英语四级标准阅读.docx

1、英语四级标准阅读Nature of TimeIf you can read a clock, you can know the time of day. But no one knows what time itself is. We cannot see it. We cannot touch it. We cannot hear it. We know it only by the way we mark its passing. For all our success in measuring the smallest parts of time, time remains one of

2、 the great mysteries of the universe. One way to think about time is to imagine a world without time. There could be no movement, because time and movement cannot be separated. A world without time could exist only as long as there were no changes. For time and change are linked. We know that time h

3、as passed when something changes. In the real world-the world with time-changes never stop. Some changes happen only once in a while, like an eclipse (月蚀) of the moon. Others happen repeatedly, like the rising and setting of the sun. Humans always have noted natural events that repeat themselves. Wh

4、en people began to count such events, they began to measure time. The Divisions of TimeIn early human history, the only changes that seemed to repeat themselves evenly were the movements of objects in the sky. The most easily seen result of these movements was the difference between light and darkne

5、ss. The sun rises in the eastern sky, producing light. It moves across the sky and sinks in the west, causing darkness. The appearance and disappearance of the sun was even and unfailing. The periods of light and darkness it created were the first accepted periods of time. We have named each period

6、of light and darkness-one day. People saw the sun rise higher in the sky during the summer than in winter. They counted the days that passed from the suns highest position until it returned to that position. They counted 365 days. We now know that is the time Earth takes to move once around the sun.

7、 We call this period of time-one year. Early humans also noted changes in the moon. As it moved across the night sky, they must have wondered. Why did it look different every night? Why did it disappear? Where did it go? Even before they learned the answers to these questions, they developed a way t

8、o use the changing faces of the moon to tell time. The moon was full when its face was bright and round. The early humans counted the number of times the sun appeared between full moons. They learned that this number always remained the same-about twenty-nine suns. Twenty-nine suns equaled one moon.

9、 We now know this period of time-one month. The divisions of time we use today were developed in ancient Babylonia 4000 years ago. Babylonian astronomers believed the sun moved around the Earth every 365 days. They divided the trip into twelve equal parts, or months. Each month was thirty days. Then

10、, they divided each day into twenty-four equal parts, or hours. They divided each hour into sixty minutes, and each minute into sixty seconds. Devices to Measure TimeHumans have used many devices to measure time. The sundial was one of the earliest and simplest. A sundial measures the movement of th

11、e sun across the sky each day. It has a stick or other object that rises above a flat surface. The stick, blocking sunlight, creates a shadow. As the sun moves, so does the shadow of the stick across the flat surface. Marks on the surface show the passing of hours, and perhaps, minutes. The sundial

12、works well only when the sun is shining. So, other ways were invented to measure the passing of time. One device is the hourglass. It uses a thin stream of falling sand to measure time. The hourglass is shaped like the number eight-wide at the top and bottom, but very thin in the middle. In a true h

13、our glass, it takes exactly one hour for all the sand to drop from the top to the bottom through a very small opening in the middle. When the hourglass is turned with the upside down, it begins to mark the passing of another hour. By the 18th century, people had developed mechanical clocks and watch

14、es. And today, many of our clocks and watches are electronic. So, we have devices to mark the passing of time. But what time is it now? Clocks in different parts of the world do not show the same time at the same time. This is because time on Earth is set by the suns position in the sky above. In 18

15、84, an international conference divided the world into twenty-four time areas, or zones. Each zone represents one hour. The astronomical observatory in Greenwich, England, was chosen as the starting point for the time zones. Twelve zones are west of Greenwich. Twelve are east. The time at Greenwich-

16、as measured by the sun-is called Universal Time. For many years it was called Greenwich Mean Time. Can Time Move Backward?Some scientists say time is governed by the movement of matter in our universe. They say time flows forward because the universe is expanding. Some say it will stop expanding som

17、e day and will begin to move in the opposite direction, to grow smaller. Some believe time will also begin to flow in the opposite direction, that is, from the future to the past. Can time move backward? Most people have no trouble agreeing that time moves forward. We see people born and then grow o

18、ld. We remember the past, but we do not know the future. We know a film is moving forward if it shows a glass falling off a table and breaking into many pieces. If the film were moving backward, the pieces would re-join to form a glass and jump back up onto the table. No one has ever seen this happe

19、n. Except in a film. Some scientists believe there is one reason why time only moves forward. It is a well-known scientific law-the second law of thermodynamics (热动力学). That law says disorder increases with time. In fact, there are more conditions of disorder than of order. For example, there are ma

20、ny ways a glass can break into pieces. That is disorder. But there is only one way the broken pieces can be organized to make a glass. That is order. If time moved backward, the broken pieces could come together in a great many ways. Only one of these many ways, however, would re-form the glass. It

21、is almost impossible to believe this would happen. Not all scientists believe time is governed by the second law of thermodynamics. They do not agree that time must always move forward. The debate will continue about the nature of time. And time will remain a mystery. 1. From the first paragraph we

22、know that time _ _由题干关键词from the first paragraph定位到第一段的最后一句For all our success in measuring the smallest parts of time, time remains one of the great mysteries of the universe. 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.People began to measure time when they _.由题干关键词began to measure time定位到第三段的最后一

23、句When people began to count such events, they began to measure time，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such events指代的是前面提到的natural events that repeat themselves，因此两句合一，便可的答案为C）。3.How did people measure the period of time as one day?由题干关键词one day定位到第一小标题The Divisions of Time下的第一段。本段最后一句We have named each

24、 period of light and darkness-one day. 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.What is said about ancient Babylonia 4000 years ago in the passage?由题干关键词ancient Babylonia 4000 years ago定位到第一小标题The Divisions of Time下最后一段的第一句The divisions of time we use today were developed in ancient Baby

25、lonia 4000 years ago. 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.What do we learn about the sundial from the passage?由题干关键词the sundial定位到第二小标题Devices to Measure Time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.The reaso

26、n why clocks in different parts of the world show different time at the same time is that -. 由题干关键词clocks in different parts of the world定位到第二小标题Devices to Measure Time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This is because time on Earth is set by the suns position in the sky above，是由太阳的位置决定的，因此C）是正确的。7.

27、What do we know about Universal Time from the passage?由题干关键词Universal Time定位到第二小标题Devices to Measure Time下最后一段倒数第二句。文章说到The time at Greenwich is called Universal Time. 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the astronomical observatory（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Universal Time(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

28、才被冠之以Universal Time的称谓而已。因此，正确答案为C)。8.While some scientists believe the universe will stop expanding and grow smaller, they believe time will also begin to - 由题干关键词the universes stopping expanding and growing smaller定位到第三小标题Can Time Move Backward?下第一段的第三句。文章说到时间向前流动 由题干关键词the universes stopping expa

29、nding and growing smaller定位到第三小标题Can Time Move Backward?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Some believe time will also begin to flow in the opposite direction，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. The reason why time only moves forward is the second law of thermodynamics which says 由题干

30、关键词the second law of thermodynamics定位到第三小标题Can Time Move Backward?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(the second law of thermodynamics)。 That law says disorder increases with time.这个定律的内容就是划线的部分，也就是本题的答案。3. As not all scientist agree with that time must move forward, there will always be debate b

31、etween scientists about 由题干关键词not all scientist agree with that time must move forward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，The debate will continue about the nature of time，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。Passage one（The only way to travel is on foot）The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled

32、by anthropologists. Descriptions like Palaeolithic Man, Neolithic Man, etc., neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label Legless Man. Histories of the time will go something like this: in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth dwellers