英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

现代大学英语精读第二册Unit16

时间:2006-09-25 16:00来源:互联网 提供网友:clian1   字体: [ ]
特别声明:本栏目内容均从网络收集或者网友提供,供仅参考试用,我们无法保证内容完整和正确。如果资料损害了您的权益,请与站长联系,我们将及时删除并致以歉意。
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Lesson Sixteen

Pre-class Work

Read the text a third time. Learn the new words and expressions listed below.

Glossary1

abuse
v. to treat sth. so badly that you begin to destroy it

array
n. an ~ of: a group or collection of things, usually arranged so that you see them all

arrow
n. a sign shaped like an arrow used to show direction. Here it means the direction time moves

astronomy
n. the scientific study of the stars

atom
n. 原子

atomic
adj. the adjective of "atom"

body clock
the system in your body that controls types of behavior which happen on regular times 人体生物钟 (生物钟:biological clock)

carbon
n. 碳

cathedral
n. a very large church under the control of a bishop(主教)

cesium
n. 铯

charcoal2
n. 木炭

chemist
n. a scientist who specializes in chemistry

Chicago
n. 芝加哥(U.S.)

chronobionics
n. 生物时间仿生学

circadian
adj. 生理节奏的

circulation
n. blood ~: the movement of blood around your body 血液循环

clockwork
adj. very regular; just like a clock

complex
adj. complicated; made up of many different parts which are closely connected

coordinated3
adj. well-organized; organized in a way that all parts involved work well together 协调的

crude
adj. not skillfully made

decay
v. (物理)衰减

device
n. a piece of equipment, esp. one that is cleverly thought out

devise
v. to plan or invent a way of doing things

dimension
n. a measurement in space such as length, height, etc.

Egyptian
n. 埃及人

electron
n. 电子

elusive4
adj. difficult to achieve

era
n. a long period of time in history that is different in some way from other periods

erase5
v. to get rid of; to remove from memory

faraway
adj. distant

gear
n. a set of equipment or tools 齿轮(转动装置)

gong
n. (铜)锣

Gregorian calendar
公历;西历

Harvard
n. 哈佛大学
heartbeat
n. the action or sound of your heart as it pumps blood through your body

historian
n. a person who studies or writes history

immune
adj. ~ system: the system by which your body protects itself against disease 免疫系统

Indian
adj. Here: 印第安人的

individual
n. one person, considered separately from the rest of the group or society that he or she lives in

infinitely6
adv. very much

internal
adj. inside your body

internalize
v. to make a pattern of behaviour part of your nature

Italy
n. 意大利

lengthy7
adj. very long

lunar
adj. connected with the moon or the travel to the moon

mismatch
n. a combination of things that do not work well together

monastery8
n. a building or buildings in which monks9 (和尚;僧侣) live

Moscow
n. 莫斯科

mummy
n. a dead body preserved by being wrapped in cloth, esp. in ancient Egypt 木乃伊

nanosecond
n. one billionth of a second 纳米秒

naval10
adj. connected with the navy 海军的

navigator
n. a person who directs or controls the course of a ship or a plane

Nobel Prize
诺贝尔奖

observatory11
n. a special building from which scientists watch the moon, stars, weather etc. 天文台

oscillate
v. to keep moving regularly from side to side between two limits

perception
n. the way that you notice things with your senses

Pisa
n. 比萨市 (Italy)

Pope
n. the leader of the Roman Catholic Church 罗马天主教的教皇

precision
adj. (only before noun) done or made in an exact way

primordial12
adj. existing at the beginning of time

pulse
n. 脉搏

reckon
v. to calculate

refinement13
n. improvement

regardless of
(infml) without being affected14 by different situations

relativity
n. theory of ~:爱因斯坦的相对论

reverse
v. to go backwards15

rhythm
n. a regular repeated pattern of movements or sounds 节奏

riddle16
n. a mystery; sth. one cannot understand

Roman
n. 罗马人

satellite
n. a machine that is sent into space and goes around the Earth used for radio, television or communication 卫星

signal
v. to express or indicate time 显示或表示(时间)

Sir
n. (放在姓名前)爵士

slave
n. a person completely dominated by another thing or person 奴隶

split
v. to divide into two or more parts

Sumerian
n. people in ancient Euphrates in Asia(古代幼发拉底地区)

technological17
adj. related to technology 工艺的

tension
n. (a feeling of) nervous anxiety, worry, or pressure

theoretical
adj. based on theory

theorist
n. = theoretician; someone who develops ideas within a particular subject that explain why particular things happen or are true 理论家

therefore
adv. for that reason; as a result

tick
v. ~ away: to pass by (said of time)

timekeeping
n. the recording18 of time

timepiece
n. a clock or watch 计时器

track
v. to follow the movement

ultimately
adv. in the end; after everything or everyone else has been done or considered

uniform
adj. being all the same in all its parts or among all its members

unified19
adj. 统一的

variable
n. sth. that may be different in different situations so that you cannot be sure what will happen 可变因数

voyager
n. sb. who often makes long and dangerous journeys; Voyager (U.S.)探索者号(飞船)

waterwheel
n. a wheel turned by a flow of water, used to work machinery20

width
n. size from side to side 宽度

Proper Names

Allan
艾伦

Landes
兰德斯

Ehret
埃雷特

Feynman
范曼

Gregory XIII
格雷戈里十三世

Galileo Galilei
伽利略·伽利莱伊

Gernot Winkler
格诺特·温克勒

Isaac Newton
艾萨克·牛顿

Willard Libby
威拉德·利比

Text A

The Riddle of Time

John Boslough

Read the text once for the main idea. Do not refer to the notes, dictionaries or the glossary yet.

