英语四级标准阅读.docx

英语四级标准阅读.docx

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英语四级标准阅读

NatureofTime

Ifyoucanreadaclock,youcanknowthetimeofday.Butnooneknowswhattimeitselfis.Wecannotseeit.Wecannottouchit.Wecannothearit.Weknowitonlybythewaywemarkitspassing.Foralloursuccessinmeasuringthesmallestpartsoftime,timeremainsoneofthegreatmysteriesoftheuniverse.

Onewaytothinkabouttimeistoimagineaworldwithouttime.Therecouldbenomovement,becausetimeandmovementcannotbeseparated.Aworldwithouttimecouldexistonlyaslongastherewerenochanges.Fortimeandchangearelinked.Weknowthattimehaspassedwhensomethingchanges.

Intherealworld-theworldwithtime-changesneverstop.Somechangeshappenonlyonceinawhile,likeaneclipse（月蚀）ofthemoon.Othershappenrepeatedly,liketherisingandsettingofthesun.Humansalwayshavenotednaturaleventsthatrepeatthemselves.Whenpeoplebegantocountsuchevents,theybegantomeasuretime.

TheDivisionsofTime

Inearlyhumanhistory,theonlychangesthatseemedtorepeatthemselvesevenlywerethemovementsofobjectsinthesky.Themosteasilyseenresultofthesemovementswasthedifferencebetweenlightanddarkness.Thesunrisesintheeasternsky,producinglight.Itmovesacrosstheskyandsinksinthewest,causingdarkness.Theappearanceanddisappearanceofthesunwasevenandunfailing.Theperiodsoflightanddarknessitcreatedwerethefirstacceptedperiodsoftime.Wehavenamedeachperiodoflightanddarkness-oneday.

Peoplesawthesunrisehigherintheskyduringthesummerthaninwinter.Theycountedthedaysthatpassedfromthesun'shighestpositionuntilitreturnedtothatposition.Theycounted365days.WenowknowthatisthetimeEarthtakestomoveoncearoundthesun.Wecallthisperiodoftime-oneyear.

Earlyhumansalsonotedchangesinthemoon.Asitmovedacrossthenightsky,theymusthavewondered.Whydiditlookdifferenteverynight?

Whydiditdisappear?

Wherediditgo?

Evenbeforetheylearnedtheanswerstothesequestions,theydevelopedawaytousethechangingfacesofthemoontotelltime.Themoonwas"full"whenitsfacewasbrightandround.Theearlyhumanscountedthenumberoftimesthesunappearedbetweenfullmoons.Theylearnedthatthisnumberalwaysremainedthesame-abouttwenty-ninesuns.Twenty-ninesunsequaledonemoon.Wenowknowthisperiodoftime-onemonth.

ThedivisionsoftimeweusetodayweredevelopedinancientBabylonia4000yearsago.BabylonianastronomersbelievedthesunmovedaroundtheEarthevery365days.Theydividedthetripintotwelveequalparts,ormonths.Eachmonthwasthirtydays.Then,theydividedeachdayintotwenty-fourequalparts,orhours.Theydividedeachhourintosixtyminutes,andeachminuteintosixtyseconds.

DevicestoMeasureTime

Humanshaveusedmanydevicestomeasuretime.Thesundialwasoneoftheearliestandsimplest.Asundialmeasuresthemovementofthesunacrosstheskyeachday.Ithasastickorotherobjectthatrisesaboveaflatsurface.Thestick,blockingsunlight,createsashadow.Asthesunmoves,sodoestheshadowofthestickacrosstheflatsurface.Marksonthesurfaceshowthepassingofhours,andperhaps,minutes.Thesundialworkswellonlywhenthesunisshining.So,otherwayswereinventedtomeasurethepassingoftime.

Onedeviceisthehourglass.Itusesathinstreamoffallingsandtomeasuretime.Thehourglassisshapedlikethenumbereight-wideatthetopandbottom,butverythininthemiddle.Inatrue"hour"glass,ittakesexactlyonehourforallthesandtodropfromthetoptothebottomthroughaverysmallopeninginthemiddle.Whenthehourglassisturnedwiththeupsidedown,itbeginstomarkthepassingofanotherhour.

