Some people find visiting ordinary museums to be a bit dull. Fortunately for them, there are unusual museums to check out, such as underwater museums!
How can you visit and what can you see?
Many underwater museums are supported by companies that offer guided tours. A trained guide leads groups around a stunning underwater display of statues in each museum. Depending on the depth of the museum, visitors may be able to view the sculptures from a glass bottomed boat or by swimming on the surface. Other underwater museums are deeper and are most accessible to scuba divers.
Why are the museums underwater?
Underwater museums have many functions. One of their aims is to create a man-made reef environment where sea creatures can live. That’s why some of the museums are located in areas that were damaged by hurricanes or are considered underwater ‘‘deserts’’. The statues in the museum are designed in a way that encourages the growth of coal and plant life. Over time, the statues and plants attract a growing number of fish to the area.
Florida, U.S.A.
Florida is home to different types of underwater museums. The state’s newest underwater museum, the Underwater Museum of Art, can be found off the coast of Grayton Beach. This part of the Gulf Mexico is an underwater desert, so creators hope that the exhibit will improve the marine ecosystem.
Cancun, Mexico
For years, Cancun has been a popular tourist destination. And one of the major draws is the water. The Museo Subacuatico de Arte is an ideal place for snorkelers and first-time divers. There they can enjoy more than 500 statues that help to make up a man-made reef. This museum was created to offer visitors a replacement for the areas natural reef, which has been damaged.
Canary Island, Spain
Museo Atlantico, off the coast of Lanzarote, has an impressive display of more than 300 statues. They were created by the same sculptor who made the Cancun statues. They focus on man’s interaction with the marine world.
1.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. If the underwater museum is very deep, viewers can pay a visit by boat or by swimming.
B. Underwater museums are partly intended to rebuild the damaged ecosystem in the sea.
C. The underwater museum in Cancun gives tourists a chance to view the natural reef.
D. States in Museo Atlantico are similar to those of Cancun because of the same sculptor.
2.What is the author’s purpose of writing this essay?
A. To persuade. B. To amuse.
C. To inspire. D. To inform.
Without warning, my father would knock on the door in the middle of night, drunken and begging my mother to open it. Later on, they lived their ______ lives and my mother was ____my family independently.
My father was always claiming he had been planning to do something for us, but he had no ______. The man who was ______ to love us, in fact, lacked the ______ of what it truly meant to love a child.
Maybe it was his complicated relationship to his father that made him ______. Maybe it was the pain ______ with a life of misfortune. Who knows? Whatever it was, it stole him from us, and ______ from me. Not understanding me, he simply ______ me—not just emotionally, but ______ as well. Never once did he hug me.
My best memories of him were from his ______ at participation. Once every month or two, he would ______ and drive us to Trucker’s Paradise. To me, the games were fun but easily forgotten. It was the ______ of my father that was most treasured.
It wasn’t until I was much older that I would find evidence of my father’s love.
When my favorite personal computer came onto the market, I convinced myself that I had to have it even though its price was far ______ my mother’s reach. I mowed （割草）every yard I could find that summer, ______ it still wasn’t enough. Then my dad agreed to help me ____the rest of the money by selling watermelons. This was the first time that I had ever spent time alone with him. He laughed and repeatedly ______ me as “my boy”, a phrase he relayed with a sense of ______.
It just goes to show that however distant the father and however broken the ______, there is still a need for even the smallest bit of ______ of a father’s love. Although he had never told me that he loved me, I would regard that day as the greatest evidence of that fact.
1.A. brief B. separate C. severe D. unbearable
2.A. wishing for B. looking for C. applying for D. providing for
3.A. intention B. permission C. possession D. attention
4.A. advised B. required C. supposed D. instructed
5.A. allocation B. affection C. guarantee D. comprehension
6.A. cautious B. distant C. greedy D. selfish
7.A. connected B. related C. faced D. decorated
8.A. directly B. officially C. temporarily D. particularly
9.A. supported B. ignored C. appreciated D. blamed
10.A. physically B. mentally C. spiritually D. psychologically
11.A. comments B. responses C. attempts D. focuses
12.A. light us up B. bring us up C. put us up D. pick us up
13.A. absence B. reference C. presence D. preference
14.A. beyond B. within C. below D. over
15.A. otherwise B. yet C. so D. or
16.A. raise B. rise C. arise D. arouse
17.A. recognized B. regarded C. introduced D. treated
18.A. shame B. pride C. achievement D. guilt
19.A. surroundings B. feeling C. gesture D. bond
20.A. warning B. signal C. evidence D. mark
—I’ve never seen Mike in low spirits.
—He didn’t pass his driving test a third time. He’s been ________ ever since.
A. on cloud nine B. over the moon
C. down in the dumps D. flying off the handle
He didn’t make ________ preparations, or he would have succeeded in the job interview.
A. vacant B. urgent
C. adequate D. primitive
We look towards strengthening cooperation with universities all over the world ________ scientific research.
A. in response to B. in regard to
C. in defense of D. in case of
Some netizens use “beat a call” as an ________ to “cheering for” to show their approval or support for others.
A. alternative B. account
C. apology D. acquaintance