We run our lives by clocks and calendars... but what is time?

"We physicists22 work with time every day," said Nobel Prize winner Richard P. Feynman, "but don't ask me what it is. It's just too difficult to think about."
Throughout much of history time was looked upon as a flow like a river. Even for Sir Isaac Newton, the flow of time was uniform. But with Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, time was seen as a dimension — like height and width — giving a unified picture of events in time and space. "We have given more attention to measuring time than to any other variable in nature," says Gernot Winkler of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "But time remains23 a riddle that exists only in our minds."
Devising accurate calendars and clocks to measure the flow of time has, through history, proved to be an elusive, lengthy intellectual pursuit. The Sumerians divided the year into 360 days, then named 12 lunar months of 30 days each. The Egyptians extended the year by five days. Later changes by the Romans, plus refinements24 by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, gave us today's Gregorian calendar, accurate to a day in every 3323 years.
Early societies also broke the day into smaller units. The sun, arcing overhead daily, was undoubtedly25 the first timepiece, followed perhaps by the shadow of a stick stuck in the ground — a crude sundial.
In the 11th century a Chinese scholar named Su Sung invented a huge device that was among the first mechanical water clocks. More than 30 feet high, powered by a waterwheel, his clock signaled the hours with gongs, bells and drums.
It was in the West, however, that the mechanical clock achieved its greatest glory. One of the earliest was built for an English monastery in the 13th century.
In 16th-century Italy, a young medical student named Galileo Galilei is said to have spied a newly lighted lamp swinging in the cathedral at Pisa. Timing26 it with his pulse, he found that each swing took the same amount of time, regardless of the distance traveled. He had discovered the pendulum27. But seven decades passed before a Dutch scientist built the first pendulum clock, starting the era of precision timekeeping.
The Western idea that past, present and future are arranged in a straight line — that time does not repeat — seems to have grown out of the Christian28 tradition in which Christ's birth took on special meaning because it was unique and therefore unrepeatable.
In human terms, even as you watch a second tick away, it's gone. But our technological world needs the precise time. A navigator at sea or in the air, plotting location by satellite, relies on a time signal accurate to within a single millionth of a second. Spacecraft like Voyager 2 are guided by radio commands timed to billionths of a second. And physicists tracking motion inside an atom reckon in trillionths of a second.
Atomic clocks at some 50 timekeeping stations around the world from Washington to Paris to Moscow allow this remarkable29 splitting of seconds. Since the 1940s, scientists have known that the electrons of atoms oscillate with a rhythm so regular that — like a pendulum — they could be used to tell time. First built in 1948, these clocks generally use atoms of cesium, a silvery white metal, and are accurate to within a few nanoseconds a day.
But does this give us a clue to what time is? Not really, says David Allan, a time theorist. "Clocks are very limited devices." He points out that the past does not exist except in our memory. "Nor the future, except in our expectations of it," he says. "The most a clock gives is the time an instant ago. Time is our own invention."
Nature, too, has its clocks. In 1947 American chemist Willard Libby found a natural timekeeper in everything that lived during the past 50,000 years: the carbon atom, which decays at a known rate. By determining its level of carbon-14, scientists can tell the age of an Egyptian mummy or of charcoal from an ancient Indian home.
Astronomers30 have gazed even farther back in time. By looking at light from a faraway galaxy31, they are actually seeing the galaxy as it was billions of years ago. The rate at which these galaxies32 are flying away from one another tells scientists the date when all the matter in the universe set out on its journey.
"We were able to show that the matter in the universe must have been infinitely compressed about 15 billion years ago," says theoretical physicist21 Stephen Hawking33 of the University of Cambridge in England. And before that? "Time as we measure it simply did not exist."
But human time — the perception of our bodies and minds — has origins deep in a primordial past long before a set of gears told us when to go to bed. The body's dominant34 time cycle is called the circadian rhythm, the control for which is believed to lie in the brain, above the roof of the mouth. For most of us a normal circadian cycle is 25 hours, give or take 15 minutes.
Why not 24? "Being slightly out of step with nature may have created a kind of tension necessary for survival," suggests Charles Ehret, president of General Chronobionics near Chicago.
A few body-clock watchers believe we may also tick to an array of weekly cycles. They are thought to regulate changes in body chemicals, the response of the immune system, and a cyclic rise and fall of heartbeat and blood circulation. Such rhythms, some scientists believe, may help explain the seven-day week as a unit of time — the only calendar measure that does not trace its origins to astronomy.
Ehret is certain that if you abuse your powerful internal rhythms, you are in for trouble. Monday-morning blues35, sleep disorders36 and even depression can result from the mismatch between the clock on the wall and the ones in the body.
So the human body is as much a part of the clockwork universe as any timepiece we ever built. But what of the other questions we all have about time: can we travel through it, or can it be reversed? Who has not wished to turn back clock or calendar — to erase mistakes, to return as a child with adult wisdom, and to chat with Shakespeare? But scientists say that though the laws of physics may not forbid time travel, all observed arrows of time go in only one direction.
Whatever time is, we humans have internalized it so powerfully that it has taken on a meaning all its own. We run our lives by numbers on clocks and calendars that we ourselves have created. Have we become slaves to the clock?
