晚上的 8 點改為 6 點。這項計劃的一個重要方面是評估將西班牙使用時區從歐洲中部時間調到格林尼治標凖時間的可行性，這一計劃引起了全國範圍的熱烈討論。
西班牙時間比正確的時區晚 60 分鐘，這意味著日出日落的時間都更晚了，讓西班牙人擁有了漫長的夏夜，太陽到晚上 10 點才下山。西班牙一些旅遊度假區的經營者認為更多的陽光是吸引遊客的一大優勢。西班牙東部巴利阿里群島（Balearic Islands，包括馬略卡島Mallorca、梅諾卡島Menorca和伊比沙島Ibiza）的地區政府強烈反對恢復格林尼治標凖時間，甚至舉行大型活動要求保留全年夏令時 (CET+1)，從而讓遊客可以充分利用該地區溫和的冬季氣候。
但是對於很多西班牙人而言，生活在錯誤的時區下導致他們睡眠不足，工作效率下降。西班牙工作時間通常從上午 9 點開始，午餐時間為下午 2 點到 4 點，然後繼續工作直到晚上 8 點左右下班。由於下班時間很晚，所以西班牙人不得不將社交活動推到深夜。黃金時段的電視節目直到晚上 10:30 才開始。
同時，在西班牙西北部的加利西亞地區（Galicia），冬季太陽要到上午 9 點之後才升起，這意味著這裏的居民要摸黑上班。
Image
copyright Alamy Image caption
錯誤的時區劃分使夏季夜晚更長，太陽在晚上 10 點才落山（圖片來源：PhotoStock-Israel/Alamy）
"事實上，西班牙目前採用的時間跟太陽照射時間不符，這會影響健康，尤其是睡眠，"西班牙時間合理化國家委員會主席胡塞·路易·卡塞羅（José Luis Casero）表示。該組織從 2006 年起開始為西班牙回歸正確的時區而奮鬥。"如果我們改變時區，太陽會提前一小時升起，我們也會更自然地醒來，就餐時間會提前一小時，我們就多了一小時的睡眠時間。"
西班牙人為了適應遲來的夜晚，會在上午設一個喝咖啡時間以及兩個小時的午休，這讓人們能夠享受這個國家最令人尷尬的傳統之一：午睡。
改變工作時間會威脅到西班牙人的午睡習慣，儘管人們是不是介意這一點還有待討論。2017 年 1 月 Simple Lógica 公司開展的一項調查顯示，不到 18% 的西班牙人有午睡習慣，而將近 60% 的人從不午睡。事實上，這個國家的很多大城市和度假勝地的店主們在午休時間仍然營業，以便為遊客提供服務。
同時，午睡者們抱怨對他們日常生活節奏的改變讓他們不能睡午覺。
"我們應該在西班牙取消午睡制度，因為這根本不符合現實，"卡塞羅說。"隨著時區的改變，晚飯時間提前，我們就多了一個小時的睡眠時間，這樣就不需要睡午覺了。"
巴塞羅那 IESE 商學院（Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa）的工作生活平衡研究專家、經濟學家努利亞·欽奇拉認為，歸根結底，提高西班牙人的生活質量遠比為旅遊者多保留一兩個小時的夏夜更重要。
"我們無需太關注時差問題，"她表示。"旅遊業一直都有時差問題，旅遊者們也不在乎。不管所謂早上多了一小時還是晚上多了一小時，白天的時長不會變。"
英文原文
- By Jessica Jones
It is 10pm in the Madrid neighbourhood of La Latina, one of the city’s oldest areas, and the cobbled streets thrum with the sounds of people enjoying plates of gambas al ajillo (garlic prawns) and cocido Madrileño (a hearty chickpea, pork and chorizo stew). Restaurants are bustling at an hour when, in most other countries, chefs would be hanging up their aprons for the night.
While travellers might attribute Spain’s late mealtimes to the country’s laidback Mediterranean attitude, the real reason is a little more peculiar. Spaniards are living in the wrong time zone, and have been for more than 70 years.
Glance at a map and you’ll realise that Spain – sitting, as it does, along the same longitude as the UK, Portugal and Morocco – should be in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). But Spain goes by Central European Time (CET), putting it in sync with the Serbian capital Belgrade, more than 2,500km east of Madrid.
Spaniards are living in the wrong time zone, and have been for more than 70 years.So why are Spaniards living behind their geographic time zone?
In 1940, General Francisco Franco changed Spain’s time zone, moving the clocks one hour forward in solidarity with Nazi Germany.
For Spaniards, who at the time were utterly devastated by the Spanish Civil War, complaining about the change did not even cross their minds. They continued to eat at the same time, but because the clocks had changed, their 1pm lunches became 2pm lunches, and they were suddenly eating their 8pm dinners at 9pm.
After World War II ended, the clocks were never changed back. However, in 2016, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that the government was working on a plan to implement a new workday schedule ending at 6pm as opposed to 8pm. One important element of the plan was evaluating the possibility of changing Spain’s time zone from CET to GMT – something that has sparked a heated discussion throughout the country.
Being 60 minutes behind the correct time zone means the sun rises later and sets later, bestowing Spain with gloriously long summer evenings and 10pm sunsets. Those who run Spain’s tourist resorts believe that more sunlight is a large draw for visitors. The regional government of the Balearic Islands ‒ which include Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza ‒ is strongly against returning to GMT and has even campaigned to maintain year-round summer time (CET+1) to allow visitors to take full advantage of the region’s mild winter climate.
But for many Spaniards, living in the wrong time zone has resulted in sleep deprivation and decreased productivity. The typical Spanish work day begins at 9am; after a two-hour lunch break between 2 and 4pm, employees return to work, ending their day around 8pm. The later working hours force Spaniards to save their social lives for the late hours. Prime-time television doesn’t start until 10:30pm.
Meanwhile, in the northwestern region of Galicia, the sun doesn’t rise until after 9am in winter, meaning that residents are starting their day in the dark.
“The fact that the time in Spain doesn’t correspond to the sun affects health, especially sleep,” said José Luis Casero, president of the National Commission for the Rationalization of Spanish Schedules, an organisation that has been campaigning for Spain to return to the correct time zone since 2006. “If we changed time zones, the sun would rise one hour earlier and we’d wake up more naturally, meal times would be one hour earlier and we’d get an extra hour’s sleep.”
Spaniards have traditionally coped with their late nights by taking a mid-morning coffee break and a two-hour lunch break, giving them the opportunity to enjoy one of the country’s most infamous traditions: the siesta.
It doesn’t fit with reality.Changing the workday would threaten Spaniards’ customary naptime, although whether or not citizens would mind is still up for debate. A January 2017 study by research company Simple Lógica found that less than 18% of Spaniards nap regularly, while nearly 60% never take a siesta. In fact, business owners in many of the country’s major cities and holiday resorts remain open during the midday break to cater to tourists.
Meanwhile, those who do nap express frustration when changes in their daily routine prevent them from sleeping mid-day.
“We should really banish the siesta in Spain because it doesn’t fit with reality,” Casero said. “And with the change of time zone bringing meal times forward and giving us an extra hour of sleep, there would be less need for a rest at midday.”
When it comes down to it, economist Nuria Chinchilla, an expert in work-life balance at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa business school in Barcelona, feels that quality of life for Spaniards is more pressing than preserving an extra hour or two of evening light for tourists.
“We have continuous jetlag,” she said. “Tourism will always be there and tourists don’t care. The number of hours of sunlight will be the same, whether it is an extra hour in the morning or in the evening.”
