Question 31
EasyOriginal questionIn most drawings of the Earth and the Moon, the two sit close together on the page, like a ball and a smaller ball beside it. Those drawings are . The Moon is much farther away than most people .
On , it is about 384,400 km from the Earth. That is roughly thirty Earths lined up side by side. Because we can see the Moon so clearly without a telescope, it seems close, but thirty Earths is a very long way.
The word "average" matters here. The Moon's path around the Earth is not a perfect circle, so its distance changes. At its farthest, it is almost thirty-two Earths away; at its closest, between twenty-eight and twenty-nine.
You can see the real gap for yourself. If the Earth were the size of a basketball, the Moon would be about the size of a tennis ball. To show the distance between them correctly, you would have to place the tennis ball more than seven metres away from the basketball, which is a good deal farther than any drawing in a textbook.
What is the main point of the passage?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The first paragraph says drawings are "misleading" and that the Moon "is much farther away than most people realise"; the rest explains how far.
Worth noting
"Closer than we think" says the opposite of the passage, which calls the Moon much farther away than most people realise.
- Concept
- Finding the central idea of a factual passage
- Typical timeTypical
- 40 s
- Your timeYours
- —
Ten questions from Factual passages, at your own pace.