满分四六级
Mystery of Time
If you can read a ‵clock, you can know the ‵time of day. But no one knows｜what time ‵itself is. We ‵cannot ‵see it. We ‵cannot ‵touch it. We ‵cannot ‵hear it. We know it ‵only by the way｜we ‵mark its ‵passing.
For ‵all our ‵success in measuring the smallest parts of time,｜time remains one of the ‵great ‵mysteries of the universe.
One way｜to think about time｜is to ‵imagine a world ‵without time. There could be ‵no ‵movement,｜because time and movement｜‵cannot be ‵separated.
A world without time could ‵exist｜only as long as there were ‵no ‵changes. For time and change are ‵linked. We know｜that time has ‵passed｜when something changes.
In the ‵real world —｜the world with time—｜changes ‵never ‵stop. Some changes happen only ‵once in a ‵while,｜like an eclipse of the moon. Others happen｜‵repeatedly,｜like the rising and setting of the sun. Humans always have noted natural events｜that ‵repeat themselves. When people began to ‵count such events,｜they began to ‵measure time.
In early human history, the ‵only ‵changes｜that seemed to repeat themselves evenly｜were the ‵movements of ‵objects｜in the sky.① The most ‵easily seen result of these movements｜was the ‵difference between ‵light and ‵darkness.
The sun ‵rises in the eastern sky, producing ‵light. It ‵moves across the sky｜and ‵sinks in the west, causing ‵darkness. The appearance and disappearance of the sun｜was ‵even and ‵unfailing. The periods of light and darkness｜it created｜were the ‵first ‵accepted periods of time. We have named each ‵period of light and darkness —｜‵one ‵day.
People saw the sun rise ‵higher in the sky｜during the summer than in winter. They ‵counted the days that｜passed from the sun’s highest position｜until it returned to that position. They counted ‵three-hundred sixty-five days. We now know｜that is the ‵time Earth takes｜to move ‵once around the sun. We call this period of time｜a ‵year. [333 words]
译韵袅袅
时间的秘密
如果你可以看懂表，你就知道一天的时间了。但是没有人知道时间本身是什么。我们看不到它，也摸不到它，更听不到它。我们只有通过标记它的消逝知道它。
尽管我们成功地测量了时间的最小单位，时间仍然是世界上最神秘的东西之一。
一种考虑时间的方法是假设一个没有时间的世界。那将会没有运动，因为时间和运动不能被分开。
没有时间的世界只有在没有变化的情况下才可以存在。因为时间和变化是相关联的。我们知道当一些事情变化时，时间就过去了。
在真实世界里——有时间的世界——变化永不停止。一些变化只偶尔发生，如月蚀。其它的反复出现，如太阳的升起和降落。人类总能注意到能够重复的自然现象。当人们开始计算这些现象时，他们已经开始测量时间了。
在人类历史的早期，唯一均匀地重复发生的变化是天空中天体的运动。①这些运动最显而易见的结果是光亮和黑暗的差异。
太阳在东方的天空升起，产生光。它在天空中移动，在西方下山，带来黑暗。太阳的出现和消失是连贯的和经久不衰的。太阳创造的光亮和黑暗的周期是第一个被接受的时间的周期。我们已经命名了每次光亮和黑暗的周期——一天。
人们看到太阳在夏天比冬天升得高。他们计算从太阳的最高点到下次回到最高点的天数，得出是365天。我们现在知道这是地球围绕太阳旋转一周的时间，我们称这段时间为一年。
词汇露珠
touch v. 接触，触摸，触及
separate v. 分开，隔离，分散
eclipse n. 食，月蚀
appearance n. 出现，露面，外貌
read a clock 看懂表
for all 尽管
measure time 测量时间
natural events 自然事件
佳句如风
①【赏析】only在英语中是一个常见的用来加强语气的词，the only所修饰的先行词后面跟随的定语从句应该由that引出。
【临摹】He is the only person that has ever flown across the Pacific by balloon.他是唯一乘热气球飞跃太平洋的人。
每日口语
A: Are you even paying attention?
你在听吗？
B: I’m sorry, what did you say?
对不起，你说什么？
A: Would you come down out of dreamland for two seconds and listen to me?
你能不能清醒两分钟，认真听我说？