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 firs
Clocks through Time It took human being a long time to invent diverse ways for telling time. About 3000 years ago people firs
admin
2010-02-20
39
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】 【1】____.
_____ the passage of time by noticing various marks on the circle the shadow of
the stick tell across.
Since these kinds of circles that are-called 【2】____ did not work without 【2】____.
the sun, men had to find other ways to keep track of time, including a 【3】____. 【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 【4】____.
invention of glass blowing.
The first clock with a face and an hour hand was invented about600 years ago
for few people. With the gradually 【5】____ use of clocks, they were beautiful- 【5】____.
ly 【6】____, though they could not keep correct time. Scarcely had clocks been 【6】____.
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 in1657 . In1700, there were 【7】____.
clocks with minute and second hands. About200 years later, a clock is commonly
used in every house and a watch is almost used by every 【8】____ gentleman. 【8】____.
A newly created clock that shows the time exactly is so -called 【9】____ 【9】____.
clock. Nowadays such a clock has more and more complicated functions.
【10】_____ as clocks and watches are, time means different things to differ- 【10】____.
ent nations.
【4】
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 melted in a- bout 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 contain- er 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 the water level fell to another line, one more hour had passed. Candles and water clocks helped people know how much time had gone by. But candles had to be remade, and water clocks had to be 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 correct 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 re- quire 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 electrici- ty goes off. Scientists have invented clocks that look like large machines and tell the correct time to a split second. The most modem 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/kcvO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Thinkgolfis【C1】______game?Thinkagain.ResearchersincludingDebbieCrewsofArizonaStateUniversityandJohnMiltonofthe
Thinkgolfis【C1】______game?Thinkagain.ResearchersincludingDebbieCrewsofArizonaStateUniversityandJohnMiltonofthe
Somepeoplebelievethatinternationalsportcreatesgoodwillbetweenthenationsandthatifcountriesplaygamestogetherthey
Theautomobile,alongwithahouseandagarden,is【C1】______oftheAmericanDream.The【C2】______had1.8vehicles;eachvehic
A、IwillbuildabranchinBelgiumwiththeboardadvisors.B、IhavedeterminedthatMr.Johnson’splanshouldbeadopted.C、Mr.
Howmanyreallysufferasaresultoflabormarketproblems?Thisisoneofthemostcriticalyetcontentioussocialpolicyques
中国经济的迅速兴起是我们这个时代的伟大成就之一。中国的日益繁荣不仅大大地造福于中国人民,也造福于中国在世界各地的贸易伙伴。中国已体验到经济自由给国家带来的财富。中国经济自由的发展使人们有理由期待社会、政治及宗教自由的发展。从长远来讲,这些自由是不可分割的。
A、Inpersonality.B、Inappearance.C、Inlifestyle.D、Ineveryway.B
Whichoneisnottrueaccordingtothecontentofthenews?
A、boththeCatholicsandProtestantsB、theCatholicsC、theProtestantsD、neitherofthetwoA
随机试题
《欧洲联盟条约》(《马斯特里赫特条约》)
A、量筒B、分析天平(感量0.1mg)C、台秤D、移液管E、容量瓶;以下操作中应选用的仪器是含量测定时,取供试品约0.2g,精密称定
“橘生淮南则为橘,生于淮北则为枳,叶徒相似,其实味不同。所以然者何?水土异也。”法律移植是一项非常复杂的工作,如果片面追求法律的超前发展,无视固有法文化的强大生命力,结果反而可能不利于法律权威和尊严的树立,起到负效果。请简要谈谈对法律移植这一问题的看法。
甲、乙两人发生民事纠纷,一审判决甲胜诉。乙上诉,二审法院接到报送的案件之前,甲有转移财产的行为,必须采取财产保全,乙即向法院提出申请,对此由谁处理?()
我国是统一的多民族国家。下列关于我国国家结构形式的表述哪些是正确的?()
如果X为负数,则已知[X]补,求[-X]补的方法是()。
根据数据模型的应用目的不同,数据模型可分为(39);而根据数据结构的类型,数据模型又可分为(40)。
输入VB源程序时,若一个命令行中包含两个语句,则两个语句之间的分隔符应使用
Theyear1400openedwithmorepeacefulnessthanusualinEngland.Onlyafewmonthshefore,RichardII,weak,wicked,andtrea
Letmeexplainsomeoftheseinmoredetail.First,facialexpression.Facialexpressionisapowerful【T1】______.Weallknow【T2
最新回复
(
0
)