Geocentric Theory托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Geocentric Theory托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Geocentric Theory托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a history of science class.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Ok,we've been talking about how throughout history,it was often difficult for people to give up ideas which had long been taken for granted as scientific"truths,"even if those ideas were false.In astronomy,for example,the distinction between the solar system and the universe wasn't clear until modern times.

The ancient Greeks believed that what we call the solar system was in fact the entire universe...and that the universe was geocentric."Geocentric"means Earth centered,so the geocentric view holds that the Sun,the planets,and the stars all revolve around the Earth,which is stationary. Of course,we now know that the planets,including Earth,revolve around the Sun,and that the solar system is only a tiny part of the universe.

So,why did the ancient Greeks believe that the Earth was the center of the universe?Well,it made sense to them—observations of the sky made it appear as if the Sun,the Moon,and the stars all revolved around the Earth every day,while the Earth itself stayed in one place.

And this view was also supported by their philosophical and religious beliefs about the origin and structure of the universe.It was presented in the works of well-known Greek philosophers as early as the fourth century B.C.E.And the geocentric theory continued to prevail in Western thought for almost 2,000 years,until the seventeenth century.Now what's especially interesting is that when astronomical observations were made that seemed to be inconsistent with the geocentric view,the ancient Greeks did not really consider alternate theories.It was so intuitive,so sensible that the Earth was the center of the universe that astronomers found ways to explain those seemingly inconsistent phenomena within the geocentric view.

For example,Greek astronomers made excellent,very accurate observations of the movements of the planets.But the observations revealed a bit of a problem.The geocentric theory said that the planets would move around Earth in one direction.However,astronomers noticed that at times,several planets seemed to stop moving in one direction and start moving backward in their orbits around Earth.And they came up with the theory that these planets themselves moved in smaller circles,called epicycles,as they traveled around the Earth.

Here's a picture of what they imagined.You see how this epicycle theory could account for the seeming backward motion of a planet.Of course,today we know that this appearance of backward motion is caused by the fact that Earth as well as other planets all move in their own orbits around the Sun,and the relative movements of the planets with respect to each other can get quite complex.

However,there were a few astronomers in Greece and other places who didn't agree with the geocentric view,for example,a-a Greek astronomer who lived in the third century B.C.E..He proposed the theory that our planetary system might be heliocentric.His name was Aristarchus.

"Heliocentric"means Sun centered—that the Earth revolves around the Sun.Aristarchus recognized from his calculations that the Sun was much larger than the Earth and other planets.It was probably this discovery that led him to conclude that the universe is heliocentric.I mean,isn't it more sensible to think that a smaller heavenly body would orbit a larger one,rather than the opposite?

However,his proposition was rejected,largely based on other scientific beliefs held at the time—which all made sense in a way,even if they were incorrect.Let me mention two objections Greeks made to Aristarchus?theory.First,they believed that everything that moves creates its own wind,so to speak—everyone has this experience when you're running,right?So they thought that if the Earth itself was moving,there would have to be a constant wind blowing,sweeping them off their feet—and of course there wasn't.And second,the idea of an Earth that moved didn't fit in with the ancient Greeks?understanding of gravity.They thought that gravity was basically a natural tendency of all things to move towards the center of the universe—which was the Earth,or the center of the Earth.So that explained why apples and other falling objects were falling straight down.If the Sun was at the center of the universe,things would fall toward the Sun—and away from the Earth.Which of course they didn't.So these were some of the reasons they rejected the heliocentric theory.

二、Geocentric Theory托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听科学史课上的部分讲座。

女教授：好吧，我们一直在谈论，纵观历史，人们往往很难放弃长期以来被视为科学“真理”的想法，即使这些想法是错误的。例如，在天文学中，直到现代，太阳系和宇宙之间的区别才明确。

古希腊人相信我们所说的太阳系实际上是整个宇宙。。。宇宙是地心的。“地心说”是指以地球为中心，因此地心说认为太阳、行星和恒星都围绕地球旋转，而地球是静止的&nbsp；当然，我们现在知道，包括地球在内的行星都围绕太阳旋转，而太阳系只是宇宙的一小部分。

那么，为什么古希腊人相信地球是宇宙的中心呢？对他们来说，这是有道理的，对天空的观察使它看起来好像太阳、月亮和星星每天都围绕着地球旋转，而地球本身却停留在一个地方。

