Today’s amazing newspaper headline!

First family of four to walk to the South Pole wearing Mickey Mouse ears and clown’s shoes.

    No, not really. It isn’t true. I invented it. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it one day soon. It seems that every week someone becomes ‘the first’ or ‘the youngest’ or ‘the oldest’ or even ‘the first married couple’ to do something that doesn’t seem to be very useful to the rest of humanity.

This year I've seen headlines saying ‘The youngest person to sail the Atlantic alone’, ‘The youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest’, and ‘The first people to fly around the world in a hot air balloon’. Why do they do it? Don’t they have better things to do with their time and money? And why should I be interested anyway? Human beings have already climbed the highest mountains, sailed across the oceans and flown around the world. People have already reached the most remote parts of our planet. Many of these things were done a long, long time ago. There just isn’t anything left to explore nowadays. I suppose there’s still a lot of the universe left, and the bottom of the oceans is still a bit of a mystery, but you need a lot of technology to explore areas like that. So, those people who feel the need for adventure can only do things that have been done before. So they have to try and do it in a new way, or be ‘the fastest’ or ‘the youngest’ or ‘the oldest’ to do something that isn’t really new at all.

What is so great about climbing Mount Everest these days anyway? It’s become a popular tourist trip.

People pay thousands of dollars to be taken up the mountain by the local Sherpas, who lead the way and carry the bags. At any one time there are about a thousand people either climbing up or on their way back down. As a result, Everest is covered with rubbish and the Sherpas have to make special trips up the mountain to pick it up. The climbers are often inexperienced and when they get into trouble other people have to risk their lives to bring them down to safety. Helicopter crews have been killed trying to reach people who were stuck on the mountain.

In January 2003 a helicopter carrying two British men crashed into the sea near Antarctica. I'm not quite sure what they were trying to be ‘the first’ or ‘the youngest’ to do. The Chilean navy picked them up after a nine-hour rescue mission that cost tens of thousands of pounds, all paid for by the Chilean and British taxpayers.

Talking of taxpayers, many Australians are getting a bit fed up with record breakers. A lot of people trying to break sailing or rowing records get into trouble in the seas around Australia, so the Australian navy has to send ships to save them. There have been a lot of difficult, time-consuming rescue missions in recent years costing the Australian government millions of dollars. I suppose we can’t just leave them to drown, but personally, I think we should give the bill to the people who are rescued. Perhaps they would think twice about doing it if they had to pay for expensive insurance premiums（保费）. Then I wouldn’t have to read about them in the newspapers either.

50.        The writer invents the newspaper headline in Paragraphs 1&2 to _________.

     A. persuade readers of a new theory              B. remind readers of an important event

     C. get readers interested in the topic        D. entertain readers with his humor

51.  By saying “It’s become a popular tourist trip”, the writer actually means that ___________.

     A. it's impossible to climb up Mountain Everest without help

B. Mount Everest is now covered with a lot of rubbish

C. climbing Mount Everest has already lost its true meaning

     D. people without experience may get in trouble or even danger

52.        Which of the following is the reason why many Australians dislike the record breakers?

     A. A great number of people try to break records in the seas around Australia.

     B. They have to pay for the costs of rescuing the record breakers.

     C. The Australian navy was not something intended for rescue work.

     D. The record breakers should pay for their insurance premiums themselves.

53.        The writer’s purpose of writing this article is to______________.

     A. explain the reasons why modern people prefer to adventure

     B. criticize the newspaper headlines that get readers shocked

     C. complain about all the high taxes people have to pay

     D. question the necessity of what record breakers are doing

54.        Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

     A. It’s All Been Done Before             B. Adventures Around the World

     C. What’s Record Breakers’ Life Like    D. Rescue Costs and Insurance

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 .

　　 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 engineers had to know the depth profile (起伏形状 ) 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 1853, for information on this matter. In the 1840s, Maury had been responsible for encouraging voyages during which soundings (测深 ) 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 1895.

　68. The passage implies that the telegraph cable was built mainly _________.

　A) for oceanographic studies

　B) for military purposes

 C) for business considerations

　D) for investigating the depths of the oceans

69. The aim of voyages Maury encouraged in the 1840s was __________.

　A) to make some sound experiments in the oceans

　B) to collect samples of sea plants and animals

　C) to estimate the length of cable that was to be made

　D) to measure the depths of two oceans

70. 'Defied' in the 4th paragraph probably means ________

　A)   doubted        B)  gave proof to

　C)   challenged     D)  agreed to

71. This passage is mainly about _________

　A) the beginnings of oceanography

　B) the laying of the first undersea cable

C) the investigation of ocean depths

　D) the early intercontinental communications