20100922 The Moon (1)

The Moon

How well do you know the "star" of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Tonight, on Mid-Autumn Festival, people will be celebrating under the light of the moon, the Earth's only natural satellite. Below are some fun facts about the moon you can share with your family as you celebrate.

From Earth we only ever see the same half of the moon. The other half always faces out toward space. This is because the Earth and the moon move in perfect harmony with one another.

Though actually much smaller, the moon appears to be about the same size as the sun when viewed from Earth. The moon also appears bigger when it sits close to the horizon. Nobody knows for sure what causes this optical illusion.

The moon is slowly traveling away from Earth at the leisurely speed of four centimeters a year. At its current distance from Earth, the moon could be "reached" by car in 130 days.

Though people haven't visited the moon since 1972, their footprints are still perfactly preserved. The moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so no air or wind disturbs the clearly visible footprints.

While there are many moons in our universe, the "star" of this Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon, is officially called ... the moon.

harmony Un. 和諧/一致/融洽

eg: People in the little village live in harmony together and share everything with one another.

=> 這個小村莊的居民和諧的生活在一起，他們彼此分享所有的東西。

harmony Un. 和聲

eg: The choir sang in perfect harmony.

=> 詩班唱出完美的合音

leisurely adj. 慢慢的/悠閒的

eg: Kate took a long leisurely walk in the park.

=> Kate悠閒的在公園散步了很久

eg: Mother and I had a leisurely lunch at a nice restaurant.

=> 媽媽和我去了這一間很不錯的餐廳吃了一頓優閒的午餐

pre- 提早

-serve 保存

preserve v. 保存/保護

eg: The townspeople worked hard to preserve the historical site.

=> 鎮民們努力的保存這具有歷史性的景點

eg: The collector carefully preserve the antiques.

=> 這位收藏者努力的收藏這個古董

satellite n. 衛星

harmony n. 和諧/協調/調和

optical illusion 視錯覺

=> something that trick your eyes

leisurely

preserve

//== Chat room ==//

full moon 滿月

new moon 新月

half moon 弦月

waxing and waning 月亮的盈虧

waxing 月盈期

waning 月虧期

wax v. 變大/增加

wane v. 變小/減弱

//== Grammer on the go ==//

Below are some fun facts about the moon...

=> There are some fun facts about the moon later in this article.

below are

=> here "below" means that later on in the text

above

eg: The list above is not a complete list of facts about the moon.

attached

eg: Attached is a list of func facts about the moon.

the following

eg: The following is a list of fun facts about the moon.

as follows

eg: I want to give you a list of fun facts about the moon, and they are as follows.

================

below adv. 在...下面

eg: The dishes are the top shelf, and the pots and pans are in the cabinet below.

//== More Information ==//

Some think that during the full moon phase, the shadows on the moon's surface create the appearance of a man's face. This gave rise to popular folklore about The Man In The Moon. One European tradition says the man was sent to the moon because he committed a crime. East Asian folklore says the figure on this moon isn't a man at all; it's a rabbit.