首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Clocks through Time It took human being a long time to invent diverse ways for telling time. About 3000 years ago people fir
Clocks through Time It took human being a long time to invent diverse ways for telling time. About 3000 years ago people fir
admin
2013-05-20
34
问题
Clocks through Time
It took human being a long time to invent diverse ways for telling time. About 3000 years ago people first made a circle with a stick in the center of it to【1】the passage of time by noticing various marks on the circle the shadow of the stick fell across.
Since these kinds of circles that are called【2】did not work without the sun, men had to find other ways to keep track of time, including a【3】candle on which each stripe took about one hour to melt, a water clock which had a line with a number beside it for every hour and an【4】which followed the invention of glass blowing.
The first clock with a face and an hour hand was invented about 600 years ago for few people. With the gradually【5】use of clocks, they were beautifully【6】, though they could not keep correct time. Scarcely had clocks been made small enough to be carried when watches came into use.
As the beginning of the style of "grandfather clocks, " which were enclosed in tall wooden boxes, the【7】clock was made in 1657. In 1700, there were clocks with minute and second hands. About 200 years later, a clock is commonly used in every house and a watch is almost used by every【8】gentleman.
A newly created clock that shows the time exactly is so - called【9】clock. Nowadays such a clock has more and more complicated functions.
【10】as clocks and watches are, time means different things to different nations.
Clocks through Time
It was probably around 3, 000 years ago that people first began making things to help them measure the passage of time. Having observed that shadows move around trees as the sun moves across the sky, someone drew a circle and put a stick in the center. As the sun passed overhead, he marked even divisions on the circle as the shadow of the stick crossed it. Then people could tell which part of the day it was by noticing which mark on the circle the shadow fell across. These circles were called " sundials. " Later, they were made of stone and metal to last longer.
Of course, a sundial did not work at night or on cloudy days. So men kept inventing other ways to keep track of time. One invention was a striped candle. Each stripe took the same amount of time to melt. If each stripe inched in about an hour, about three hours would have passed when three stripes melted. A water clock was another way to tell time. A container had a line with a number beside it for every hour. It also had a tiny hole in the bottom. The container was filled with water that dripped through the hole. When the water level reached the first line, people knew that an hour had passed. Each time fire water level fell to another line, one more hour had passed. Candies and water clocks helped people know how much time had gone by. But candies had to he remade, and water clocks had to he refilled. So, after glass blowing was invented, the hourglass came into use. Glass bulbs were joined by a narrow tunnel of glass, and fine, dry sand was placed in the top bulb. The hourglass was easy to use, but it had to be turned over every hour so the sand could flow again.
It was about 600 years ago that the first clock with a face and an hour hand was made. One of the first such clocks was built for a king of France and placed in a tower of the royal palace. The clock did not show minutes or seconds. Usually it did not even show the eon’eet hour! Since there were no planes or trains to catch, however, people were not concerned about knowing the exact time. Gradually, clocks began to be popular. They still did not keep correct time, but they were unusual, and they could be beautifully decorated. One clock was in the shape of a cart with a horse and driver. One of the wheels was the face of the clock. Watches came into use as soon as clocks were made small enough to be carried. These did not always tell the correct time, either. They were often put into beautiful watchcases, which were made to look like anything the owner wanted.
The pendulum clock was invented in 1657. This was the beginning of the style of clocks we call " grandfather clocks, " which were enclosed in tall wooden boxes. Pendulum clocks showed the hours more exactly than earlier clocks, since the weight on the pendulum could be moved up or down to make the clock go faster or slower. About forty years later, minute and second hands were put on some clocks. Grandfather clocks are very much in demand again today. They are usually very expensive, however, and require more space than other styles of clocks. As people began to go to more places and do more things, they were more interested in knowing the correct time. By 1900, almost every house had a clock, and nearly every well - dressed gentleman wore a watch on a chain tucked in his vest pocket.
Today, of course, we have electric clocks that keep giving the right time until they are unplugged or the electricity goes off. Scientists have invented clocks that look like large machines and tell the correct time to a split second. The most modern corporate clocks for home use do not have faces or hands. These clocks are called digital clocks, and they tell the time with a set of numerals which appear in a little window. The seconds are counted off like the tenths of a mile on the odometer of a car. Many electric clocks are combined with radios, which can sometimes be set to turn on automatically. Thus, instead of an alarm ringing in your ear in the morning, you can hear soft music playing when it is time to get up. Some clocks will even start the coffee maker!
Although clocks and watches play an important part in people’s lives in industrialized countries, time is still regarded in very different ways in different parts of the world. In the next selection, we will talk about attitudes toward time in different cultures.
选项
答案
hourglass
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6J4O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TraditionalAustralia-specific"schooloftheair"and"flyingdoctors"arebothreachedthrough
Recently,theword"shanzhai"(山寨)prevailsandhasbecomeacultureofitsown,symbolizinganythingthatimitatessomethingfa
It’seasytoseewhythepriceofgasolineissoupsettingtosomanypeople.Gaspricesaretheoneeconomicindicatoryousee
Thejob-seekingperspectiveisparticularlygoodforthefollowingmajorsEXCEPT______.
Serf-discipline:theFoundationofProductiveLivingⅠ.Issuestobenoticedatthethoughtofserf-disciplineA.Troubl
PrometheusUnboundwaswrittenby
Foryears,Europeanshavebeenusing"smartcards"topaytheirwaythroughtheday.Theyusetheminshopsandrestaurants,plu
ChristianshavegenerallyregardedChristmasasbothaholydayandholiday.(1)______Customsofalllandshavebeenaddedupt
Therewasanexplosionatelectoralcommissionofficesbecauseof______.
A、Oneyearold.B、Threeyearsold.C、Fiveyearsold.D、Sevenyearsold.B当女士问到汽车使用过的年数时,售货员答道:“it’sonlythreeyearsold”,故B正确。其
随机试题
有关尿亚硝酸盐试验,以下说法正确的是
女性,35岁,发现右侧颈部肿块5年余,自觉无任何不适,未曾就诊。近日来出现右颈部肿块疼痛,肿块较前增大。查体:右颈部扪及3cm×3cm肿块,质较硬,边界清楚,随吞咽上下活动,局部轻度压痛,无红肿。B超检查提示右甲状腺囊性占位性病变最佳治疗方案为
A、1天B、3天C、5天D、1周E、1个月非处方药限定疗程为平喘药成人服用
图4-44所示机构由杆O1A、O2B和三角板ABC组成。已知:杆O1A转动的角速度为ω,O1A=O2B=r,AC=h,O1O2=AB,则图示瞬时点C速度vC的大小和方向为()。
下列不属于谨慎性原则要求的是()。
保荐工作底稿应当真实、准确、完整地反映整个保荐工作的全过程,保存期不少于10年。()
建立现代企业制度是我国国有企业改革的方向。()
公安机关对已不具备人民警察条件,不适合在公安机关继续工作的人员,解除其与公安机关任用关系的一种人事行政管理措施,称为人民警察的()。
结合材料,回答问题材料1人固有一死,或重于泰山,或轻于鸿毛。守岛英雄王继才怎么也想不到,他的死会震动国人。在这个舆论纷扰、人心浮动的时代,王继才的去世为什么感天动地?一天的坚守或许不难,一年的坚守却弥足珍贵,王继才用32年的坚
在属性窗口中把窗体的KeyPreview属性设置为True,然后编写如下两个事件过程:PrivateSubForm_KeyDown(KeyCodeAsInteger,ShiftAsInteger)PrintChr(KeyCode)End
最新回复
(
0
)