6. Time is of great importance to our lives. English is full of expressions describing the passage of time. There is an expression "beat the clock", which means finishing a task quickly in order to meet a deadline. However, many years ago there were no clocks. (1)
Over the centuries, people have developed different ways of telling the time.
About 5, 500 years ago, the Egyptians invented the sun clock. (2)
Its shadow (影子) showed the movement of the sun. So people were able to know midday. After that, the Egyptians made a sundial (日晷) about 3, 500 years ago. It was smaller and could let people know the time for half a day. And the ancient Chinese also invented the equatorial (赤道的) sundial to tell the time about 3,000 years ago. But on cloudy days or at night it was impossible to tell the time with a sun clock or a sundial.
(3)
The idea is simple. Water flows from one bottle to another. When the water reaches a certain level, it shows the hours. The Egyptians used water clocks about 3, 400 years ago. These clocks were popular in the Middle East and China. But they filed to make people know the exact time.
In the 13th century, the mechanical (机械的) clock was invented. This was more exact, but it was expensive to make one. Over the next few centuries, it was developed. In 1927, the first quartz (石英) clock was created. (4)
It became possible for common people to own a clock. People began depending on the clock more and more to run businesses, markets and so on. More recently, in 1956, came the digital clock. And nowadays, satellites send our mobile phones the time to the exact second.
There has been a lot of progress in timekeeping. (5)
Many of us still have trouble getting out of bed on time and not being late for school or work.
A. It was a tall stone building. B. Clocks became cheaper to make. C. So knowing the time was not so easy. D. People also used burning candles to tell the time. E. Water clocks were the first clocks not to use the sun. F. Clocks are always changing but some things never change. |