In Europe, before theintroductionof themechanicalclock, people told time by sun (using, for example, shadow sticks or sun dials) and water clocks. Sun clocks worked, of course, only oncleardays; water clocks misbehaved when thetemperaturefell toward freezing, to say nothing of long-rundriftas the result ofsedimentationand clogging. Both these devices worked well in sunny climates; butin northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperaturesvarynot only seasonally but from day to night.

MedievalEurope gave new importance toreliabletime. The Catholic Church had its seven daily prayers, one of which was at night, requiring analarmarrangement to waken monks beforedawn. And then the new cities and towns, squeezed by their walls, had to know and order time in order to organizecollectiveactivityandrationspace. They set a time to go to sleep,to open themarket,to close themarket,to leave work ,and finally a time to put out fires and to go to sleep. All this wascompatiblewith older devices so long as there was only one authoritative timekeeper; but withurbangrowth and the multiplication of time signals, discrepancy broughtdiscordand strife. Society needed a moredependableinstrumentof timemeasurementand found it in themechanicalclock.

We do not know who invented this machine, or where. It seems to have appeared in Italy and England (perhapssimultaneousinvention) between 1275 and 1300. Once known, itspreadrapidly, driving out water clocks but notsolardials, which were needed tocheckthe new machines against the timekeeper of lastresort. These early versions wererudimentary, inaccurate, andproneto breakdown.

Ironically, the new machine tended to undermine Catholic Churchauthority.

Although churchritualhadsustainedaninterestin timekeepingthroughoutthe centuries ofurbancollapsethat followed the fall of Rome, church time was nature’ s time. Day and night were divided into the same number of parts, so that except at the equinoxes, days and night hours wereunequal;

and then of course the length of these hoursvariedwith the seasons. But themechanicalclock keptequalhours, and this implied a new time reckoning. The Catholic Church resisted,

not coming over to the new hours for about acentury. From the start, however, the towns and cities tookequalhours as theirstandard, and the public clocks installed in town halls andmarketsquares became the verysymbolof a new,secularmunicipalauthority. Every townwantedone; conquerors seized them as especiallypreciousspoils of war; tourists came to see and hear these

machines the way they made pilgrimages tosacredrelics.

The clock was the greatest achievement ofmedievalmechanicalingenuity. Its generalaccuracycould becheckedagainst easily observed phenomena, like the rising andsettingof the sun. The result wasrelentlesspressuretoimprovetechniqueand design. At everystage, clockmakers led the way toaccuracyand precision; they became masters of miniaturization, detectors and correctors of error, searchers for new and better. They were thus the pioneers ofmechanicalengineeringand served as examples and teachers to other branches ofengineering.

The clock brought order and control, bothcollectiveandpersonal. Its publicdisplayand privatepossessionlaid the basis fortemporalautonomy: people could nowcoordinatecomings and goings without dictation from above. The clock provided the punctuation marks for groupactivity, while enabling individuals to order their own work (and that of others) so as toenhanceproductivity. Indeed, the verynotionofproductivityis aby-productof the clock: once one canrelateperformance touniformtime units, work is never the same. One moves from the task-oriented timeconsciousnessof the peasant (working on job after another, as time and lightpermit) and the time-filling busyness of thedomesticservant (who always had something to do) to an effort to maximize product per unit of time.

Questions:
question_stem: Why does the author provide the information that ”in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night”?
choices: tag: A
text: To emphasize the variety of environments in which people used sun and water clocks to tell time

tag: B
text: To illustrate the disadvantage of sun and water clocks

tag: C
text: To provide an example of an area where water clocks have an advantage over sun clocks

tag: D
text: To counter the claim that sun and water clocks were used all over Europe
answer_key: B
explanation: 正确答案 B。 从第一段的第二句开始，原文列举了这两种 device 各种的缺点，最后一句前半句说它们 work，后面 but 表转折，证明要说有些情况它们不能用。所以选择 B。

question_stem: According to paragraph 2, all of the following are examples of the importance of timekeeping to medieval European society EXCEPT
choices: tag: A
text: the need of different towns to coordinate timekeeping with each other

tag: B
text: the setting of specific times for the opening and closing of markets

tag: C
text: the setting of specific time for the start and finish of the working day

tag: D
text: the regulation of the performance of daily church rituals
answer_key: A
explanation: 正确答案 A，虽然原文提到说城与城之间要保持一直，但其目的是 organize collective activity，和 ration space。

question_stem: According to paragraph 2, why did the medieval church need an alarm arrangement?
choices: tag: A
text: The alarm warned the monks of discord or strife in the town.

tag: B
text: The church was responsible for regulating working hours and market hours.

tag: C
text: The alarm was needed in case fires were not put out each night.

