Question

【题目】根据短文内容及首字母提示，填写所缺单词，使短文意思完整。每空限填一词。

How do we know the time? A clock, a watch or a cell phone can help us. However many years ago there were no clocks and knowing the time was not so easy. Over the centuries people have developed different w【1】of telling the time.

About 5,500 years ago, the Egyptians i【2】the sun clock. This was a tall stone structure. Its shadow (影子)showed the movement of the s【3】they were able to determine（测定）midday.

About 3,500 years ago,the Egyptians made a sundial. It was smaller than the sun clock and could measure (测量)the time for half a day. On c【4】days or at night it was impossible to tell the time with a sun clock or a sundial.

Water clocks were the f【5】clocks not to use the sun. The idea is simple. Water flows（流动） from one container（容器）to another. When the water reaches a certain l 【6】 it moves a lever (控制杆)and this 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 f【7】

o keep accurate（精确的）time.

In the 13th century. the mechanical clock was invented. This was more accurate, b【8】was expensive to make. Over the next few centuries it was developed. For example, springs(发条)were added around 1500. This i【9】accuracy and allowed clocks to be smaller.

In 1927, the first quartz clock was developed. Clocks became cheaper to build and own. People began depending on them more and more to run businesses, markets and so on.

More recently, in1956, came the digital clock. And nowadays satellites（人造卫星）send our cell phones the time to the exact second. There has been a lot of progress in timekeeping but some things never c【10】. Man of us still have trouble getting out of bed on time and not missing appointments.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】ways

【2】invented

【3】sun

【4】cloudy

【5】first

【6】level

【7】failed

【8】but

【9】improved

【10】change

【解析】本文主要说明了是计时工具的发展历史，从原始计时到机械计时再到数码计时。

【1】 前文提到”A clock, a watch or a cell phone”, 可知这里是在说计量时间的“方法、手段”， 又因为前有形容词 different 修饰，可知不止一种，所以要填复数 ways。

【2】根据前文 people have developed 可知，本文是写古人发明的计时方法， 所以这里填 invent“发明”；根据时间状语“about 5500 years ago”可知要使用一般过去时，所以填 invented.

【3】根据文章可知埃及人发明的 the sun clock 是计时工具，那它的影子记录的肯定是太阳的运动，这里填 sun。

【4】根据文章可知，埃及人发明的 sundial 和 the sun clock 都是通过记录太阳的运动轨迹来计时的，所以在没有太阳的阴天和晚上就用不了了，所以应该填cloudy.

【5】前面两段说的计时工具都是基于太阳的运动，缺点是没有太阳的日子和时间里就用不了。所以根据文章发展，这里写到了 water clocks 是第一种不用太阳而用水来计时的，所以应该是“首次”，填 first.

【6】根据前文，water clock 的工作原理是水从一个容器流到另一个容器，所以随着时间推移，水位应该是不断上升的，所以填 level，表示当水到达一个特定的水位时。

【7】根据这几段的行文逻辑，每次介绍一个计时工具都是先说优点再说缺点， water clock 的优点是没有太阳也能用，所以在中东和中国很受欢迎。根据转折词 but 可知后面该写缺点了，根据下一段“机械钟更加准确”可知水钟的缺点应该是不太准确。所以应该是考 fail to do 不能做什么。又因为全文都是一般过去时，所以填 failed.

【8】机械钟的优点是更加准确，空后面的分句说的是造价高，所以是写缺点，前后出现了语义转折，所以应该填 but.

【9】根据前文“接下来的几个世纪，它被改良了”，所以应该是“提升”了精确性，所以填 improved.

【10】根据前一句“在计时上已经有了很多的进步，但是”可知后面应该出现语义转折，一些东西变了那另一些东西肯定是从来没“改变”，而且通过 nowadays 可知最后一段的时间已转到了现在，所以应该用一般现在时，填 change。