雅思阅读机经：Transit of venus

《Venus in transit》 曾在雅思阅读考试中出现三次，也算是比较高频的了，分别来自2007年5月19日，2008年6月21日，2009年2月28日和2012年4月28日。所以，下面查字典出国留学网雅思小编为大家带来真题回放和金星凌日相关的阅读文章《雅思阅读机经：Transit of venus 》，希望对大家有所帮助。

真题回放:

文章标题	金星凌日Transit of venus ★★★★
文章大意	讲测试太阳距离的发展过程。4个古代西方科学家 关于VENUS TRANSIT的 就是通过看行星的TRANSIT侧距离那些的 地球到太阳什么的。
题目类型	Matching（人名对应） T/F/NG
参考答案	Matching 文中段落提及题。有一题说是因为某个event导致没有观测成一次transit,是在某段一个叫GouXX Li..的在准备第二次在菲律宾观测的时候最后关键时刻来了片云，挡住了。 有一题是说transit principle被applied的sample.是倒数第二或第三段，文中有出了那个理论后，后人怎样怎样测量用不同方法 有一题是这个理论用于测星距，好象是最后一段，，记不住。也好象是倒数第二段 T/F/NG 有一题NG，说versue shape发生变化当在太阳前开始穿越的时候（原文中说由于光线的holo作用，versus looks smearly distortion, ....begin to pass the sun. (个人以为一是形状是不是变化了不知道，二是是不是在in front of the sun 在太阳前还是太阳后穿越不知道，文中只是说begin to pass the sun.而且反复看了上下文几次） 有一题说是某个人观测到了了transit of versus,事实上原文是说这个人观测到了另外一个行量。（FALSE） 有一题transit principle 后来被用于测量到地求的距离（T）。 （开始写NG，最终还是决定写T，因为文说的测量不知道是测的是星星之间的距离呢比如几光年。。。还是这个星星到地球距离，最终决定应该是到地球距离，全凭常识和感觉吧，感觉测量星星之间距离对人类没有多大用处，科学家一般会测量我们地球到那颗星星的距离，经常说到什么织女座26光年，可没有听说过织女座到什么人马座多少光年，不在一个平面一个角度是无法测量的，呵呵，全是罗索） 还有一题说某人的第二次测量fail了。(T),就是因为上面说的到菲律宾最后时刻因为遇上了云所以没搞定。

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Venus and the Rise of Science

There is a common misconception that science, like most features of the modern world, started in the 19th century, with earlier time swallowed in the dusk of ignorance. But the onset of modern science occurred no later than the 17th century. It was then that major breakthroughs were made in understanding the workings of the universe through the work of Galileo, Kepler and especially of Newton, who, in 1687, determined that the planets moved because there was no force to stop them, and that they circled the Sun because of gravity, a universal force of attraction between all bodies.

In the 18th century science continued to flourish. There were discoveries about the nature of gas, about electricity and about chemical reactions. The Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus developed schemes for classifying plants and animals based on the concept of individual species in relational hierarchies. Within this growing framework of science, some of the first great questions were addressed. How large is the solar system? How distant is the Sun from the Earth?

Most of us probably heard the phrase "transit of Venus" or "transit of Mercury" during primary school, in connection with Captain Cook's observation of the transit of Mercury at Mercury Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula. It is a phrase of some significance in the development of science. But what does it mean? When Venus or Mercury passes directly between Earth and the Sun, the planet can be seen (with the proper equipment) as a small black circle against the large brilliant orb of the Sun. Such events are known as transits. In 1663, James Gregory suggested that observation of a transit from widely spaced locations on Earth could yield an accurate estimate of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Jeremiah Horrocks, a young Englishman with a passion for astronomy, was the first person to accurately calculate the time of a transit and then observe it. From 3:15 P.M. on November 24, 1639, the 20-year-old watched a small black spot creep across the lower left side of the sun. A telescope in his darkened room projected the image onto a card. Using trigonometry and such other limited information as was available, he estimated the size of Venus and the solar distance. While his estimate (59 million miles) was only about half the actual distance of the Earth to the Sun, it was better by a factor of ten than anyone else's up to that time. Horrocks died at the age of 22, almost unknown, but his observations gradually seeped out into the astronomical community.

By the time of the long predicted transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769, an international collaboration of observers had been set up under the direction of the French astronomer Delisle-although hostilities between France and England did little to assist matters. The frigate on which Charles Mason and George Dixon had been dispatched to observe the transit from South Africa was attacked by the French while en route to the Cape.

Guillaume le Gentil set out to observe the event from Pondicherry, in the south of India, but didn't arrive until after it had taken place. The luckless le Gentil stayed on in the area for eight more years, getting ready to observe the 1769 transit, which was completely obscured by cloud-the only bad morning in an otherwise clear month. When he eventually returned to France, he found that he had been given up for dead, and relatives had divided up his estate. So much for the rewards of science!

In 1761, the transit was observed from 62 sites around the world, with 120 observers-French, British, Danish, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, and Portuguese. The outcome was inconclusive, but waves of enthusiastic effort were renewed for 1769, when there were 63 sites and 138 observers. Although hostilities between the French and British had only recently diminished, the French were reported to have instructed their forces not to molest Cook, as he was on a mission of service to all mankind. When the calculations were later averaged, the distance estimated was within a million miles of the actual distance of 93 million-a laudable effort.

Observing the transit of Venus was the first great act of international scientific co-operation, and it involved generous financial support by both government and commercial bodies. (The East India Company, for example, provided free passage to India for observers.) The work was underpinned by organisations which existed to sponsor science. In Britain this was the Royal Society, founded in 1663 by a group of philosophers who met in London to exchange views on "experimental philosophy" (the word science was not used until the 1820s). In France, at about the same time, the Acade des Sciences and the Acade Franse were established. The societies were clearing houses which published scientific papers and provided access to scientific work to the wider community.

Public attitudes to science were also undergoing a change at this time. Up until the 17th century, astronomy was a semi-secret activity pursued only by a few experts who were in danger of religious persecution. But by the 18th century everyone was agog for celestial news. French newspapers covered the story of the transit of Venus with the same enthusiasm modern media might cover a mission to Mars. Part of this change was provoked when people found that scientific discovery could be applied for fun and profit in the real world. Newtonian philosophers became involved in engineering projects: pumps to put air into and take water from mines, and to supply water. Mathematics became linked with the new insurance business-the Sun Insurance Company was founded soon after 1700.

Part of the excitement over science also sprang from a sense of liberation shared by the non-scientific community as reason swept aside superstition and dogma. It was felt to be a time of enlightenment. Yet by the end of the century, intellectuals found that that they had jumped too soon, and that science did not assuage the pain of being human. It has taken nearly two centuries to resume "the quest for enlightenment," to use the words of sociobiologist Edward . Wilson, who considers that a web of causal explanations for all aspects of human existence can now, at last, be seriously contemplated.

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