『新东方在线托福阅读』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 30 Passage 3阅读练习：Why does the author provide the information that “in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night”?真题题目及答案解析，TPO/Official 30 Passage 3阅读原文范文音频翻译

托福TPO/Official 30 Passage 3阅读原文Why does the author provide the information that “in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night”?题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

在欧洲，人们在引进机械钟之前通过太阳（例如使用影子棒或日晷）和水钟来报时。

In Europe, before the introduction of the mechanical clock, people told time by sun (using, for example, shadow sticks or sun dials) and water clocks.

当然，太阳时钟只能在晴天工作；当温度下降到接近冰点时，水钟就会失灵，更不用说由于沉积和堵塞造成的长期时移了。

Sun clocks worked, of course, only on clear days; water clocks misbehaved when the temperature fell toward freezing, to say nothing of long-run drift as the result of sedimentation and clogging.

这两种装置在阳光充足的气候条件下工作良好；但在北欧，太阳可能被云层遮挡数周，而在此期间，温度不仅随季节变化，也会随着昼夜变化而变化。

Both these devices worked well in sunny climates; but in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night.

中世纪的欧洲重新重视可靠的时间。

Medieval Europe gave new importance to reliable time.

天主教会每天有七次祈祷，其中一次是在晚上，因此需要在黎明前设置闹钟叫醒僧侣。

The Catholic Church had its seven daily prayers, one of which was at night, requiring an alarm arrangement to waken monks before dawn.

然后，空间狭小的新城镇不得不知道并安排时间，以便组织集体活动和分配空间。

And then the new cities and towns, squeezed by their walls, had to know and order time in order to organize collective activity and ration space.

他们规定了上班的时间、开放市场的时间、关闭市场的时间、和下班的时间，最后是熄灭蜡烛去睡觉的时间。

They set a time to go to work, to open the market, to close the market, to leave work, and finally a time to put out fires and go to sleep.

所有这些都与旧的设备兼容，只要只有一个权威的计时器；但随着城市的发展和时间信号的倍增，差异带来了不和谐和冲突。

All this was compatible with older devices so long as there was only one authoritative timekeeper; but with urban growth and the multiplication of time signals, discrepancy brought discord and strife.

社会需要一种更可靠的时间测量工具，于是就有了机械钟。

Society needed a more dependable instrument of time measurement and found it in the mechanical clock.

我们不知道是谁发明了这台机器，也不知道是在哪里发明的。

We do not know who invented this machine, or where.

它似乎在1275年到1300年之间出现在意大利和英国（也许是同时发明的）。

It seems to have appeared in Italy and England (perhaps simultaneous invention) between 1275 and 1300.

一旦为人所知，它就迅速扩散，水钟被摒弃，但人们却没有把用来核对新的机器和老的计时手段的日晷摒弃。

Once known, it spread rapidly, driving out water clocks but not solar dials, which were needed to check the new machines against the timekeeper of last resort.

这些早期的版本是基本的，不准确的，而且容易坏。

These early versions were rudimentary, inaccurate, and prone to breakdown.

讽刺的是，这种新机器往往会削弱天主教会的权威。

Ironically, the new machine tended to undermine Catholic Church authority.

尽管在罗马帝国灭亡后的几个世纪里，教堂的仪式对计时一直保持着浓厚的兴趣，但教堂的时间却是自然的时间。

Although church ritual had sustained an interest in timekeeping throughout the centuries of urban collapse that followed the fall of Rome, church time was nature’s time.

白天和黑夜被分成相同数量的部分，所以除了在昼夜平分点，白天和黑夜的时间是不相等的；当然，这些时间的长短也随着季节的变化而变化。

Day and night were divided into the same number of parts, so that except at the equinoxes, day and night hours were unequal; and then of course the length of these hours varied with the seasons.

但是机械钟的时间是一样的，这就意味着要进行新的时间测量。

But the mechanical clock kept equal hours, and this implied a new time reckoning.

天主教会拒绝了，大约一个世纪都没有接受和使用新的时间。

The Catholic Church resisted, not coming over to the new hours for about a century.

然而，从一开始，城镇和城市就以同样的时间为标准，而安装在市政厅和市场广场上的公共时钟成为了一个新的市政当局的象征。

From the start, however, the towns and cities took equal hours as their standard, and the public clocks installed in town halls and market squares became the very symbol of a new, secular municipal authority.

每个城镇都想要一个；征服者把它们当作特别珍贵的战利品；游客们像朝圣一样来参观和聆听这些机器。

Every town wanted one; conquerors seized them as especially precious spoils of war; tourists came to see and hear these machines the way they made pilgrimages to sacred relics.

时钟是中世纪机械发明的最大成就。

The clock was the greatest achievement of medieval mechanical ingenuity.

它的精度一般可与日出日落等容易观察到的现象相对照。

Its general accuracy could be checked against easily observed phenomena, like the rising and setting of the sun.

结果是不断地要求改进技术和设计。

The result was relentless pressure to improve technique and design.

