Mission﹕Gift from Mother Nature
【明報專訊】The Smarties get into a hot air balloon for a better view of the rainbow.
From high above the ground, they also get a bird's-eye view of the city!
Shape of a rainbow
Did you know a rainbow's shape is actually a full circle? Since we usually look at a rainbow from the ground, we see only a half of it.
Why ''rainbow''?
This natural phenomenon is called a rainbow because its arc looks like a bow for shooting arrows and it appears on rainy days. Red is seen on the outer edge of the arc, and violet, on the inner edge.
Roy G Biv
Do you know what Roy G Biv is? Roy G Biv stands for ''red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet''! They are the seven colours of a rainbow. A rainbow commonly occurs when beams of sunlight strike raindrops in front of a viewer at an angle of 42 degrees.
■Mission 1
Do you know what double rainbows and moonbows are? Those are types of rainbows which are rarer. Fill in the blanks with the words provided to learn more about them!
outer / inner / opposite / through / outside / near
When sunlight is reflected twice in water droplets, a secondary rainbow appears 1. _________ the primary arc. This secondary reflection is much fainter. The order of the secondary rainbow's colours is the 2. _________ of that of the primary rainbow's. Violet is on its 3. _________ edge, and red, on its 4. _________ edge. One may also see rainbow colours 5. _________ the moon at night. That is called a moonbow or lunar rainbow. It happens when moonlight reflects 6. _________ raindrops in the atmosphere. This phenomenon is rare because moonlight is much dimmer than sunlight.
■Mission 2
Observe the colour pattern of the structure below. Can you tell which of the five pictures on the right Bill can see through his monocular?
(see the picture)
■Mission 3
The hot air balloon is flying over another structure in the shape of a regular triangular pyramid (正三角錐體) which rotates in all directions. Once again, Bill is looking at it from above. Which one of the five figures is not a possible bird's eye view of the same pyramid?
(see the picture)
(answers on next text)
“ Eason: Why am I not allowed to join? ”
■English highway﹕-nouns and articles
beam
Beam means a ray or stream of light or other radiation.
e.g. The car's headlights were on full beam.
■Key words
natural phenomenon 自然現象
double rainbow 雙彩虹
moonbow 月虹
fog bow 霧虹
■Glossary
bird's-eye view (n phr) 鳥瞰
arc (n) 弧形
violet (n) 紫羅蘭色
indigo (n) 靛藍色
faint (adj) 微弱的
lunar (adj) 月亮的
atmosphere (n) 大氣層
monocular (n) 單筒望遠鏡
Fun corner﹕Phrasal verb flashcard
【明報專訊】“ Pat: We ought to talk our plans over with the rest of the team... 詳情
