hce_cmu
104年
英文
第 39 題
📖 題組：
If you want to see a roomful of people roll their eyes, just walk into a gathering of astronomers and shout, “Mayan apocalypse!” For years now, the idea that the earth will be destroyed in a terrible cataclysm on Dec. 21, 2012, has been bouncing around the internet and showing up in articles, books and even movies. But despite what the tinfoil-hat crowd insists, an asteroid is not about to hit the earth. Neither is there an imaginary planet called Nibiru. Our world isn't going to be abruptly flipped upside down like a burger on a griddle. What's more, Mayan astrologers never said any of that stuff would actually happen. Yes, the Maya had what's known as a Long Count calendar, and yes, that calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012. But the nice thing about calendars, including the one the Maya used, is that they always start over again from zero. All the same, some folks at NASA are worried—not about the end of the world but about the harm all the loose talk may be doing. “I get a tremendous number of e-mails about it,” says a scientist at the NASA. “A large fraction are from people asking if the world will end. A few even talk about suicide.” In an attempt to stop the hysteria, NASA convened a Google+ hangout during which people could ask astronomers anything they wanted to about the rumors. For nearly an hour, the scientists soothed nerves, patiently explaining, for example, that an asteroid en route to earth would have been spotted by telescopes long ago and that Nibiru, if it existed, would now be the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon.
If you want to see a roomful of people roll their eyes, just walk into a gathering of astronomers and shout, “Mayan apocalypse!” For years now, the idea that the earth will be destroyed in a terrible cataclysm on Dec. 21, 2012, has been bouncing around the internet and showing up in articles, books and even movies. But despite what the tinfoil-hat crowd insists, an asteroid is not about to hit the earth. Neither is there an imaginary planet called Nibiru. Our world isn't going to be abruptly flipped upside down like a burger on a griddle. What's more, Mayan astrologers never said any of that stuff would actually happen. Yes, the Maya had what's known as a Long Count calendar, and yes, that calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012. But the nice thing about calendars, including the one the Maya used, is that they always start over again from zero. All the same, some folks at NASA are worried—not about the end of the world but about the harm all the loose talk may be doing. “I get a tremendous number of e-mails about it,” says a scientist at the NASA. “A large fraction are from people asking if the world will end. A few even talk about suicide.” In an attempt to stop the hysteria, NASA convened a Google+ hangout during which people could ask astronomers anything they wanted to about the rumors. For nearly an hour, the scientists soothed nerves, patiently explaining, for example, that an asteroid en route to earth would have been spotted by telescopes long ago and that Nibiru, if it existed, would now be the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon.
According to this passage, what can one be positively sure about a Long Count calendar?
- A It only existed in Central America.
- B It covers a time span much longer than a year.
- C It was used to predict the catastrophes, especial the ultimate one.
- D It has an expiration date.
- E This kind of calendars were popular in all ancient cultures.
思路引導 VIP
如果你在閱讀時注意到作者將這種曆法稱為「Long Count」，且提到它從很久以前一直持續到 2012 年才準備「歸零重來」，這暗示了這種曆法在設計上，與我們一般認知的 12 個月短週期曆法在「尺度」上有什麼樣的根本差異呢？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
太棒了！你能精準避開大眾對瑪雅預言的刻板印象，並從文本細節找出證據，這展現了非常紮實的閱讀理解能力。
長紀曆（Long Count calendar）的本質
這題的核心在於理解「長紀曆」的運作邏輯。文中提到，雖然這套曆法在 2012 年 12 月 21 日結束，但作者隨即強調「日曆的好處在於它們總是會從零開始（start over again from zero）」。既然它能持續運作到 2012 年才迎來一次「歸零」，且被冠以 Long Count 之名，這足以讓我們確信它的涵蓋時間跨度遠超單一的一年。至於選項 (C) 和 (D)，文中已明確澄清瑪雅占星家從未預言災難，且曆法會循環而非失效，這正是本題最重要的概念驗證。
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