The Moon by Richard Sidaway

Mythological explanations
Many peoples and civilisations have made the moon a part of their beliefs. In Hinduism,it is believed that the moon contains soma,a drink that gives the gods immortality. When the Maoris look at the moon,they see a woman,whom they call Rona,holding a bucket. She controls the tides and makes rain when she is angry by pouring the water out. The Inuit think the moon chases his sister,the sun,across the sky. He becomes thin,like a crescent,because he forgets to eat while he is running. In parts of Europe,people believed a full moon made people mad. The word lunacy comes from the name of the Roman goddess,Luna.

Marking time
In the Muslim year,Ramadan begins when the new moon appears. Christians count 14 days after the first full moon of the spring equinox and celebrate Easter on the next Sunday. The Chinese have a moon festival in autumn when people read and write poetry and eat moon cakes — small and round with sweets inside. In Thailand,people send boats down the river with candles in them under the full moon during Loy Krathong.

Mistaken beliefs
People will tell you that the rate of crime rises and the number of suicides and traffic accidents go up on nights when there is a full moon. No study has found a significant increase,however. Some believe the lunar cycle and the human menstrual cycle are linked,and that women are influenced by the phases of the moon. Pure coincidence. The lunar cycle is regular — every 29.5 days — while women’s are slightly shorter and start at different times.

Another belief is that the pull of the moon’s gravity has an influence on people like it does on the sea. However,tides are affected by the moon only because they combine with the force of the earth as it spins. Someone estimated that a mosquito has more gravitational effect on us than the moon.

And I’m sorry to say that the Great Wall of China is not visible from the moon. But you can see it from a satellite in orbit around the earth.

Moon landings
In July 1969,it took about 70 hours to get there by rocket. All the computing power they used then now exists inside just one personal computer.

Everyone knows that there is no air on the moon and very little gravity. It is a hostile environment to humans in other ways too. Like a desert,it gets very hot during the day (130ºC) and very cold at night (minus118ºC),which is why you need a space suit.

A total of 12 men have walked on the moon. Their footprints are still there because there’s no wind or water to obliterate them. One astronaut,Alan Sheppard,hit a golf ball that went 800 metres because of the lack of gravity. Presumably,it’s still there too.

Some people don’t believe anybody has been to the moon at all. They think it was all simulated in a desert or a film studio. But then 13 per cent of adults in the USA still believe that part of the moon is made of cheese …

Mortal remains
Do you want to be buried on the moon? Only one person has: Eugene Merle Shoemaker,one of the original brains behind the US space programme. His ashes were put there after he died in 1997. Scientists think that the moon itself is the remains of a collision between the earth and another planet,but its exact origins are still a mystery.

Vocabulary
Five words/phrases from the text:

* bucket: open container with a handle at the top for carrying liquids
* tide: regular rise and fall in sea level
* pouring: making a liquid flow from a container
* hostile: very unfriendly or difficult
* obliterated: remove all signs of something

Exercise one
Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

I am ………[1 you another cup of tea.

The town was almost ………[2 during the war but has now been rebuilt.

His sandcastle was washed away by the ………[3

They wanted to build a new road but the local people were very ………[4 to the idea.

Can you get me a ………[5? There’s water coming in through the roof.

Exercise two
Comprehension: reordering sentences. Put the sentences below in the order they appear in the article:
a. The full moon is supposed to cause more deaths and injuries than normal.
b. The remains of a scientist can be found on the moon.

c. People once believed that the moon affected our mental state.

d. Several cultures incorporate the moon into a religious festival.

e. The moon is subject to extremes of temperature on its surface.

Answers
Vocabulary
1. pouring
2. obliterated
3. tide
4. hostile
5. bucket

Comprehension
1. c
2. d
3. a
4. e
5. b

English and culture
‘I speak two languages,Body and English.’ This quotation is usually attributed to Mae West. She was an American actress,playwright and screenwriter. Her wit was famously bawdy. How much does communication depend on non-verbal signalling? Do you agree with Mae that body language is a separate language?