Answers to the Question of the Week will be posted in this section prior to the next week’s question.

READING COMPREHENSION

The timing of New Year’s Day has changed with customs and calendars. The Mayan civilization, on what is now called the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, celebrated the New Year on one of two days when the noonday sun is directly overhead. In the equatorial regions of the earth, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the sun is in this position twice a year, once on its passage southward, and once on its passage northward. At the early Mayan city of Izapan in the southern Yucatan, the overhead date for the sun on its southward passage was August 13. The Myans celebrated this date as the beginning of the new year.  Later at the more northerly sight of Edzna the corresponding overhead date is July 26. Analysis of Myan pictoral calendars indicated that they celebrated the new year on August 13 prior to 150 AD and on July 26 after that year. This change has been explained by archeological dating showing that 150 AD was the time that the Myans moved the hub of their civilization from the southern to the northern site. 

1. According to the passage, the sun at Edzna was directly overhead at noon on”

? July 26th only.

? August 13th only.

? July 26th and one other date.

? August 13th and one other date.

2. If the Mayans had moved their civilization’s center south of Izapa, their new date for celebration of the New Year would probably have been closest to which of the following date?

? January 1st

? February 20th.

? March 25th.

? September 15th.

3. Why did the Mayans move their capital city from Izapa to Edzna?

? The climate at Edzna was more temperate.

? Lunar eclipses were more visible at Edzna.

? The terrain near Edzna was more suitable for agriculture.

? Cannot be determined from the information given.