Bythe18thcentury,peoplehaddevelopedmechanicalclocksandwatches.Andtoday,manyofourclocksandwatchesareelectronic.

So,wehavedevicestomarkthepassingoftime.Butwhattimeisitnow?

Clocksindifferentpartsoftheworlddonotshowthesametimeatthesametime.ThisisbecausetimeonEarthissetbythesun'spositionintheskyabove.

In1884,aninternationalconferencedividedtheworldintotwenty-fourtimeareas,orzones.Eachzonerepresentsonehour.TheastronomicalobservatoryinGreenwich,England,waschosenasthestartingpointforthetimezones.TwelvezonesarewestofGreenwich.Twelveareeast.ThetimeatGreenwich-asmeasuredbythesun-iscalledUniversalTime.FormanyyearsitwascalledGreenwichMeanTime.

CanTimeMoveBackward?

Somescientistssaytimeisgovernedbythemovementofmatterinouruniverse.Theysaytimeflowsforwardbecausetheuniverseisexpanding.Somesayitwillstopexpandingsomedayandwillbegintomoveintheoppositedirection,togrowsmaller.Somebelievetimewillalsobegintoflowintheoppositedirection,thatis,fromthefuturetothepast.Cantimemovebackward?

Mostpeoplehavenotroubleagreeingthattimemovesforward.Weseepeoplebornandthengrowold.Werememberthepast,butwedonotknowthefuture.Weknowafilmismovingforwardifitshowsaglassfallingoffatableandbreakingintomanypieces.Ifthefilmweremovingbackward,thepieceswouldre-jointoformaglassandjumpbackupontothetable.Noonehaseverseenthishappen.Exceptinafilm.

Somescientistsbelievethereisonereasonwhytimeonlymovesforward.Itisawell-knownscientificlaw-thesecondlawofthermodynamics（热动力学）.Thatlawsaysdisorderincreaseswithtime.Infact,therearemoreconditionsofdisorderthanoforder.Forexample,therearemanywaysaglasscanbreakintopieces.Thatisdisorder.Butthereisonlyonewaythebrokenpiecescanbeorganizedtomakeaglass.Thatisorder.Iftimemovedbackward,thebrokenpiecescouldcometogetherinagreatmanyways.Onlyoneofthesemanyways,however,wouldre-formtheglass.Itisalmostimpossibletobelievethiswouldhappen.

Notallscientistsbelievetimeisgovernedbythesecondlawofthermodynamics.Theydonotagreethattimemustalwaysmoveforward.Thedebatewillcontinueaboutthenatureoftime.Andtimewillremainamystery.

1.Fromthefirstparagraphweknowthattime___

由题干关键词fromthefirstparagraph定位到第一段的最后一句Foralloursuccessinmeasuringthesmallestpartsoftime,timeremainsoneofthegreatmysteriesoftheuniverse.

人们虽然可以成功地测量时间，但时间却仍然是世界上最神秘的事物之一。

由此可知，D）正确。

2.Peoplebegantomeasuretimewhenthey________.

由题干关键词begantomeasuretime定位到第三段的最后一句Whenpeoplebegantocountsuchevents,theybegantomeasuretime，当人们开始计算这些现象的时候，人们就开始度量时间了。

这里所说的suchevents指代的是前面提到的naturaleventsthatrepeatthemselves，因此两句合一，便可的答案为C）。

3.Howdidpeoplemeasuretheperiodoftimeasoneday?

由题干关键词oneday定位到第一小标题TheDivisionsofTime下的第一段。

本段最后一句Wehavenamedeachperiodoflightanddarkness-oneday.根据文章的观点，一天指的是每一个既包括白天也包括黑夜的过程，而不是日出和日落之间的间隔，因此B）正确。

4.WhatissaidaboutancientBabylonia4000yearsagointhepassage?

