177、关于这个星球的太阳，他们说，在居民看来，这太阳看上去就是一团火焰。他们一年有200天，一天相当于我们的9个小时；这是他们通过在我里面所察觉到的我们地球的天数时长算出来的。他们进一步说，对他们来说，春夏是永恒的；因此，田野一年四季常青，树木一年四季结果。这是因为他们一年如此之短，仅相当于我们一年中的75天；当年份如此短暂时，冬天的寒冷和夏天的炎热都不会持续太久，以致那里的土地总是郁郁葱葱。
177. They told us about the sun of their planet, saying that it looks fiery to the people who live there. The duration of their year is two hundred days, and their days last just nine hours of our time-something they could tell by sensing in me the length of the days on our planet. Further, they said that it is always spring and summer for them, so their fields are in blossom and their trees bear fruit throughout the year. This is because their year is very short, amounting to only seventy-five days of our year; and where the years are that short, the cold does not last in winter or the heat in summer, so the soil is always fertile.
177. They reported that the sun of their world looks fiery to the inhabitants. Their year contains two hundred days, their day being equal to nine of our hours. They could work this out by perceiving in me the length of days in our world. They also reported that spring and summertime are for them perpetual, so that the fields blossom and the trees bear fruit all the year round. This is because their year is so short, being equivalent to only seventy-five of our days; and where years are so short the cold of winter and the heat of summer are not prolonged, so that the ground is constantly as if in spring. 1
Footnotes:
1. This would also be the effect if the obliquity of the axis of rotation of the planet were much less than the Earth's.-TR.
177. In regard to the sun of that earth they related that to the inhabitants it has a flamy appearance; that the length of their years is two hundred days, and that a day equals nine hours of our time, which they could conclude from the length of the days of our earth perceived in me. And further, that they have perpetual spring and summer, and consequently that the fields are ever green, and the trees ever bearing fruit. The reason of this is, because their year is so short, being equal only to seventy-five days of our year; and when the years are so short, the cold does not continue long in winter nor the heat in summer, whence the ground is continually verdant.
177. De Sole illius telluris narrabant, quod ille appareat incolis flammeus; quod tempus annuum illis sit 200 dierum; et quod dies aequet 9 horas nostri temporis; quod ex diuturnitate dierum nostrae telluris in me percepta concludere potuerunt: et porro, quod illis vernum et aestivum perpetuum sit, et inde quod campi floreant, et arbores fructus ferant perenniter: causa quod ita sit, est quia Annus eorum tam brevis est, aequans modo tempus 75 dierum nostri anni; et ubi anni tam breves sunt, ibi non frigus moratur hyeme, nec aestus aestate, unde vernat humus continue.