这一观点也得到了他们关于宇宙起源和结构的哲学和宗教信仰的支持。早在公元前四世纪，它就出现在希腊著名哲学家的著作中，地心说在西方思想中持续盛行了近2000年，直到十七世纪。现在特别有趣的是，当天文观测结果似乎与地心说不一致时，古希腊人并没有真正考虑其他理论。地球是宇宙的中心，这是如此的直观，如此的敏感，以至于天文学家找到了在地心说中解释这些看似不一致的现象的方法。

例如，希腊天文学家对行星的运动进行了极好、非常精确的观测。但观察结果揭示了一个问题。地心理论认为行星将沿一个方向绕地球运行。然而，天文学家注意到，有时，一些行星似乎停止向一个方向移动，并开始在围绕地球的轨道上向后移动。他们提出了这样一个理论，即这些行星在绕地球运行时，自身以较小的圆周运动，称为本轮。

这是一张他们想象的照片。你可以看到这个本轮理论是如何解释一个行星表面上的向后运动的。当然，今天我们知道，这种反向运动的出现是由于地球和其他行星都在围绕太阳的轨道上运动，行星之间的相对运动可能会变得非常复杂。

然而，在希腊和其他地方有一些天文学家不同意地心说，例如，一位生活在公元前三世纪的希腊天文学家。。他提出了我们的行星系统可能以日心为中心的理论。他的名字叫阿里斯塔丘斯。

“日心说”是指以太阳为中心，地球围绕太阳旋转。Aristarchus从他的计算中认识到，太阳比地球和其他行星大得多。也许正是这一发现使他得出结论，宇宙是日心的。我的意思是，如果认为一个较小的天体将围绕一个较大的天体运行，而不是相反，那不是更明智吗？

然而，他的主张遭到了拒绝，主要是基于当时持有的其他科学信念，这些信念在某种程度上都是有道理的，即使它们是错误的。让我提一下希腊人对阿里斯塔古的两个反对意见？学说首先，他们认为一切运动都会产生自己的风，可以说每个人在跑步时都有这种体验，对吗？所以他们认为，如果地球本身在运动，就必须有持续的风吹拂着他们的脚，当然没有。第二，地球运动的想法不符合古希腊人？了解重力。他们认为，重力基本上是所有事物向宇宙中心移动的自然趋势，宇宙中心就是地球，或者说是地球的中心。这就解释了为什么苹果和其他掉落的物体会直线下落。如果太阳位于宇宙的中心，物体就会朝着太阳落下，远离地球。当然他们没有。所以这些就是他们拒绝日心说的一些原因。

三、Geocentric Theory托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the purpose of the lecture?

A.To explain how the heliocentric theory of the universe developed

B.To give an example of the persistence of traditional theories

C.To show that scientific knowledge is rarely influenced by philosophy

D.To compare methods in observational and theoretical astronomy

Q2:2.Why did the ancient Greeks hold geocentric view of the universe?(2 answers).

A.The sun appeared to them to revolve around Earth.

B.They had not developed methods of gathering accurate data on the movement of planets.

C.Their religious and philosophical beliefs supported this view.

D.Some of the planets in the solar system had not been discovered yet.

Q3:3.Why does the professor point out that Greek astronomers tried to explain new astronomical discoveries within the geocentric concept?

A.To explain why early astronomers found new discoveries exciting

B.To explain why some claims made by ancient Greek astronomers conflict with claims made by earlier astronomers

C.To illustrate that the geocentric concept was open to many interpretations

D.To illustrate that the geocentric concept itself was not considered questionable

Q4:4.Why does the professor discuss the epicycle theory?

A.To explain why early astronomers started measuring the velocity of the planets

B.To explain why the astronomer Aristarchus rejected the geocentric model

C.To show how early astronomers explained the apparent backward motion of some planets

D.To show that early astronomers believed that all planets moved in their own orbits around the sun

Q5:5.In the professor's view,what might have caused Aristarchus to propose the heliocentric theory?

A.The discovery that Earth was much smaller than the Sun

B.The lack of proof supporting the theory of epicycles

C.The influence of well-known philosophers

D.The apparent stability of Earth

Q6:6.What were two arguments ancient Greeks used to reject the heliocentric model?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.More stars would be visible in a heliocentric universe.

B.A moving Earth would create a strong wind.

C.Aristarchus's calculations were inaccurate.

D.Objects fall toward the center of the universe.

四、Geocentric Theory托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：B

A2:正确答案：AC

A3:正确答案：D

A4:正确答案：C

A5:正确答案：A

A6:正确答案：BD