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
Following Nature’s Signposts For many, "navigation" has come to mean the use of navigational instruments and maps. However,
Following Nature’s Signposts For many, "navigation" has come to mean the use of navigational instruments and maps. However,
admin
2013-07-20
26
问题
Following Nature’s Signposts
For many, "navigation" has come to mean the use of navigational instruments and maps. However, even the most basic of these instruments were only invented during the past 2 000 years, by which time humans had already shown a great tendency to travel large distances, and most of the world had already been explored.
The ability to shape a journey without instruments has a name: "natural navigation". Our ancestors mastered methods of finding their way that depended on their ability to read a variety of natural clues. This is an art borne of an era when there were no alternatives. Evidence of its use can often be found in myths. The long journey is a rich source, with numerous references to the relationship between the sun, stars and direction.
Over Land and Sea
Familiarity with a landscape is the most prevalent form of natural navigation. In the Sahara, the Tuareg (柏柏尔人)tend goats from an early age. They are given clear guidelines as to the range within which they and the goats are allowed to go. This area is then extended steadily in order to shape the herders’ instincts. Over time, they learn to find their way over a large area without any formal training in the art of navigation.
The contemporary natural navigator can begin to unlock the potential of the sun with little more than a stick, using shadows to trace its annual and daily patterns. Once the sun’s patterns in the sky have been brought down to Earth and understood, it becomes possible to use the sun even when it isn’t visible. This is because many living things reflect the sun’s arc in some way, even humans: population density across the world is a clue to the sun’s habits.
But it’s the sunlight-dependent green plants that give the most useful clues. For example, trees act as a memory store for the way in which the sun has shaped their growth. If one side of an isolated deciduous (落叶的)tree appears heavier than the other, then there’s a good chance that this side has received greater levels of sunlight. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is likely to be the southern side.
The art isn’t limited to land and sky, but has a strong heritage at sea too. The great natural navigators of the Pacific Micronesian islands have learned to read and interpret the different effects of the wind on water. They have come to discern the differences between the instant effect of ripples, the cumulative effect of waves and, most importantly, the sets of swell that march across the ocean with the prevailing seasonal winds. They see and feel these patterns and they can even tell where they are in the ocean from the way in which these swells reflect and refract (折射)around their islands. Through experience, they build a mental map of the way in which the water moves in the ocean. They add to this the varying colors of the sea, the shape and color of the clouds that form over islands, and the way in which the birds behave.
The key to natural navigation is always remembering that very little in what we see in nature is random. This is the exciting but terrifying truth in natural navigation: it requires such a broad scan of time and distance on every journey, from feeling the wind on your face to reading the shapes of mountain ranges, all the while thinking about forces acting over minutes or millennia.
Connecting With Nature
It’s the great journeys and explorers that brought navigation to the fore in the past, but there’s no need to undertake formidable expeditions to use natural navigation—it can even be used in towns, where the patterns of buildings, the behavior of people, the motion of clouds overhead and the colors of stone can all yield clues and provoke thought.
Although it’s sometimes a (tauntingly (令人生畏地)diverse subject, natural navigation is also an extremely accessible, affordable and zero-impact way of connecting with the natural world. It’s a rare and often challenging art, but one that can enrich any journey.
Using the Wind
The wind can, of course, blow from any direction, but most places will have one or two prevailing wind directions. Exposed trees will show a combing across their extremities, and once the prevailing wind for an area is understood, this combing can be used to deduce direction.
In the UK, the prevailing winds usually blow from the southwest. On ridges and other exposed areas, this can give an instant reading of direction: just work out from which way the tree appears to have been blown and you have a clue to the direction of southwest.
Using the Land
The first key to using the land is finding and then getting to know the character of the high ground, which will tell a story of geological formation and erosion, while also offering the best perspective of the landscape.
For example, the South Downs of Great Britain form a range that runs broadly west to east, near parallel to the south coast. Once this alignment has been observed, it’s easy to make simple deductions. If the sea can be seen, then there must be some south in the view, but if the land slopes away continuously to low country, it must be close to north. To the east and west, the ridge continues across rolling summits without losing height.
Using the Sun
There are three critical moments in the sun’s arc for natural navigation: sunrise, midday and sunset. If you placed a stick in the ground and marked the tip of its shadow over the course of a day and then at different times of year, you would notice that the shortest shadow on a given day forms a perfect north-south line. The sun is due south from the UK at midday—that is, when the sun is highest in the sky—every day of the year.
