征服六级讲座听力：讲座篇之Lecture 2 星空导航

我们将主要体会各个学科的讲座特点，我们要达到的目标是：

 1. 了解讲座中常用的专业术语。

 2. 熟悉讲座的基本结构和语言特点。

3. 体会讲座听力中的高频考点。

 4. 熟悉讲座听力考试中常见提问方式。

Word tips

civilization  n. 文明 

seafarer  n. 船员

Viking  n. 维京人

navigation  n. 导航，航行

Polynesian  n. 波利尼西亚人

Micronesian  n.米克罗尼西亚人

Equator n. 赤道　

zenith   n. 天顶（太阳或月亮在天空中的最高点）

Columbus  n. 哥伦布

Listen to the following recording and answer questions 1-3.

1) A. How the seafaring skills of Polynesians resembled those of the Vikings.

    B. How Pacific Islanders were able to navigate with the aid of stars.

C. How the patterns of stars differ to the north and south of the equator.

D. How navigational instruments developed over time.

2) A. Both could help identify a location relative to the equator.

    B. Both seem to have been used to determine the positioning of stone canoes.

    C. Both were first developed by the Vikings.

    D. Both were used as calendars to help keep track of the seasons.

3) A. strong body and determination

    B. advanced navigational tools

    C. the ability to keep track of the seasons

    D. expert knowledge of astronomy as well as navigation

听力原文

OK, last time we talked about ancient agricultural civilizations that observed the stars and then used those observations to keep track of the seasons. But today I want to talk about the importance of stars for early seafarers, about how the fixed patterns of stars were used as navigational aids.

OK, you've all heard about the Vikings and their impressive navigation skills, but the seafaring people of the pacific islands, the Polynesians and the Micronesians, were quite possibly the world's greatest navigators. Long before the development of, uh, advanced navigational tools in Europe, pacific islanders were travelling from New Zealand to Hawaii and back again, using nothing but the stars as their navigational instruments.

One important way the Polynesians had for orienting themselves was by using zenith stars. A zenith star was a really bright star that would pass directly overhead at particular latitude…at a particular distance from the equator, often at a latitude associate with some particular pacific island. So the Polynesians could estimate their latitude just by looking straight up, by observing whether a certain zenith star passed directly overhead at night, they'd know if they have reached the same latitude as a particular island they were trying to get to. 

Um, another technique used by the Polynesians was to look for a star pair, that's two stars that rise at the same time, or set at the same time, and navigators could use these pairs of stars as reference points, because they rise or set together only at specific latitudes. So navigators might see one star pair setting together. And, uh…would know how far north or south of the equator they were. 

And if they kept on going, and the next night they saw the pairs of stars setting separately, then they would know that they were at a different degree of latitude. So looking at rising and setting star pairs is a good technique. Um… actually it makes more sense with setting stars; they can be watched instead of trying to guess when they'll rise.

Uh, OK, I think all this shows that navigating doesn't really require fancy navigational instruments; the peoples of the pacific islands had such expert knowledge of astronomy as well as navigation that they were able to navigate over vast stretches of Open Ocean. Uh, it's even possible that Polynesian navigators had already sailed to the Americas, centuries before Columbus.

Questions:

1. What does the professor mainly discuss?

2. What did the technique using zenith stars have in common with the technique using star pairs?

3. According to the professor, what made the pacific islanders able to navigate over vast stretches of Open Ocean?

参考译文：

好的，上次我们谈到古代农业文明，说到古人通过观察星象，利用观察结果来追踪季节变化。但是今天我要讲的是早期星象对船员的重要性，关于人们如何利用固定的星象模式作为航海的导航工具。 

好的，你们都已经听过维京人和他们令人惊叹的航海技术，但是太平洋岛屿上的船员们，即波利尼西亚人和密克罗尼西亚人，他们可能是世界上最为伟大的航海家了。远在欧洲先进的航海工具被开发出来之前，太平洋岛上的居民就已在新西兰到夏威夷之间穿梭，仅仅靠星星来作为他们的导航工具。  

波利尼西亚人用以导航的重要方法之一便是利用天顶星。天顶星是一颗很亮的星星，它会在距离赤道某一距离的某个纬度上直接从头上经过。通常这一纬度是和某一太平洋岛屿相联系的。因此波利尼西亚人要知道所处纬度多少，只需要仰望天空，晚上观察天际是否有某一颗天顶星经过头顶，他们便知道自己是否到达了与他们想抵达的某一岛屿相同的纬度。

波利尼西亚人使用的另一种技巧是通过观察星对，也就是指两颗同时升空的星星，或是同时降落的星星。导航员可以把这些星对当作参考点，因为它们只在固定的某一纬度同时升起或降落。所以导航员可能会到观察一对星的降落，呃，他们便知道了自己离赤道北边或南边多远。而如果他们继续前行，在第二个夜晚，他们看到星对分开降落，他们便知道自己处在不同的纬度上。所以观察星对的上升或降落来导航是一个不错的技巧。嗯，事实上，当看到降落的星对时更有用。只要看着星对降落就行，而不用猜测他们何时会升起。

嗯，好的，我想所有这些显示了导航真的不需要多么奇特的导航工具。太平洋岛屿上的居民有着如此专业的天文学知识以及导航技术，这使得他们能够在广阔的海洋上自由航行。额，甚至有可能的是，波利尼西亚船员们早在哥伦比亚发现新大陆几个世纪前就到过美洲大陆了。

参考答案：

1. B   2. A   3. D

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