Three Sundays in a Week艾伦.坡.ppt

Text 1 Pre-reading questions Before you read the text, read the following note and look at the diagram below. Time Zones1 and International Date Line2 In 1884 scientists divided the world into 24 zones. These were based on an imaginary line running through Greenwich Observatory, which is in southeast London, England. The time in the zone containing Greenwich is called Greenwich Mean Time3. Text 1 Going westwards around the world from Greenwich, we subtract an hour for each 15 degrees of longitude. Going eastwards from Greenwich we add an hour for each 15 degrees of longitude. At 180°longitude we arrive at the International Date Line. This imaginary line runs north-south through the Pacific Ocean. When crossing the International Date Line, the date is put forward on day going west (a day lost); and the date is put back one day going east (a day is gained). In other words, if we are travelling east and it is Monday when we reach the date line, it is Sunday again when have passed through it. Text 1 Now decide which of the following statements are true and which false. They will help you to understand the text better. Text 1 ____ 1. It is quite possible to have three Sundays occurring in one week. ____ 2. The earth rotates about its axis continually, and the period of a complete rotation is one day. ____3. There are 24 time zones or time belts on the surface of the earth. When it is noon in Beijing, the times in Sydney, New York, an Manchester are all different. ____4. If you travel west, you lose one hour for approximately every thousand miles you go. ____ 5. If you travel east, you lose one hour for approximately every thousand miles you go. ____ 6. If you travel around the world once, you either lose or gain 24 hours. F T T T T F Text 1 Three Sundays in a Week Robert, the narrator of the story, was left in the care of his Uncle Rumgudgeon when his parents died. He grew up with Kate, daughter of Uncle Rumgu