Dec. 21, 2012 Is an Ordinary Day

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Though there are hundreds of books devoted to 2012, and millions of Websites, depending on what combination of “2012” and “doomsday” you type into Google, NASA（National Aeronautics and Space Administration）said last week that the world was not ending―at least anytime soon. NASA also announced that people needn’t to worry the end on Dec. 21, 2012 of the world, when a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count（“长历法”） in the Mayan（玛雅） calendar supposedly comes to a close.

Mayan time was a circle, and experts say there is no evidence that the Mayans thought anything special would happen when the end of this Long Count in 2012. There are references in Mayan inscriptions（碑文） to dates both before the beginning and the ending of the present Long Count, they say, just as your next birthday and April 15 loom beyond New Year’s Eve, on next year’s calendar.

If you want to worry, here are some things you should know.

To begin with, there is nothing special about the Sun and the Milky Way center lining in the sky. It happens every December with no physical results.

If there were another planet out there heading our way, everybody could see it by now. As for those solar storms, the next sunspot maximum will not happen until 2013, and will be on the mild side, astronomers say.

Geological apocalypse（世界末日的大灾难） is a better bet. There have been big earthquakes in California before and probably will be again. These quakes could destroy Los Angeles, as shown in the movie, and Yellowstone（黄石公园） could erupt again with flood sooner or later. We and our works are indeed temporary riders on the Earth. But in this case, “sooner or later” means hundreds of millions of years, and there would be plenty of warning.

“We have to be clear about this. There is no prophecy for 2012,” said Erik Velasquez, a specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico （UNAM）. “It’s a marketing fault.”

“The Mayans did not think about humanity, global warming or predict the poles would fuse together,” said Alfonso Ladena, a professor from the Complutense University of Madrid. “We project our worries on them.”

1. According to the passage, which sentence is RIGHT?

A. Millions of Web sites prove that the world was ending.

B. The end of the world is coming.

C. The God will save the world.

D. Geological apocalypse will happen one day in the future.

2. What will happen on Dec. 21, 2012?

A. Geological apocalypse takes place on the earth.

B. Everything disappears because of the ending of the present Long Count.

C. Everything goes as usual, just like the day next year.

D. There are big earthquakes in California.

3. How many reasons does the author give to make you NOT believe the end of the world?

A. one B. two C. three D. four

4. The meaning of the underlined word is “_____”.

A. conclude B. throw C. think D. guess

5. What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?

A. The prophecy for 2012 hasn’t got the evidence.

B. The Mayans have a prophecy for 2012.

C. Someone wants to force us to believe the end of the world.

D. Everything will happen according to the prophecies.

【长句分析】

Though there are hundreds of books devoted to 2012, and millions of Web sites, depending on what combination of “2012” and “doomsday” you type into Google, NASA also announced that people needn’t to worry the end on Dec. 21, 2012 of the world, when a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to a close.

此句为复合句。Though引导让步状语从句，其中depending on...的分词结构作定语，主句中 when引导定语从句修饰“Dec. 21, 2012”这个时间。定语从句中known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar是过去分词作定语。

句意：虽然有关2012年世界末日的书籍不下数百种，根据你在谷歌上键入的“2012”和“世界末日”的不同组合，能搜到数百万个相关的网站，但美国国家航空航天局上周表示，世界并未走向末日，至少短时间内不会。

【词汇聚焦】

1. to begin with 首先，同义词组有：at first, firstly, first of all，写作中常用来列举。如：

The proceedings will begin with a speech to welcome the guests. 大会议程首先是向来宾致欢迎辞。

I have to begin with an apology. 我得首先表示歉意。

2. as for “至于，就……方面说”，通常总是放在句首。如：

As for that，we shall see later. 至于那件事，往后我们便见分晓了。

对于突然想到的事情或临时提起的问题，以使用as for为宜，并可引导动名词短语。例如：

Much pasture land is under water；and as for the grain， most of it has been ruined. 许多牧场被水淹了；至于粮食，大部分也毁了。

3. in this case 既然这样。如:

In this case, let’s start earlier. 既然这样，我们就早点开始。

含case的常用短语：

in case万一；in any case 不管怎样，无论如何；in no case 决不

答案与解析

1. D。 事实细节题。第六段第一句“Geological apocalypse is a better bet”以及后面的内容可知任何事物有生就有灭，我们都是过客，地球的灭亡只是久远些。

2. C。 细节推断题。第二段最后一句“There are references in Mayan inscriptions to dates both before the beginning and the ending of the present Long Count, they say, just as your next birthday and April 15 loom beyond New Year’s Eve, on next year’s calendar”表明那一天和日历上其他日子一样平安到来。

3. C。 归纳计算题。文章第四段“to begin with”开头列举出一个理由，第五段第一句中的说明是第二个理由，“As for...”之后说了第三个理由。

4. B。 词义推测题。前面已经提到玛雅人没有预言世界末日，是我们把担心加在自己的心里。因此B更符合题意。

5. A。 推理判断题。文章自始至终都在说明玛雅人的预言是不存在的，综合各选项，A最合题意。