Perhaps more surprisingly, you would begin to notice how much the bearing of sunrise and sunset varies over the course of a year. In the UK in midwinter, the sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest. In midsummer, it rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest. There is a 90° difference between the direction of sunrise in summer and winter; more if you travel north of the UK and less as you head towards the equator.
Using the Stars
The easiest way to find direction using the stars in the Northern Hemisphere is to use the Plough (北斗七星)to find Polaris, the North Star. First, find the Plough (also known as the Big Dipper or the "saucepan"). This large group of seven stars is easily recognized in the northern half of the sky, both from its distinctive shape and because each star is bright.
Its shape never changes, although it can appear on its side or even upside down. Next, identify the two "pointer stars". These are the stars that a liquid would run off if you tipped up the "saucepan". Now visually measure the distance between the pointer stars and look along them to a point in the sky five times that distance beyond them. The star on its own in that part of the sky is the North Star. The point on the horizon directly below that star is due north. But note, the North Star isn’t the brightest star in the sky.
What is the most prevalent form of natural navigation according to the Tuareg’s experience?
选项
A、Familiarity with the landscape.
B、Rich knowledge about nature.
C、Connection with other herders.
D、Familiarity with natural navigator.
答案
A
解析
信息明示题。定位句明确指出,熟悉地形环境是自然导航最为普遍的方式,下文用柏柏尔牧羊人来举例说明,因此答案为A)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hpn7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Culturalnormssocompletelysurroundpeople,sopermeatethoughtandaction,thatweneverrecognizetheassumptionsonwhicho
A、Theiraveragelifespanwaslessthan50years.B、Itwasverycommonforthemtohave12children.C、Theyretiredfromworkmu
Howaretornadoesdistinguishedfromwhirlwinds?Accordingtothepassage,whichofthefollowingbehaviorsisfrequentlychara
A、Heistooyoungtocatchupwithothers.B、Heisnotintelligentenough.C、Hepaystoolittleattentiontohisstudy.D、Hecan
Buyingclothes______(是一件很耗时的工作),becausethoseclothesthatapersonlikesarerarelytheonesthatfithimorher.
A、Throughtheadvertisementinthenewspaper.B、Throughtheman’sintroductioninameeting.C、ThroughtheBBSontheInternet.
Thescariestpartofbuyingausedcarisnotbeingcompletelysureofwhatconditionit’sin.Acarthat’sbeeninamajoracci
A、Sayingfarewelltoafriend.B、Buyingaticketforasportsevent.C、Payingabillatthebank.D、Arrangingforaplanetrip.
A、Fromyuppieclubs.B、Intheseafoodmarket.C、Inthesupermarket.D、OntheInternet.D根据“这些吃起来很安全的昆虫能从网上找到和订购”,选D。
随机试题
Idon’tthinkyoucanfinishpaintingthefencealoneinsuchashorttime,______?
患者,男,39岁。病史1年。DBP持续130~150mmHg,伴头痛,眼底见普遍动静脉交叉压迫,并见棉絮状渗出,蛋白尿(+++),肌酐192mmol/L,心胸比率0.58,夜间阵发性呼吸困难,最可能的诊断为
病毒性心肌炎湿热侵心证的证候有()
环境保护法的基本原则有()。
《国务院关于深化改革严格土地管理的决定》规定,调控新增建设用地总量的权力和责任在中央,盘活存量建设用地的权力和利益在国务院,保护和合理利用土地的责任在地方各级人民政府,省、自治区、直辖市人民政府应负主要责任。()
项目管理组织建立的步骤中,处于确定项目工作内容与组织结构设计之间的是()。
双相情感障碍中抑郁的典型症状不包括()。
某股份公司的有关资料如下:(1)年息税前收益2400万元;(2)所得税率25%;(3)总负债5000万元,平均利息率8%;(4)发行普通股5000万股,每股面值1元;(5)每股账面价值2元;(6)该股票的贝塔系数为1.2,目前国库券收益率4%,
甲与乙系夫妻,生子丙。某日,甲、乙、丙与甲父丁外出旅游,因飞机失事不幸全部遇难,无法确定其死亡的先后时间。经查,甲有一姐姐戊,乙有一弟弟庚。根据继承法规定,推定四人死亡先后顺序是()。
阅读下面的对话,根据其内容写一篇有关theBritishMuseum的说明文。要求:1.所写短文应与对话相关内容意义相符,涵盖其要点。2.用你自己的语言来表达,可以改写对话中的句子,但不可以照抄原句。注意:词数80词左右。Ann:James
最新回复
(
0
)