Question

How could we tell time if there were no watches or clocks anywhere in the world?

The sun might be the world's first“clock”，except in the far north，where the Eskimos（爱  斯基摩人）live．There，it's dark most of the winter，and light most of the summer．But in most

of the world, if you don't have a clock that shows time, you still know that when the sun shines, it's day, and when it's dark, it's night. The sun can not only tell you whether（是否）it's day or night but also it's morning, noon, or afternoon. When the sun is almost directly（恰好）overhead, it's noon.

People who live near the sea learn from the tides. In the daytime, for about six hours, the water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours. The same thing happens again at night. There are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours.

Seamen on a ship know time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is the clock.

In some places in the world the wind comes up at about the same time every day or changes

direction or stops blowing. In these places the wind can be the clock.

A sand clock is an even better clock. If you had fine dry sand in a glass like the one in the picture, you would have what is called an hourglass. The sand in the hourglass goes from the top part to the bottom part in one hour. When the hourglass is turned over, the sand will take another hour to go back again.

1.The Eskimos in the far north can’t use the sun for a clock because ______.

A. they know very little about the sun

B. the sun there never goes down in winter.

C. it’s too cold for them to go out to watch the sun

D. there are long dark winters and long light summers in the far north

2.The underlined word “tides” in paragraph 3 means ___________.

A. ocean current

B. storm

C. a regular rise and fall of the sea

D. wave

3.In which part of the newspaper can you probably read this passage?

A. News       B. Science

C. Business    D. Advertisement

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Different Ways to Tell Time

B. Useful Machine to Tell Time

C. The History of the Clock

D. The Development of the Clock

5.How many ways are mentioned in the passage to tell time?

A. Five    B. Four      C. Six     D. Three

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.A

5.A

【解析】

试题分析：这篇短文主要介绍了没有手表和钟表,其他的方式也可以给人们指示时间。如太阳的转动，大海的潮汐，风的变化，以及沙漏等。

1.Ｄ细节理解题。根据第二段There, it’s dark most of the winter, and light most of the summer描述可知冬天的夜太长，夏天的日太长，故选D。

2.Ｃ词义判断题。根据第三段In the daytime, for about six hours, water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours.的解释涨潮六个小时，落潮六个小时，可知是指潮汐，故选B。

3.Ｂ归纳理解题。根据短文描述可知这是一段科普文章，故选B。

4.Ａ标题归纳题。根据短文的主旨大意，可知主要介绍了除了钟表之外人们辨别时间的方式。故选A。

5.Ａ细节理解题。根据短文描述太阳的转动，大海的潮汐，月亮和星星，风的变化，以及沙漏可以指示时间，故选A。

考点：科学文化类阅读。