Source

Agnes Giberne, The Story of the Sun, Moon, and Stars (1898), Chapter II, public domain. Text available through Project Gutenberg eBook #77004: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77004

Passage

I have spoken before about the old-world notion that our earth was a fixed plain, with the sun circling round her. When the truth dawned slowly upon some great minds, anxious only to know what really was the truth, others made a hard struggle for the older and pleasanter mode of thinking. It went with many sorely against the grain to give up all idea of the earth being the chief place in the universe.

Also there was something bewildering and dizzying in the notion that our solid world is never for one moment still. But truth won the victory at last. Men consented slowly to give up the past dream, and to learn the new lesson put before them.

We still talk of the sun rising and setting, and of the stars doing the same. This is, however, merely a common form of speech, which means just the opposite. For instead of the sun and stars moving, it is the earth which moves.

The earth has two distinct movements. Indeed, I ought to say that she has three; but we will leave all thought of the third for the present. First, she turns round upon her axis once in every twenty-four hours. Secondly, she travels round the sun once in about every three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter. No wonder our ancestors were startled to learn that the world, which they had counted so immovable, was perpetually spinning like a humming-top, and rushing through space like an arrow.

You may gain some clear notions as to the daily rising and setting of our sun, with the help of an orange. Pass a slender knitting-needle through the orange, from end to end, and hold it about a yard distant from a single candle in a room otherwise darkened. Let the needle or axis slant somewhat, and turn the orange slowly upon it.

The candle does not move; but as the orange turns, the candle-light falls in succession upon each portion of the yellow rind. Half of the orange is always in shade, and half is always in light; while at either side, if a small fly were standing there, he would be passing round out of shade into candle-light, or out of candle-light into shade.

Each spot on our earth moves round in turn into half-light, full-light, half-light, and darkness; or, in other words, has morning-dawn, midday-light, evening twilight, and night.

As the earth’s daily movement causes day and night, so the earth’s yearly movement causes spring, summer, autumn, and winter. A few pages back I mentioned, in passing, one slight yet important fact which lies at the root of this matter about the seasons. The earth, journeying round the sun, travels with her axis slanting.

Vocabulary

Word / Phrase Meaning TOEFL Note
old-world notion an outdated or earlier belief Useful for describing ideas replaced by evidence.
against the grain contrary to one’s habit or preference A common idiom for intellectual or emotional resistance.
bewildering confusing or disorienting Often used when a new theory challenges intuition.
axis an imaginary line around which a body turns Essential science vocabulary in astronomy and physics passages.
in succession one after another in a sequence Helps track cause-and-effect descriptions.

Sentence Work

No wonder our ancestors were startled to learn that the world, which they had counted so immovable, was perpetually spinning like a humming-top, and rushing through space like an arrow.

先抓主干：our ancestors were startled。that 从句解释他们惊讶的内容，which 引导的非限制性定语从句补充旧观念，最后两个并列的现在分词短语说明地球的两种运动。

Structure Notes

old belief -> psychological resistance -> corrected explanation -> familiar demonstration -> general principle

Writing Takeaway

When explaining a difficult scientific idea, first name the misconception, then use a concrete classroom-style model to make the abstract motion visible.