David Landes, a historian of timekeeping at Harvard University, thinks not. "The clock let individuals know what time belonged to their employers and what time was their own. Workers are now actually freer than ever before. Without the clock, and now the watch, there is no modern world. It is the difference between a complex, intricately coordinated society and a primitive37 one only vaguely38 aware of time's possibilities."
"We ultimately are still in control of how we use time and how it affects us." More than anything else time is what we make of it.
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 glossary of7xy     
n.注释词表;术语汇编
参考例句:
  • The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
  • For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便,我们在附录中也提供了术语表。
2 charcoal prgzJ     
n.炭,木炭,生物炭
参考例句:
  • We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
  • Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。
3 coordinated 72452d15f78aec5878c1559a1fbb5383     
adj.协调的
参考例句:
  • The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
  • The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
4 elusive d8vyH     
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的
参考例句:
  • Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
  • Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。
5 erase woMxN     
v.擦掉;消除某事物的痕迹
参考例句:
  • He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
  • Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。
6 infinitely 0qhz2I     
adv.无限地,无穷地
参考例句:
  • There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
  • The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。
7 lengthy f36yA     
adj.漫长的,冗长的
参考例句:
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
  • The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。
8 monastery 2EOxe     
n.修道院,僧院,寺院
参考例句:
  • They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
  • She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。
9 monks 218362e2c5f963a82756748713baf661     
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
  • He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 naval h1lyU     
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
参考例句:
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
11 observatory hRgzP     
n.天文台,气象台,瞭望台,观测台
参考例句:
  • Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
  • Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。
12 primordial 11PzK     
adj.原始的;最初的
参考例句:
  • It is the primordial force that propels us forward.它是推动我们前进的原始动力。
  • The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.的尼安德特人是我们的原始祖先之一.
13 refinement kinyX     
n.文雅;高尚;精美;精制;精炼
参考例句:
  • Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
  • Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。
14 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
15 backwards BP9ya     
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地
参考例句:
  • He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
  • All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。
16 riddle WCfzw     
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜
参考例句:
  • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
  • Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
17 technological gqiwY     
adj.技术的;工艺的
参考例句:
  • A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
  • Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
18 recording UktzJj     
n.录音,记录
参考例句:
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
19 unified 40b03ccf3c2da88cc503272d1de3441c     
(unify 的过去式和过去分词); 统一的; 统一标准的; 一元化的
参考例句:
  • The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
  • The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。
20 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
21 physicist oNqx4     
n.物理学家,研究物理学的人
参考例句:
  • He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
  • The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。
22 physicists 18316b43c980524885c1a898ed1528b1     
物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说,这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
  • Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。
23 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
24 refinements 563606dd79d22a8d1e79a3ef42f959e7     
n.(生活)风雅;精炼( refinement的名词复数 );改良品;细微的改良;优雅或高贵的动作
参考例句:
  • The new model has electric windows and other refinements. 新型号有电动窗和其他改良装置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It is possible to add a few useful refinements to the basic system. 对基本系统进行一些有益的改良是可能的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
25 undoubtedly Mfjz6l     
adv.确实地,无疑地
参考例句:
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
26 timing rgUzGC     
n.时间安排,时间选择
参考例句:
  • The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
  • The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。
27 pendulum X3ezg     
n.摆,钟摆
参考例句:
  • The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
  • He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。
28 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
29 remarkable 8Vbx6     
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的
参考例句:
  • She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
  • These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。
30 astronomers 569155f16962e086bd7de77deceefcbd     
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪,为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》
31 galaxy OhoxB     
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
参考例句:
  • The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
  • The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。
32 galaxies fa8833b92b82bcb88ee3b3d7644caf77     
星系( galaxy的名词复数 ); 银河系; 一群(杰出或著名的人物)
参考例句:
  • Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
  • We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。
33 hawking ca928c4e13439b9aa979b863819d00de     
利用鹰行猎
参考例句:
  • He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
  • We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。
34 dominant usAxG     
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
参考例句:
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
35 blues blues     
n.抑郁,沮丧;布鲁斯音乐
参考例句:
  • She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
  • He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。
36 disorders 6e49dcafe3638183c823d3aa5b12b010     
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调
参考例句:
  • Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告,厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
37 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
38 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地,暖昧地
参考例句:
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面,对一切都视而不见。
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
顶一下
(14)
82.4%
踩一下
(3)
17.6%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