【正文】 he ancient Greek philosophers were able to put forward two good arguments proving that it was not. Direct observation of heavenly bodies was the basis of both these arguments. First, the Greeks knew that during eclipses of the moon, the earth was between the sun and the moon, and they saw that during these eclipses, the earth39。s shadow on the moon was always round, they realized that this could be true only if the earth was spherical. If the earth were a flat disc, then its shadow during eclipses would not be a perfect circle, it would be stretched out into a long ellipse. The second argument was based on what the Greeks saw during their travels. They noticed that the North Star, or Polaris, appeared lower in the sky when they traveled south, in more northerly regions, the North Star appeared to them to be much higher in the sky. By the way, it was also from this difference in the apparent position of the North Star that the Greeks first calculated the approximate distance around the circumference of the earth, a figure recorded in ancient documents says 400,000 stadia, that39。s the plural of the word stadium. Today, it39。s not known exactly what length one stadium represents, but let39。s say it was about 200 meters, the length of many athletic stadiums. This would make the Greek39。s estimate about twice the figure accepted today, a very good estimate for those writing so long before even the fast telescope was invented. 43. What is the talk mainly about? (A) How ancient philosophers measured the distance between heavenly bodies. (B) How ancient philosophers explained the cause of an eclipse of the Moon. (C) Why ancient philosophers thought the Earth was a sphere. (D) Why ancient philosophers thought the Earth moved around the Sun. 44. According to the professor, what were, the beliefs of the Greek philosophers based upon? (A) How the natural world was described in Greek mythology. (B) What they observed directly. (C) The writings of philosophers from other societies. (D) Measurements made with scientific instruments. 45. What does the professor say about ancient Greeks who traveled south? (A) They noticed an apparent change in the position of the North Star. TOEFL SECTION ONE LISTENING COMPREHENSION 202201 9 (B) They observed eclipses at different times of the year. (C) They were the first to estimate the distance between heavenly bodies. (D) They wanted to prove that the Earth was flat. 46. What does the professor say the term stadium refers to? (A) A place for making astronomical observations. (B) An instrument used for observing stars. (C) A unit of measurement. (D) The North Star. Questions 4750. Listen to the beginning of a lecture given by a history professor. Good morning, class. Before we begin today, I would like to address an issue that one of you reminded me of after the last lecture. As you may recall, last time I mentioned that Robert E. Peary was the first person to reach the North Pole. Umm, what I neglected to mention was the controversy around Peary39。s pioneering acplishment. In 1910, a mittee of the national geographical society examined Commodore Peary39。s claim to have reached the North Pole on April 6th 1909 and found no reason to doubt him. This judgment was actually confirmed by a mittee of the US Congress in 1911. Nevertheless, Peary39。s claim was surrounded by controversy. This was largely due to the peting claim of Doctor Frederic Cook who told the world he had reached the Pole a fouryear earlier. Over the decades Peary was given the benefit of the doubt, but critics persisted in raising questions about his navigation and the distances he claimed to have covered. So the Navigation Foundation spent an additional 12 months of exhaustive examination of documents relating to Peary39。s polar expedition. The documents supported Peary39。s claims about the distances he covered. After also conducting an extensive puter analysis of photos taken by Peary at the pole, they concluded that Pierre and his panions did in fact reach the near vicinity of the North Pole on April 6th, 1909. OK, today we39。re going to talk about exploration of the opposite end of the world. I assume you all read chapter 3 in our text and are now familiar with the names: Emerson and Scott. 47. Why did the professor mention the controversy surrounding Peary? (A) One of the students asked him about it in the previous class. (B) He read about it the previous day. (C) He had just read Dr. Frederick Cock39。s travel log. (D) The students were required to read about it for that day39。s class. 48. What did Doctor Cook maintain? (A) That Peary had announced his success prematurely. (B) That the investigation of Peary39。s expedition wasn39。t thorough. (C) That Peary wasn39。t an experienced explorer. (D) That he had reached the pole before Peary did. 49. How did the experts determine that Peary reached the North Pole? (A) They talked to one of Peary39。s panions. (B) They interviewed Peary. (C) They conducted a puter analysis of photographs. (D) They examined Peary39。s navigation tools. 50. Which topic will most probably be included in the continuation of today39。s lecture? (A) Dr. Cook39。s expedition. (B) The conclusions of the Navigation Foundation. (C) Exploration of the Equator. (D) Exploration of the South Pole