Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Oceanography has been defined as "The application of all sciences to the study of the sea". Before the nineteenth century scientists with an interest in the sea were few and far between. Certainly Newton considered some theoretical aspects of it in his writings, but he was reluctant to go to sea to further his work. For most people the sea was remote, and with the exception of early intercontinental travelers or others who earned a living from the sea, there was little reason to ask many questions about it, let alone to ask what lay beneath the surface. The first time that the question "What is at the bottom of the oceans?" had to be answered with any commercial consequence was when the laying of a telegraph cable from Europe to America was proposed. The engineer had to know the depth profile of the route to estimate the length of cable that had to be manufactured. It was to Maury of the US Navy that the Atlantic Telegraph Company turned, in l853, for information on this matter. In the 1840s, Maury had been responsible for encouraging voyages during which soundings were taken to investigate the depths of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Later, some of his findings aroused much popular interest in his book The Physical Geography of the Sea. The cable was laid, but not until 1866 was the connection made permanent and reliable. At the early attempts, the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs it was found to be covered in living growths, a fact which defied contemporary scientific opinion that there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea. Within a few years oceanography was under way. In 1872 Thomson led a scientific expedition, which lasted for four years and brought home thousands of samples from the sea. Their classification and analysis occupied scientists for years and led to a five-volume report, the last volume being published in l895. Question: The proposal to lay a telegraph cable from Europe to America made oceanographic studies take on _ . Options: A: a business aspect B: a military aspect C: an academic aspect D: an international aspect
A: A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A peer is a person who is about the same age as you. Peers affect your life, whether you know it or not, just by spending time with you. Peers can have a good effect on one another. Maybe another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember the planets in solar system. Maybe you got others excited about your new favorite book and now everyone's reading it. However, sometimes peers affect one another in another way. For example, one kid in school might try to get another to cut class with him, your soccer friend might try to persuade you to be mean to another player and never pass her the ball, or a kid in the neighborhood might want you to with him. Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked, to fit in, or because they worry that other kids may make fun of them if they don't go along with the group. Others may go along because they are curious to try something new that others are doing. The idea that " everyone's doing it" may influence some kids to leave their better judgments or their common senses behind. Peer pressure can be extremely strong and hard to get rid of. Experiments have shown how peer pressure can influence someone to change her/ his mind from what she/ he knows for sure is a correct answer to the incorrect answer----just because everyone else gives the incorrect answer! That holds true for people of any age in peer pressure situations. It can be hard to walk away from peer pressure, but it can be done. Paying attention to your own feelings and beliefs about what is right and wrong can help you know the right thing to do. Inner strength and self- confidence can help you stand firm, walk away and resist doing something when you know better. Question: What is the passage mainly about ? Options: A: Peers have a good effect B: Children give in to peer pressure C: Peer pressure is hard to resist D: Peer pressure
A: D

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Six Americans are working on a new highway. But this highway won't have any traffic.It's an "ice highway" to the South Pole. The team has just finished a second year of work on the 1,020-mile highway. "The road is the greatest single footprint of activity we've seen in the Antarctic ," said Alan Hemmings, an Australian environmentalist. The highway will provide a new way for supplies to be trekked (, ) across the earth on tractor-pulled sleds . This method will use a lot less fuel than an aircraft, the current way that scientists and supplies reach the Amundsen-Scott Base, a U.S. research station in the South Pole. The highway will also allow for equipment that is too big for planes to carry to be brought to Antarctica.Even with these benefits, there is one disadvantage--a round trip on the road will be 30 days, compared to a few hours by plane. Making this 20-foot-wide road isn't easy, and it takes a lot of time. The crew has been working on the road for two summers, when it's warmer and easier to work with the ice. It probably won't be completed until 2006. Crevasses , or cracks, in the land often make the construction difficult. Crevasses are kind of like pot holes that form when surface ice is stretched.This can be very dangerous, especially when the crevasses are hidden under a layer of snow and can't be seen. "Last year it took us three months to go three miles across a crevasse field, full of dangerous, hidden crevasses," said the project's manager, John Wright. Each year, more crevasses appear and they have to be filled with snow and ice so the road is safe for travel. The road will also be lined with green flags so travelers know where the safe surface is. Question: Which of the following is true according to the passage? Options: A: Other crevasses won't appear if a crevasse has been filled. B: Many new crevasses will form after a crevasse has been filled. C: Travelers can drive their sleds on the ice highway freely. D: There will be less danger if the crevasses are covered by snow.
A: B