Question

Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way --- by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.

Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn't. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.

The Pacific Northwest is one of the world's best areas for beachcombing(海灘搜尋) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.

As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.

1. The underlined phrase swap meets in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ___________.

A. fitting rooms B. trading fairs

C. business talks D. group meetings

2.Ebbesmeyer phoned the shoe company to find out ___________.

A. what caused the shipping accident

B. when and where the shoes went missing

C. whether it was all right to use their shoes

D. how much they lost in the shipping accident

3. How did Ebbesmeyer prove his assumption?

A. By collecting information from beachcombers.

B. By studying the shoes found by beachcomber.

C. By searching the web for ocean currents models.

D. By researching ocean currents data in the library.

4. Ebbesmeyer is most famous for _________________.

A. traveling widely the coastal cities of the world

B. making records for any lost objects on the sea

C. running a global currents research association

D. phoning about any doubtful objects on the sea

5.What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?

A. To call people's attention to ocean pollution.

B. To warn people of shipping safety in the ocean.

C. To explain a unique way of studying ocean currents.

D. To give tips on how to search for lost objects on the beach.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

5.C

【解析】

試題分析：本文是一篇說明性質(zhì)的科普文，介紹了一種不同尋常的研究海洋洋流的方法——通過研究海上隨機(jī)漂浮物來研究洋流。科學(xué)家Ebbesmeyer通過對(duì)鞋子掉入海中的時(shí)間以及地點(diǎn)進(jìn)行數(shù)據(jù)分析研究來模擬電腦程序，構(gòu)建洋流模型。

1.try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear可知此處應(yīng)該是一種交易集市性質(zhì)的活動(dòng)，即B項(xiàng)。

2.asked if they wanted the shoes back以及Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment可知Ebbesmeyer想利用這批鞋子進(jìn)行他的實(shí)驗(yàn)，所以打電話給鞋廠的目的是問問自己能不能使用這些鞋子，即C項(xiàng)。

3.asked for their help in collecting information ..., 以及In a year he collected reliable information ...和 With this data, he... 可知Ebbesmeyer是通過收集研究數(shù)據(jù)來證明他的假設(shè)的，即A項(xiàng)。

4.Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean可知此處D項(xiàng)更加準(zhǔn)確。

5.However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way --- by studying movements of random floating garbage. 然后下文都是對(duì)這一研究方法的說明和闡述，所以作者寫作目的即是介紹一種新的研究洋流的方法。即C項(xiàng)。

考點(diǎn)：考查科普文