Read the excerpt below of Mr. Bedford’s first meeting with Mr. Cavor. What were your first impressions of the two characters? Ta
ke a moment to describe your thoughts about one of these characters in about 150 words. Be sure to use the details provided in the reading to support your conclusions. He had his watch out as I came up to him. He had a chubby, rubicund face with reddish brown eyes—previously I had seen him only against the light. “One moment, sir,” said I as he turned. He stared. “One moment,” he said, “certainly. Or if you wish to speak to me for longer, and it is not asking too much —your moment is up—would it trouble you to accompany me?” “Not in the least,” said I, placing myself beside him. “My habits are regular. My time for intercourse—limited.” “This, I presume, is your time for exercise?” “It is. I come here to enjoy the sunset. “You don’t.” “Sir?” “You never look at it.” “Never look at it?” “No, I’ve watched you thirteen nights, and not once have you looked at the sunset—not once.”
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. “Here, at any rate,” said I, “I shall find peace and a chance to work!”
The Earth’s rotation creates an outward force that is highest at the equator and zero at the poles. Since the Earth is not perfectly solid throughout, this force results in the Earth being ‘squashed’ into a slightly flattened sphere.
