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No one knows when the first calendar was developed. But it seems possible that it was based on lunar months. When people started farming, the sages of the tribes became very important, they studied the sky and gathered enough information to be able to predict when the seasons would change, and were able to announce when it was time to plant crops.
The divisions of time we use today were developed in ancient Babylonia 4,000 years ago.Babylonian astronomers believed the sun moved around the Earth every 365 days.They divided the trip into 12 equal parts, each with 30 days. Then they divided each day into 24 equal parts, or hours, and divided each hour into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds.
Humans have used many devices to measure time; the sundial (日晷) was one of the earliest and simplest. However, the sundial worked well only when the weather was fine, so other ways of measuring the passing of time were invented. One device was the hourglass. By the eighteenth century, people had developed mechanical clocks and watches. So we have devices to mark the passing of time, but what time is it now? Clocks in different parts of the world do not show the same time at the same time, because time on Earth is set by the sun's positions in the sky above us. As international communications and travel grew, it became clear that a way to establish a common time for all parts of the world was needed. In 1884, an international conference divided the world into 24 time zones, each zone represents one hour. The astronomical observatory in Greenwich, England, was chosen as the starting point for the time zones. Twelve zones are west of Greenwich. Twelve are east. The time at Greenwich measured by the sun is considered by astronomers to be Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time.
57. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
A) The development of universal time.
B) Different ways to measure time.
C) Why we measure time the way we do.
D) How the Calendar came into being.
58. What does the example of Babylonia astronomers reveal?
A) It reveals Babylonians' wisdom that was absent elsewhere.
B) It reveals the origin of our time measurements.
C) It reveals the limits of some time measurements.
D) It reveals the stability of time measurements.
59. The author mentions all of the following ways to measure time EXCEPT_____ .
A) sundial B) hourglass
C) electric clock D) mechanical clock
60. According to the passage, Greenwich Mean Time_______ .
A) provides a common time for all parts of the world
B) is calculated from the sun
C) is the 12th of the 24 time zones
D) was named after an international conference
61. With which of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?
A) Time measurements have changed in response to need and technological development.
B) In ancient Babylonia, 12 was the basic division of time.
C) The first calendar was developed because the sages of tribes were intelligent.
D) Universal Time is so named because it is applicable throughout the universe.
