Question

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

The sun was probably 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， people have used the sun for a clock. Even today， if you don't have a clock， you still know that when the sun shines， it's day， and when it's dark， it's night. The sun can also tell you if it's morning， noon， or afternoon.

People who live near the sea can tell time 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 learn how to tell time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is their 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 shaped 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 exactly one hour. When the hourglass is turned over， the sand will take another hour to go back again.

1.According to the passage， there are ______ ways to tell time besides the clock and watch.

A. 3  B. 4    C. 5    D. 7

2.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. it has long dark winters and long light summers

3.The underlined word "tides" in the passage means ______.

A. 洋流     B. 潮汐    C. 海啸    D. 波浪

4.In which page of a newspaper can you most probably read this passage?

A. News.          B. Science.

C. Business.     D. Advertisement

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

A. Different Ways to Tell Time

B. Useful Machines to Tell Time

C. The History of the Clock

D. The Development of the Clock

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.B

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.C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，故答案选C。

2.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。

3.B词义猜测题。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。

4.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。

5.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。

考点：文化类短文阅读