精读雅思——I9T2P2

目录
1.Passage
2.Word and Phrases
3.习题解析

1.Passage

Venus In Transit

June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a 'transit' of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest explain.

A
On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event. For over six hours, the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun. This “transit" of Venus was the first since 6 December l882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at a girls' school, where - if is alleged – the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations.

B
For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe. And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November 1677, Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific. He realized that from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Sun's disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle - the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observer's position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal; the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This distance is known as the 'astronomical unit' or AU.

C
Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets round the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realized that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Sun's distance to 1 part in 500. But there was as problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of Mercury; are rare. occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 - though he didn't survive to see either.[22]

D
Inspired by Halley's suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia. But things weren’t helped by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil. He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit - but the ship's pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres, his view was clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience[15&23].

E
While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow the measurements were dogged by the 'black drop' effect[17]. When Venus begins to cross the Sun's disc, it looks smeared not circular - which makes it difficult to establish timings[24]. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Sun's disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings.

F
But astronomers labored hard to analyze the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Jonathan Franz Encke, Director of the Belin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today's value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy. The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today. The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars[14&26]. If we look at a star in January - when Earth is at one point in its orbit - it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later. Knowing the width of Earth's orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance.

G
June 2004’s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos - detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars[16].

2.Words and Phrases

word and phrases	chinese meaning
Venus	金星
Transit	运输；经过
Venus in transit	金星凌日
First passage	首次穿越，首次通过
Astronomical	天文学的，天文的；极大的（数字）
Inch	有尺寸刻度的
On that occasion	在那个时候
Astronomer	天文学家
Girl’s school	女子学校
Allege	宣称；断言
Combined force	合力
Schoolmistress	女教师，女校长
Outperform	胜过；比……做的好
Professionals	专业人士
The four corners of the globe	世界的各个角落
Draw……alike	吸引了……人
Polymath	博学的人；博学的
Put down to	归因于
Innermost	内心的；最深处的
Innermost planet Mercury	太阳系中最靠内的水星
Desolate	荒凉的，无人烟的
Latitude	纬度
The sun’s disc	日轮
Timing	测定……的时间
Widely-separated locations	相距遥远的地区
Parallax angle	视差角
Apparent	显然的，表面上的
Astronomical body	天体
Ultimate goal	最终目标
Astronomical unit	天文单位（地球到太阳的平均距离）
Be aware that	清楚，明白
Fundamental	基本的，根本的
Astronomical measurements	天文测量
Orbital speed	轨道速度
Fall into place	逐渐被理解
Roughly	粗糙地；概略地
Nevertheless	然而，不过
Pin down	确定
Set out	出发，开始
Expedition	探险
Set out on expeditions	开始了探险
Sympathy	同情
Deserve most sympathy	最值得同情
Thwart	挫败；反对；阻碍；横过
Besiege	围困；包围；烦恼
Warship	战船；军舰
Pitching	纵摇
Rolling	旋转；动摇
Undaunted	勇敢的，无畏的
Equator	赤道
Set off	出发，动身
Ironically	讽刺地；说反话地
Dispiriting	令人沮丧的；使人气馁地
Instrument	仪器；工具；手段
Dog	跟踪；尾随
Be dogged by	被……困扰
Smear	诽谤；弄脏
Smeared	弄脏的；污迹斑斑地
Circular	循环的；圆形的
Diffraction	（光、声等的）衍射，绕射
Refract	使折射
Labor	劳动；努力；苦干
Observatory	天文台；气象台
Reasonably	合理地；相当地；适度地
Radar	雷达
Supersede	取代，代替；紧接着……而到来
Cosmic	宇宙的
Rod	棒；惩罚；枝条；权利
Measuring rod	测量杆
Spectacle	精彩的表演；奇特的现象；出人意外的情况。景象；奇观
Astronomical spectacle	天文奇观
Pave the way	为……做准备；为……铺平道路
Cosmo	宇宙
Detect	察觉；发现；探测
Distort	扭曲；使失真；曲解
Toxic	有毒的

3.习题解析

Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

14. examples of different ways in which the parallax principle has been applied
15. a description of an event which prevented a transit observation
16. a statement about potential future discoveries leading on from transit observations
17. a description of physical states connected with Venus which early astronomical instruments failed to overcome

段落信息匹配题

• 出现future，一般都在文章的最后一段
• 都是乱序的，容易出现耐心不足的现象
• 当文章理解（看懂词汇）以后，锁定比较容易

Questions 18-21
Look at the following statements (Questions 18-21) and the list of people below
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter A, B, C or D. in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.

18. He calculated the distance of the Sun from the Earth based on observations of Venus with a fair degree of accuracy.
19. He understood that the distance of the Sun from the Earth could be worked out by comparing observations of a transit.
20. He realized that the time taken by a planet to go round the Sun depends on its distance from the Sun.
21. He witnessed a Venus transit but was unable to make any calculations.

List of People
A. Edmond Halley
B. Johannes Kepler
C. Guillaume Le Gentil
D. Johann Franz Encke

人名匹配题
之前总结的做法是阅读过程中，根据找到的人名去匹配题目中的信息，读完也做完了
一般人名是顺序出现的

• 人名按顺序出现
• 19-B
• 20-C
• 21-D
• 18-F
• 所以，读题时看到人名信息匹配题的时候，选择顺序做题，读的过程中看到人名，阅读完相关信息，去做多选一

Questions 22-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
Write answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet. write

TRUE it the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

22. Halley observed one transit of the planet Venus.
23. Le Gentil managed to observe a second Venus transit.
24. The shape of Venus appears distorted when it starts to pass in front of the Sun.
25. Early astronomers suspected that the atmosphere on Venus was toxic.
26. The parallax principle allows astronomers to work out how far away distant stars are from the Earth.

T/F/NG
乱序顺序都有，而且超烦

• 已经有前面的顺序题了，假如这个也是顺序题，该如何同时进行两个顺序题？
• 确实是顺序题
• 按照题目中的信息点（如人名），确定顺序区间。Eg.第一题的答案可以确定之后题答案的所在范围
• 如果不是顺序题，就乖乖按照信息点去寻找

Tips

1. 审题之后，决定的答题顺序：人名信息匹配（顺序，阅读过程中）——>段落信息匹配（乱序，读完题）——>T/F/NG（顺序，锁定第一题）
2. 词汇量还是很重要，尤其是题目经常都是同义词转换，如果恰好原文和题目中的信息词汇都不懂，那就惨了
3. 大胆地猜词的意思