时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

How Far Away Is The Horizon?

地平线有多远?



Here’s a neat question you may have never thought to ask. How far away is the horizon?

你可能从未思考过这个简单的问题,地平线有多远?



Flat Earth

地球是平的



Think about it. The Earth seems flat from our viewpoint, and if you are in a desert or out at sea you get a sense that the earth extends indefinitely in every direction. This isn’t correct, though; the planet is round, so at some point the ground must drop away. When it drops below your angle of vision, you can’t see it any more, and that’s what we call the horizon.

想一想这个问题,从我们的视角看来,地球似乎是平的,但是要是你待在沙漠里或是在海上的话,你会感觉地球在向四面八方无限地延伸。然而这是不正确的,地球是圆的,因此陆地在某一点必下沉 。当地面下沉到你的视角之下时,你就无法再看到,这就是我们所说的地平线。



So how far can you see before the planet curves away? If you’re six feet tall, the answer is about three miles. Surprised? You aren’t alone. Try asking a friend next time you’re at the beach on a clear day to guess how far out across the ocean you are looking. She’s more likely to say twenty or fifty miles than just three.

那么在地球发生弯曲之前,你可以看多远呢?如果你有六尺高的话,你可以看差不多三英里远。震惊吗?可是并不是只有你一个人感到震惊。尝试着下次问下你朋友这个问题:在一个晴天,你站在一个沙滩上,猜猜你可以看到多远的海面。她很有可能会说二十或五十英里,而不是三英里。



Where Is The Horizon Line?

地平线在哪呢?



Now that we’re thinking about horizons, here’s another cool thing to think about. The horizon is three miles away on earth. But elsewhere in the solar system it’s closer or farther, depending on the size of the body you’re standing 1 on!

既然我们在思考关于地平线的问题,我们要思考另一个很酷的问题。地平线在地球上的三英里之外,但是在太阳系的其他星球上地平线是更近还是更远呢,这取决于你所站立的星球的体积大小。



Take the moon. The moon is two thousand, one hundred and sixty miles in diameter, only about one quarter the size of the earth.

以月球为例,月球直径为2160英里,只有地球的四分之一。



So the curvature at its surface is much more noticeable, and the horizon is much closer. It’s only about 1.5 miles away.

因此,月球表面的曲率更明显,地平线也更近,只有大约1.5英里远。



One cool result? The surface bends so quickly on the moon that it’s possible to stand inside some of the largest impact craters 3 and not know you’re in one. The walls of the crater 2 are below the horizon on all sides!

这是不是一个很酷的答案?在月球上,地表弯曲得很快,因此当你站在一个撞击坑中,很可能身处其中而不自知,因为撞击坑的岩壁处在地平线以下。

 



1 standing
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
2 crater
n.火山口,弹坑
  • With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
  • They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。
3 craters
n.火山口( crater的名词复数 );弹坑等
  • Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
学英语单词
akor
al ballas (el ballas)
alamos fast neutron reactor
alpha ray component
Annisse
anti-arthritic
apparent quality factor
arrive at an agreement
atrophoderma striatum et maculatum
bacillaries
bias component
bismuth glycyrrhetate
blue pig
bulls-eyes
cable reel locomotive
capea
Chhlong, Prek
cingulated
clover-root
cluster type control rod
coldend
commercial credit insurance
coreomyces micronectae
correction time
decimal floating point
Distribution Transformers
Doyle rule
El Ocote, Cerro
End-users
equestrian acrobat
euphobiasteroid
extra-uterine asphyxia
farnesses
fixed-trip
flash-card
GCSX
genus triopss
geometrical defocussing
go some way with
heart being averse to heat
hitch wheel
Holuridae
hot-cathode gas filled valve
hydrodistensions
hyomandibular arch
imaginationem
instrument analysis
international reference standard
jordstadt
Lactacyd
lamp-post navigation
Langer's lines
late-comer
lay a course for
long-debateds
macfarland
mahgoubs
man overboard maneuver
mass education
meat ants
military oceanology
mill hardening
multiple oxyhalide
nested normal form
noncompetitive bid
none the worse (for)
overdistillation
packed meal
pafius and mirra
panchromatic vision filter
physiological differentiation
poemette
point burning
port mapper
presence of others
print error
progestogenic
proportions
quartimax
radar altitude
Rhodoleia
S-component
secure telephone
seilerns
self-lube cartridge unit
slip(displacement)
small heaths
sorbitan tristearate
spare-set
Sylvian gray matter
synoptic weather oberration
taiwanensis
throwes
tontine insurances
Tradescantia zebrina
trench sheeting
tsses
vulgar materialism
wall crawler
well proportioned
woodrats