eka04599

03.03.2021 15:40 •  Английский язык

Read the passage. Part 1. Which paragraph contains the following information?
1. a description of an early timekeeping invention affected by cold temperatures
2. an explanation of the importance of geography in the development of the calendar in farming communities
3. details of the simultaneous efforts of different societies to calculate time using uniform hours
Chronicle of Timekeeping
A
According to archaeological evidence, at least 5,000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.
B
Before the invention of artificial light, the moon had greater social impact. And, for those living near the equator in particular, its waxing and waning was more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons. 4 . In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more crucial. As the Roman Empire expanded northward, it organised its activity chart for the most part around the solar year.
C
In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the length or direction of the sun's shadow. The sundial's counterpart, the water clock, was designed to measure temporal hours at night.5. The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it dipped below hour lines inscribed on the inner surface. Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean, they could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of northern Europe.
D
The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. 6. The schemes that divided the day into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, Babylonian hours at sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in Germany, at midnight. Eventually these were superseded by 'small clock', or French, hours, which split the day into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.
Part 2. Three sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-D the one which fits each gap (4-6). There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use.
A. Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes were influenced more by the lunar cycle than by the solar year.
B. One of the first water clocks was a basin with a small hole near the bottom through which the water dripped out.
C. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin counting, and so, in the early 14th century, a number of systems evolved.
D. The motion of a pendulum rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a precise amount.
E. The revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that provided its motive force nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1,300 years) that transferred the power; It was the part called the escapement.
4. 5. 6.