Unit 6 (grad) The Riddle of Time 综合英语上册教材 研究生英语读写译教程.ppt

Exercises Exercise I. Comprehension 1. What does “it” in “It is too difficult to think about” refer to? Does it refer to “time” or Feynman’s preference not to be asked what time is? It refers to “time”. 2. How did Issac Newton and Albert Einstein perceive time differently? The former saw time as a flow of river, whereas the latter saw it as a dimension with height and width. Exercise I. Comprehension 3. Which peoples, according to the text, contributed to the evolution of the calendar and what did they do? It was the Sumerians who divided the year into 360 days and then designated 12 lunar months of 30 days each, the Egyptians extended the year by 5 days, and it was the Romans who gave us today’s Gregorian calendar. 4. What were the earlier timepieces mentioned in the text that man used before timekeeping became more precise? sundials and water clocks. Exercise I. Comprehension 5. Why, according to the text, is there a Western idea that time does not repeat? The idea seems to have grown out of the Christian tradition, in which Christ’s birth took on special meaning because it was unique and therefore unrepeatable. 6. What does David Allan mean by “Clocks are very limited devices? ” Clocks are very limited devices in that they give time only an instant ago, for the past does not exist except in our memory, nor does the future, except in our expectations. Exercise I. Comprehension 7. How can scientists tell the age of things in ancient times? They do so by determining their level of carbon-14, which decays at a known rate. 8. Why isn’t a normal circadian cycle 24 hours, according to Charles Ehret? Being slightly out of sync with nature, the approximately 25-hour circadian cycle may have created a kind of tension necessary for survival. Exercise I. Comprehension 9. What may result from the abuse of one’s internal rhythms, according to the text? Monday-morning blues, sleep disorders and even depression. 10. Have we, or will we ev