The Moth Who Measured the Moon
Written by Studio AM.
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A young moth claimed he could measure the Moon with one flight. He rose from a reed, flew until his wings tired, and returned before dawn. He announced that the Moon was four hundred wingbeats away. An old frog asked whether the Moon had seemed closer at the end. The moth admitted that it had not.
The next night, the frog placed two reeds a short distance apart. The moth flew between them while the frog counted. A breeze pushed him sideways, so the number changed on every trip. They waited for still air and measured again, but another problem remained: the moth’s wingbeats were not all the same length.
At last, the moth withdrew his grand answer. He had measured his own effort, not the distance to the Moon. Still, the frog did not mock him. The failed attempt had revealed three useful questions: Was the target reached, was the route steady, and was the unit constant? The moth wrote those questions on a broad leaf. Thereafter, he used a straight reed with fixed marks to measure distances he could reach. He never measured the Moon, but he became the marsh’s most careful measurer of reachable things.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What lesson does the fable develop?
The answer is A: A measuring method must fit its task and use consistent units under suitable conditions.
The moth’s errors reveal problems with the target, route, and wingbeat unit, which become his checklist for later measurement.
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Question 2 of 4
Why does the frog avoid mocking the moth?
The answer is B: The flawed attempt has produced useful questions that can improve future tests.
The frog recognizes that failure exposed three concrete weaknesses, giving the moth a better method for reachable objects.
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Question 3 of 4
What does “withdrew” mean when the moth “withdrew his grand answer”?
The answer is C: Took it back because he no longer supported it
After seeing that his flight measured effort rather than lunar distance, the moth retracts the answer he had announced.
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Question 4 of 4
What first causes the number of wingbeats to change between the reeds?
The answer is D: A breeze pushes the moth sideways.
The middle paragraph says a breeze pushes the moth off a straight route, changing the count on every trip.
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