在每一个阶段，钟表匠都引领着精确和精密；他们成为了微型化的大师，错误的发现者和纠正者和寻找更新、更好的探索者。

At every stage, clockmakers led the way to accuracy and precision; they became masters of miniaturization, detectors and correctors of error, searchers for new and better.

因此，他们是机械工程的先驱者，也是其他工程部门的榜样和老师。

They were thus the pioneers of mechanical engineering and served as examples and teachers to other branches of engineering.

时钟带来了秩序和控制，包含了集体和个人。

The clock brought order and control, both collective and personal.

它的公开展示和私人占有为当时的自治奠定了基础：人们现在可以在没有上级的命令的时候往来。

Its public display and private possession laid the basis for temporal autonomy: people could now coordinate comings and goings without dictation from above.

时钟为集体活动提供了计划表（时间表），同时使个人可以对自己（和他人）的工作进行排序，从而提高了工作效率。

The clock provided the punctuation marks for group activity, while enabling individuals to order their own work (and that of others) so as to enhance productivity.

实际上，生产率的概念本身就是时钟的意外收获：一旦人们可以将表现与统一的时间单位联系起来，工作从此就不同了。

Indeed, the very notion of productivity is a by-product of the clock: once one can relate performance to uniform time units, work is never the same.

人们从农民的以任务为导向的时间意识（在时间和光线允许的情况下做一份又一份工作）和家奴的全天候忙碌（总是有事可做的人）转变成致力于将单位时间产出最大化的状态。

One moves from the task-oriented time consciousness of the peasant (working one job after another, as time and light permit) and the time-filling busyness of the domestic servant (who always had something to do) to an effort to maximize product per unit of time.

Why does the author provide the information that “in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night”?

According to paragraph 2, all of the following are examples of the importance of timekeeping to medieval European society EXCEPT:

The author uses the phrase “the timekeeper of last resort” to refer to

The word “rudimentary” in the passage is closest in meaning to

According to paragraph 4, how did the Catholic Church react to the introduction of mechanical clocks?

It can be inferred from paragraph 5 that medieval clockmakers

Paragraph 5 answers which of the following questions about mechanical clocks?

According to paragraph 6, how did the mechanical clock affect labor?

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. The division of time no longer reflected the organization of religious ritual.  Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square  to add the sentence to the passage.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

The Invention of the Mechanical Clock In Europe, before the introduction of the mechanical clock, people told time by sun (using, for example, shadow sticks or sun dials) and water clocks. Sun clocks worked, of course, only on clear days; water clocks misbehaved when the temperature fell toward freezing, to say nothing of long-run drift as the result of sedimentation and clogging. Both these devices worked well in sunny climates; but in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night. Medieval Europe gave new importance to reliable time. The Catholic Church had its seven daily prayers, one of which was at night, requiring an alarm arrangement to waken monks before dawn. And then the new cities and towns, squeezed by their walls, had to know and order time in order to organize collective activity and ration space. They set a time to go to work, to open the market, to close the market, to leave work, and finally a time to put out fires and go to sleep. All this was compatible with older devices so long as there was only one authoritative timekeeper; but with urban growth and the multiplication of time signals, discrepancy brought discord and strife. Society needed a more dependable instrument of time measurement and found it in the mechanical clock. We do not know who invented this machine, or where. It seems to have appeared in Italy and England (perhaps simultaneous invention) between 1275 and 1300. Once known, it spread rapidly, driving out water clocks but not solar dials, which were needed to check the new machines against the timekeeper of last resort. These early versions were rudimentary, inaccurate, and prone to breakdown. Ironically, the new machine tended to undermine Catholic Church authority. Although church ritual had sustained an interest in timekeeping throughout the centuries of urban collapse that followed the fall of Rome, church time was nature’s time.  Day and night were divided into the same number of parts, so that except at the equinoxes, day and night hours were unequal; and then of course the length of these hours varied with the seasons.  But the mechanical clock kept equal hours, and this implied a new time reckoning.  The Catholic Church resisted, not coming over to the new hours for about a century.  From the start, however, the towns and cities took equal hours as their standard, and the public clocks installed in town halls and market squares became the very symbol of a new, secular municipal authority. Every town wanted one; conquerors seized them as especially precious spoils of war; tourists came to see and hear these machines the way they made pilgrimages to sacred relics. The clock was the greatest achievement of medieval mechanical ingenuity. Its general accuracy could be checked against easily observed phenomena, like the rising and setting of the sun. The result was relentless pressure to improve technique and design. At every stage, clockmakers led the way to accuracy and precision; they became masters of miniaturization, detectors and correctors of error, searchers for new and better. They were thus the pioneers of mechanical engineering and served as examples and teachers to other branches of engineering. The clock brought order and control, both collective and personal. Its public display and private possession laid the basis for temporal autonomy: people could now coordinate comings and goings without dictation from above. The clock provided the punctuation marks for group activity, while enabling individuals to order their own work (and that of others) so as to enhance productivity. Indeed, the very notion of productivity is a by-product of the clock: once one can relate performance to uniform time units, work is never the same. One moves from the task-oriented time consciousness of the peasant (working one job after another, as time and light permit) and the time-filling busyness of the domestic servant (who always had something to do) to an effort to maximize product per unit of time.