tag: D
text: One of the church’s daily rituals occurred during the night.
answer_key: D
explanation: 正确答案 D，对应原文的第二句话，可根据 alarm arrangement 定位，前文说 one of which was at night，后面说 to waken monk before dawn，这两个都可以算是原因，选项中符合的只有 D。

question_stem: The word “authoritative”in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: actual

tag: B
text: important

tag: C
text: official

tag: D
text: effective
answer_key: C
explanation: 正确答案 C，authoritative 是权威的，A 是真实的，B 是重要的，C 是官方的，D 是有效的。因此 C 是正确的。文章中也说 only one 怎样的 time keeper，所以应该是官方准确时间。

question_stem: The author uses the phrase “the timekeeper of last resort”to refer to
choices: tag: A
text: water clocks

tag: B
text: the sun

tag: C
text: mechanical clocks

tag: D
text: the church
answer_key: B
explanation: B 前文说需要它去 check 这个 machines，which 前面说的是 solar dials 所以指的是 the sun。也可以做一个简单排除，D 选项可以首先排除，这一段都没有提到过 church; 接着可以排除 C 选项，因为不可能是 new machines against (new) machines。剩下就是二选一了，而 A 选项的 water clocks 在前文已经说“driving out water clocks”，所以不选。那么就只能是 B 了。

question_stem: The word “rudimentary”in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: rare

tag: B
text: small

tag: C
text: impractical

tag: D
text: basic
answer_key: D
explanation: 正确答案 D，rudimentary 是基础的。 A 是稀有的，b 是小的，C 是不切实际的，D 是基本的。所以根据词义 D 正确。这里我们可以看并列的词都是负面的，这里的 rudimentary 也是在强调未发展，有落后的意味。如果按照负面词来判断，C 可能成为迷惑选项，但其词义不符。

question_stem: According to paragraph 4, how did the Catholic Church react to the introduction of mechanical clocks?
choices: tag: A
text: It used mechanical clocks through the period of urban collapse

tag: B
text: It used clocks to better understand natural phenomena, like equinoxes

tag: C
text: It tried to preserve its own method of keeping time, which was different from mechanical-clock time.

tag: D
text: It used mechanical clocks to challenge secular, town authorities.
answer_key: C
explanation: 正确答案：C，可定位至红色标注部分，关键词为 resisted，not coming over，所以证明 church 在拒绝新的计时方法，也就是在试着保护自己的方法。因此选 C

question_stem: The word “installed”in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: required

tag: B
text: expected by the majority of people

tag: C
text: standardized

tag: D
text: put in place
answer_key: D
explanation: 正确答案：D，installed 被安装的，A 是需要的，B 是被大部分人们希望的，C 是标准化的，D 是放置于。D 最符合，并且原文中原词的后面也跟了地点，所以用 D 最合适。

question_stem: It can be inferred from paragraph 5 that medieval clockmakers
choices: tag: A
text: were able to continually make improvements in the accuracy of mechanical clocks

tag: B
text: were sometimes not well respected by other engineers

tag: C
text: sometimes made claims about the accuracy of mechanical clocks that were not true

tag: D
text: rarely shared their expertise with other engineers
answer_key: A
explanation: 正确答案 A。根据 clockmaker 定位至倒数第二句，说制表人是正确和精密的领路人然后就对他们各种赞扬。B，C，D 选项都是在贬低制表人，所以很容易排除。B,D 选项又和最后一句话明显冲突。A 符合原文，选。

question_stem: Paragraph 5 answers which of the following questions about mechanical clocks.
choices: tag: A
text: How did early mechanical clocks work?

tag: B
text: Why did the design of mechanical clocks affect engineering in general?

tag: C
text: How were mechanical clocks made?

tag: D
text: What influenced the design of the first mechanical clock?
answer_key: B
explanation: B 没有特别好的定位词，需要综合理解。第五段主要说 clockmaker 引领了准确，精准工程的发展，他们是 master，teacher 等等，然后说他们是先锋，但这些都是因为他们是制表人。这段并没有说制表人是如何工作的，所以 A 选项的 How 没有得到回答。B 选项的 Why 和整段的前半部分吻合。所以这道题选 B。而 C 选项的机械钟表制作的方法在原文也没有提及；D 选项的影响设计的事物，也没有提及。

question_stem: The word “pioneers”in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: leaders

tag: B
text: opponents

tag: C
text: employers

tag: D
text: guardians
answer_key: A
explanation: 正确答案：A。pioneer 是先驱，A 是领导者，B 是对手，C 是雇主，D 是监护人。原文单词所在句后半句也说道他们作为 teacher，所以很容易理解他们是领导者。选 A

question_stem: According to paragraph 6, how did the mechanical clock affect labor?
choices: tag: A
text: It encouraged workers to do more time-filling busywork.

tag: B
text: It enabled workers to be more task oriented.

tag: C
text: It pushed workers to work more hours every day.

tag: D
text: It led to a focus on productivity.
answer_key: D
explanation: 正确答案 D，定位到原文最后一句，说使人们从 task-oriented 和 time-filling busyness 的模式变为 maximize product per unit of time，从而提高了 productivity，所以选择 D。A，B 原文都提到了，但是是转化前的状态，C 没提到。