Question

We know more about the surface of the planet Mars than we know about what is at the bottom of Earth’s oceans.

Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20 percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers, industry and governments.

The new map is twice as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean. He spoke to VOA on SKYPE.

“The way we’re doing that is to use a satellite altimeter (高度計), a radar to map the topography (地貌) of the ocean surface. Now that seems sort of strange that you’d map the topography of the ocean surface when you really want to get at the sea floor. But, the ocean surface topography has these bumps and dips due to gravitational effects that mimic what’s on the sea floor.”

The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth’s orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency’s Jason-1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar ( 聲吶：利用聲波探測水下物體的裝置或系統(tǒng)) equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.

“That enables us to look at smaller-scale features and also features that are buried by sediments in the ocean basins.”

The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.

In one place, three mountain ridges join at the same area. Huge tectonic (構(gòu)造的) plates can be seen clearly there.

1.The passage is likely to _____.

A. be an advertisement B. appear on VOA

C. make a comment on radar D. appear on SKYPE

2.What will be mentioned in the following paragraph, according to the last paragraph? _____.

A. The detailed information about the place.

B. The more important thing in the ocean.

C. The things buried in the ocean.

D. Scientists told SKYPE they will explore at the same area.

3.Scientists collected and studied information by _____.

A. the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite

B. the American space agency’s Jason-1

C. sonar equipment on ships

D. the Cryo-2 and the Jason-1

4. What’s the best title of the passage? _____.

A. Scientists Create New Maps of Ocean Floor

B. Scientists Knows More Oceans Than Mars

C. Oceans Will Provide Us With Maps

D. People Knows Easily About Mars

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.A

【解析】

試題分析: 本文是科普類閱讀，講述科學(xué)家繪制了海底面積百分之二十的地圖，得益于衛(wèi)星傳來的信息，我們對于深海的了解更加詳細。

1.B 推斷題。根據(jù)第三段提到He spoke to VOA on SKYPE，他在SKYPE上對VOA說，可知是慢速英語，故選B項。

2.A 推斷題。根據(jù)最后一段提到In one place, three mountain ridges join at the same area. Huge tectonic (構(gòu)造的) plates can be seen clearly there. 有一個地方，三座山脈的山脊在同一片區(qū)域結(jié)合，在那里可以清晰地看到巨大的版塊構(gòu)造，故下一段將提到這個地方的詳細信息，故選A項。

3.D 推斷題。根據(jù)第五段提到The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth’s orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency’s Jason-1. 科學(xué)家收集的信息和研究材料來自兩個衛(wèi)星發(fā)布的消息。一些數(shù)據(jù)來自歐洲航天局的Cryo2號衛(wèi)星，它繞地球軌道，用來觀測海洋浮冰。另一個衛(wèi)星是美國航天局的杰森1號，它主要負責(zé)海洋表面，故選D項。

4.A 主旨標(biāo)題。本文是科普類閱讀，講述科學(xué)家繪制了海底面積百分之二十的地圖，得益于衛(wèi)星傳來的信息，我們對于深海的了解更加詳細，A項符合文意。

考點：科普類閱讀。