来自：查字典高考网 2014-12-25
Question 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 3，6000 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， the Glomar 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 hundreds 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.
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 4 is closest in meaning to
（A） unrecognizable
（B） unreachable
（C） unusable
（D） unsafe
3. The author mentions outer space in line 9 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.
【1995年8月托福考试阅读理解全真考题（上）】相关文章：
[标签：海外留学,考试,托福,,]
雅思考试考场流程图 
2011第一季度雅思阅读回顾与解析 
雅思vs托福 阅读异同大盘点对照表 
中学生雅思阅读快速提高的秘密 
澳洲留学热门专业：土木工程专业排名 
雅思听力周周练第四期-参赛篇 NBA流言收割机 第6集 神预测？高考数学试题暗示猛龙勇士4
广州早晨 2019 山西一高中班主任带学生骑行1800公里去上海
爆笑班主任 第一季 第220集 高考前最后一只视频，山东王老师揭秘高考的秘密
沈阳音乐学院郎亦农教授的女高音高考曲目解析课程 第9集 《赛吾里麦》演唱讲解，音乐表现一定要自然流畅
张雪峰高考志愿填报指南 第15集 高考填报志愿，想学电子信息类专业，推荐报这六所高校，不出错
沈阳音乐学院郎亦农教授的女高音高考曲目解析课程 第1集 沈阳音乐学院郎亦农为你讲解女高音高考曲目
高考阅卷名师给考生的高考作文密训课 第3集 高考作文审题实操方法精讲（一）
高考阅卷名师给考生的高考作文密训课 第5集 高考作文审题实操方法精讲（三）
