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READINGCOMPREHENSION
Questions 1-9
The ocean bottom ------a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the
Earth ---- is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until
about a century ago, the deep-ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath
waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and subjected to intense
pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth s surface, the deep-ocean bottom
is a hostile environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as the void
of outer space.
Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks and sediments for
over a century, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not
actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation s Deep
Sea Drilling Project (DSDP).Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and
gas industry, the DSDP s drill ship, theGlomar Challenger, was able to maintain a
steady position on the ocean s surface and drill in very deep waters, extracting samples
of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.
The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that
ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and
took almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites
around the world. The Glomar Challenger s core samples have allowed geologists
to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundred of millions of years ago and to
calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely
on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger s voyages, nearly
all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that
explain many of the geological processes that shape the Earth.
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [NextPage]
The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also yielded
information critical to understanding the world s past climates. Deep-ocean sediments
provide a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, because they
are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and the intense chemical and biological
activity that rapidly destroy much land-based evidence of past climates. This record has
already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change ---
information that may be used to predict future climates.
1.The author refers to the ocean bottom as a "frontier" in line 2 because it
(A)is not a popular area for scientific research
(B)contains a wide variety of life forms
(C)attracts courageous explorers
(D)is an unknown territory
2.The word "inaccessible" in line 3 is closest in meaning to
(A)unrecognizable
(B)unreachable
(C)unusable
(D)unsafe
3.The author mentions outer space in line 7 because
(A)the Earth s climate millions of years ago was similar to conditions in outer space.
(B)it is similar to the ocean floor in being alien to the human environment
(C)rock formations in outer space are similar to those found on the ocean floor
(D)techniques used by scientists to explore outer space were similar to those used in ocean
exploration
4. Which of the following is true of the Glomar Challenger?
(A) It is a type of submarine.
(B) It is an ongoing project.
(C) It has gone on over 100 voyages
(D) It made its first DSDP voyage in 1968
5. The word " extracting " in line 13 is closest in meaning to
(A) breaking
(B) locating
(C) removing
(D) analyzing
6. The deep Sea Drilling Project was significant because it was
(A) an attempt to find new sources of oil and gas
(B) the first extensive exploration of the ocean bottom
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [NextPage]
(C) composed of geologists form all over the world
(D) funded entirely by the gas and oil industry
7. The word " strength " in line21 is closest in meaning to
(A)basis
(B)purpose
(C)discovery
(D)endurance
8.The word " they " in line26 refers to
(A)years
(B)climates
(C)sediments
(D)cores
9.Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as being a result of the Deep Sea
Drilling Project?
(A) Geologists were able to determine the Earth s appearance hundreds of millions of years ago.
(B) Two geological theories became more widely accepted
(C) Information was revealed about the Earth s past climatic changes.
(D) Geologists observed forms of marine life never before seen.
VOCABULARY AND READING COMPREHENSION
Questions 1-13
Atmospheric pressure can support a column of water up to 10 meters high. But
plants can move water much higher, the sequoia tree can pump water to its very top,
more than 100 meters above the ground. Until the end of the nineteenth century , the
movement of water s in trees and other talls plants was a mystery. Some botanists
hypothesized that the living cells of plants acted as pumps, but many experiments
demonstrated that the stems of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move
water to appreciable heights. Other explanations for the movement of water in plants
have been based on root pressure, a push on the water from the roots at the bottom of
the plant. But root pressure is not nearly great enough to push water to the tops of tall
trees, Furthermore, the conifers, which are among the tallest trees have unusually low
root pressures.
If water is not pumped to the top of a tall tree, .and if it is not pushed, to the top of a
tall tree, then we may ask. How does it get there? According to the currently accepted
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]
cohesion-tension theory, water is pulled there. The pull on a rising column of water in a
plant results from the evaporation of water at the top of the plant. As water is lost from
the surface of the leaves,a negative pressure or tension is created. The evaporated
water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that
extend from the top of a plant to its roots. The same forces that create surface tension
in any sample of water .are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns
of water. When water is confined in tubes of very small bore, the forces of cohestion
(the attraction between water molecules) arc so great that the strength of a column of
water compares with the strength of a. steel wire of the same diameter. This cohesive
strength permits columns of water to be pulled to great heights without being broken.
1. How many theories does the author mention?
(A) One
(B) Two
(C) Three
(D) Four
2. The passage answers which of the following questions ?
(A) What is the effect of atmospheric pressure on foliage?
(B) When do dead cells harm plant growth?
(C) How does water get to the tops of trees?
(D) Why is root pressure weak?
3. The word "demonstrated" in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A)ignored
(B) showed
(C) disguised
(D) distinguished
4. What do the experiments mentioned in lines 6-8 prove?
(A) Plant stems die when deprived of water.
(B) Cells in plant sterns do not pump water.
(C) Plants cannot move water to high altitudes.
(D) Plant cells regulate pressure within stems.
5. How do botanists know that root pressure is not the only force that moves water in plants?
(A) Some very tall trees have weak root pressure.
(B) Root pressures decrease in winter.
(C) Plants can live after their roots die.
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] |
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