Summer Solstice 夏至

“Summer Solstice” comes on June 21 to June 22 each year when the sun altitude arrive the highest in north. This day has the longest day time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the sunshine in many cities in south China may last fourteen hours per day.After this day, the spot of the direct sunlight gradually moves southward.

“夏至”是每年6月21日至6月22日，太阳高度到达北方最高点。这一天是北半球一年中白天时间最长的一天，中国南方许多城市的日照能达到14小时每天，夏至之后，太阳直射点逐渐向南移动。

Although, this day has the longest daylight, it’s not the hottest. As traditional Chinese books described, there are three periods of the hot season. It starts around “Summer Solstice” and ends around “Autumn Begins”. The temperature rises day by day and the hottest days come around mid-July to mid-August, where temperatures of some cities in China reach 40 degree Celsius.

虽然这一天白天最长，但也不是最热的。正如中国传统书籍所描述的，热季有三个时期。它开始于“夏至”前后，结束于“秋始”前后。气温逐日升高，最热的日子出现在7月中旬至8月中旬，中国一些城市的气温达到40摄氏度。

In some provinces, there is the tradition of eating cold noodles on this day. According to old customs in Beijing, when it comes to “Summer Solstice”, people can eat cold noodles to stimulate the appetite and at the same time don’t need to worry about having diarrhea.

在一些省份，这一天有吃凉面的传统。按照北京的老习俗，到了“夏至”，人们可以吃凉面来刺激食欲，同时也不用担心拉肚子。

During this period, to comply with the Yin and Yang in the natural world, people should sleep late, get up early and have a nap during the lunch time. Aged people should make sure they have at least seven hours sleep every day by sleeping early and get up early. Actually most of the people feel tired and sometimes even headache during this period. This is because when the temperature rises, people can only send out the heat by perspiration, which may cause dehydration and thus the insufficient blood supplying to the brain. Therefore, remember to drink a lot of water if feeling uncomfortable.

在这段时间里，为了顺应自然界的阴阳，人们应该晚睡早起，在午餐时间小睡一会儿。老年人每天至少要睡7个小时，要早睡早起。实际上，大多数人在这段时间感到疲倦，有时甚至头痛。这是因为当温度升高时，人们只能通过出汗来散发热量，这可能导致脱水，从而导致大脑供血不足。因此，如果感觉不舒服，记得多喝水。