【英语时差8,16】希腊人最先发现地球是圆的（上）

 The ancient Greeks¹ knew a thing or two. Nowadays we say Copernicus discovered the earth was round, for example, but the Greeks had that figured out almost two thousand years earlier! How did they manage it? They had several different arguments for the roundness of the earth. One of the best comes from Aristotle himself, who wrote a book called On the Heavens back in 340 B.C. The Greeks were a sea-faring culture, and sailed all over the Mediterranean². And they had noticed, Aristotle tells us, that the north star isn’t always in the same spot overhead³. Now remember that all the stars seem to move in a big circle over our heads because the earth itself is spinning⁴. The north star is the center of the circle, and stays put.

1 Greeks   

希腊人( Greek的名词复数 )； 希腊语； 对我来说太难懂了； 像天书一样

参考例句：

• The ancient Greeks sacrificed lambs or calves before engaging in battle. 古希腊人在打仗前用羊和小牛作祭品。
• Troy was besieged by the Greeks for ten years. 特洛伊城被希腊人围攻了十年。

2 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

3 overhead   

adj.在头顶上的，悬空的；n.间接开支

参考例句：

• A number of birds are circling overhead.很多鸟在头顶上空盘旋。
• Many stars overhead are invisible to the naked eye.天上的许多星星是肉眼看不到的。

4 spinning   

n.纺纱v.使…旋转( spin的现在分词 )；纺（线）；杜撰；（使）急转身

参考例句：

• The plane was spinning out of control. 飞机失去控制，不停地旋转。
• The carriage was spinning along at a good speed. 马车以高速飞跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》