為了根據(jù)埃德蒙?哈雷幾年前的建議，來計(jì)算地球到太陽(yáng)和太陽(yáng)系所有其他天體的距離。英法科學(xué)家大動(dòng)干戈，分別派了數(shù)十個(gè)科學(xué)家赴全球各地觀測(cè)~~~

?《萬(wàn)物簡(jiǎn)史》推出部落節(jié)目版，戳這里訂閱:http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/6004/



書本的朗讀語(yǔ)音很charming的磁性英音~~~大家可以好好學(xué)著模仿哦~~~?。?
因?yàn)樵鵀槊绹?guó)人所寫,單詞采用美式拼法,不抄全文,然后聽寫單詞或詞組(用[-No-]表示)以及句子(用[---No---]表示)。請(qǐng)邊聽寫邊理解文意，根據(jù)上下文注意各句標(biāo)號(hào)，這樣有助于提高正確率。



Hint:
Royal Society



[---1---] Maskelyne knew just such a person—the astronomer and surveyor Charles Mason. Maskelyne and Mason had become friends 11 years earlier while engaged in a project to measure an astronomical event of great importance: the passage of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun. The [-2-]Edmond Halley had suggested years before that if you measured one of these passages from selected points on the Earth, you could use the principles of triangulation to [-3-] the distance to the Sun, and from that calibrate the distances to all the other bodies in the solar system.

Unfortunately, transits of Venus, as they are known, are an irregular occurrence. [---4---] (The next transit will be on June 8, 2004, with a second in 2012. There were none in the 20th century. ) But the idea simmered and when the next transit came due in 1761, nearly two decades after Halley's death, the scientific world was ready—indeed, more ready than it had been for an astronomical event before.

With the [-5-]for ordeal that [-6-]the age, scientists set off for more than 100 locations around the globe—to Siberia, China, South Africa, Indonesia, and the woods of Wisconsin, among many others. [---7---]



At his urging, the Royal Society agreed to engage a reliable figure to tour the British Isles to see if such a mountain could be found. tireless work out They come in pairs eight years apart, but then are absent for a century or more, and there were none in Halley's lifetime. instinct characterized France dispatched 32 observers, Britain 18 more, and still others set out from Sweden, Russia, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and elsewhere.
在他的敦促之下，英國(guó)皇家學(xué)會(huì)同意聘請(qǐng)一位可靠的人去考察英倫三島，看看能否找到這樣的一座山。馬斯基林恰好認(rèn)識(shí)這樣的一個(gè)人--天文學(xué)家和測(cè)量學(xué)家查爾斯?梅森。馬斯基林和梅森11年前已經(jīng)成為朋友，他們?cè)粔K兒承擔(dān)一個(gè)測(cè)量一起重大天文事件的項(xiàng)目：金星凌日現(xiàn)象。不知疲倦的埃德蒙?哈雷幾年前已經(jīng)建議，要是在地球上選定幾個(gè)位置測(cè)量一次這種現(xiàn)象，你就可用三角測(cè)繪法的定律來計(jì)算地球到太陽(yáng)的距離，并由此計(jì)算出到太陽(yáng)系所有其他天體的距離。 　　不幸的是，所謂的金星凌日是一件不規(guī)則的事。這一現(xiàn)象結(jié)對(duì)而來，相隔8年，然后一個(gè)世紀(jì)甚至更長(zhǎng)時(shí)間都不發(fā)生一次。在哈雷的生命期里不會(huì)發(fā)生這種現(xiàn)象。1但是，這個(gè)想法一直存在。1761年，在哈雷去世將近20年以后，當(dāng)下一次凌日準(zhǔn)時(shí)來到的時(shí)候，科學(xué)界已經(jīng)作好準(zhǔn)備工作--準(zhǔn)備得比觀測(cè)以往任何一次天文現(xiàn)象都要充分。 　　憑著吃苦的本能--這是那個(gè)時(shí)代的特點(diǎn)--科學(xué)家們奔赴全球100多個(gè)地點(diǎn)--其中有俄羅斯西伯利亞、中國(guó)、南非、印度尼西亞以及美國(guó)威斯康星州的叢林。法國(guó)派出了32名觀測(cè)人員，英國(guó)18名，還有來自瑞典、俄羅斯、意大利、德國(guó)、冰島等國(guó)的觀測(cè)人員。