由题干关键词ancientBabylonia4000yearsago定位到第一小标题TheDivisionsofTime下最后一段的第一句ThedivisionsoftimeweusetodayweredevelopedinancientBabylonia4000yearsago.我们目前所使用的时间划分方法是四千年的巴比伦人发明的，因此，选A）。

5.Whatdowelearnaboutthesundialfromthepassage?

由题干关键词thesundial定位到第二小标题DevicestoMeasureTime下第一段。

文章提到日晷是最古老和最简单的时间测量仪之一，注意此处指明这是其中之一，并不等于说它是所有时间测量最古老最简便的，因此A）不正确；它通过测量太阳在指针上投下的阴影来度量时间，因此，只有在由日照的时候才能有效地工作，不是任何情况下都可以使用的，故选D）。

6.Thereasonwhyclocksindifferentpartsoftheworldshowdifferenttimeatthesametimeisthat------.

由题干关键词clocksindifferentpartsoftheworld定位到第二小标题DevicestoMeasureTime下的倒数第二段。

文章之所以不同地方的时钟在同一时刻显示不同的时间是由于ThisisbecausetimeonEarthissetbythesun'spositionintheskyabove，是由太阳的位置决定的，因此C）是正确的。

7.WhatdoweknowaboutUniversalTimefromthepassage?

由题干关键词UniversalTime定位到第二小标题DevicestoMeasureTime下最后一段倒数第二句。

文章说到ThetimeatGreenwich…iscalledUniversalTime.文章还提到了在1884年举行的一个国际会议，在这次会议上，将theastronomicalobservatory（格林尼治天文台）所在地定为时区的起点，格林尼治时间被称为UniversalTime（国际标准时间），这个时间一直都是存在的，只不过在这次会议之后才被冠之以UniversalTime的称谓而已。

因此，正确答案为C）。

8.Whilesomescientistsbelievetheuniversewillstopexpandingandgrowsmaller,theybelievetimewillalsobeginto-由题干关键词theuniverse'sstoppingexpandingandgrowingsmaller定位到第三小标题CanTimeMoveBackward?

下第一段的第三句。

文章说到时间向前流动由题干关键词theuniverse'sstoppingexpandingandgrowingsmaller定位到第三小标题CanTimeMoveBackward?

下第一段的第三句。

文章说到时间向前流动是因为宇宙在不断扩张，但是有人认为有一天宇宙会停止扩张并变小，因此Somebelievetimewillalsobegintoflowintheoppositedirection，那么时间也会随之向反方向流动，由将来回到过去，所以划线部分即为答

2.Thereasonwhytimeonlymovesforwardisthesecondlawofthermodynamicswhichsays

由题干关键词thesecondlawofthermodynamics定位到第三小标题CanTimeMoveBackward?

下第三段的第二句。

文章提到有些科学家相信时间向前运行的原因是热动力学第二定律（thesecondlawofthermodynamics）。

Thatlawsaysdisorderincreaseswithtime.这个定律的内容就是划线的部分，也就是本题的答案。

3.Asnotallscientistagreewiththattimemustmoveforward,therewillalwaysbedebatebetweenscientistsabout

由题干关键词notallscientistagreewiththattimemustmoveforward定位到全文的最后一段。

文章提到并不是所有的科学家都认为时间必然向前运行，Thedebatewillcontinueaboutthenatureoftime，关于时间的本质的辩论会一直持续下去，因此划线部分即为答案。

Passageone（Theonlywaytotravelisonfoot）

Thepastagesofmanhaveallbeencarefullylabeledbyanthropologists.Descriptionslike‘PalaeolithicMan’,‘NeolithicMan’,etc.,neatlysumupwholeperiods.Whenthetimecomesforanthropologiststoturntheirattentiontothetwentiethcentury,theywillsurelychoosethelabel‘LeglessMan’.Historiesofthetimewillgosomethinglikethis:

‘inthetwentiethcentury,peopleforgothowtousetheirlegs.Menandwomenmovedaboutincars,busesandtrainsfromaveryearlyage.Therewereliftsandescalatorsinalllargebuildingstopreventpeoplefromwalking.Thissituationwasforceduponearthdwellers