英銘國考英文周刊-No.66-閱讀測驗篇

閱讀測驗是很多考生畏懼的英文題型之一，其實閱讀測驗的解題並不難，因為外國人寫文章都愛用破題法，只要看第一段即可知道文章大概在講什麼內容。在此篇文章的第一段中，有提到“South Pole” (南極)，“expedition” (探險)，所以文章一定跟“南極探險”有關。

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Long before Admiral Byrd’s well-publicized expeditions and the

race to the South Pole by Scott and Amundsen, other, now

long-forgotten explorers, adventurers and ordinary seal hunters

made or tried to make their way to Antarctica. Today, scientists

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regularly bivouac for months on end in the vast frozen wastes of

Antarctica, and adventurous travelers can even find tours to take

them to the bottom of the world. But it was not so long ago that a

voyage to the South Pole was a perilous undertaking, one that

required tremendous courage, stamina, and skill. Before explorers

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actually saw this frozen continent, its existence was posited by

geographers, though 18th-century seafarers ventured no further than

the ring of cold air and icy water, the Antarctic Convergence, which

surrounded it. The discovery and exploitation of Antarctica is the

subject of Alan Gurney’s book, Below the Convergence.

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Gurney, a Scots yacht designer and photographer, tells the story

of some dozen of those men, beginning with the astronomer Halley

(of comet fame) in 1699 and finishes with an 1839 whaling/sealing

ship – the Eliza Scott – whose crew discovered boulders imbedded in

Antarctic ice, a geological mystery that caught Darwin’s interest. But

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to mention only the detailed accounts of these voyages – and they

are very detailed – fails to give a sense of the treasure-trove quality of

this unusual book. Along the way are interesting discussions of the

history of astronomy, geography, navigation (especially the problems

of working out correct longitude), cartography and ornithology (how

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the penguin got its name), diet (the problem of scurvy) and the

economics of the whale-oil trade. And how many of us have

seriously considered the question “Is there indeed a ‘Southern

Ocean’ below the Pacific?” Gurney’s somewhat dogged interest in

describing exactly which routes various ships took to get from here to

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there is more than made up for by his curiosity about what they

encountered along the way. This book, written for serious sailors,

should entertain anyone curious about history’s backwater.

(  ) 1. This passage is most likely taken from _____.

(A) the atlas of the Antarctic Convergence

(B) the bibliography of a thesis on penguins

(C) the mechanical manual of the Eliza Scott

(D) the book review section of an online bookstore

(  ) 2. According to the passage, which of the following statements about Antarctica is true?

(A) Antarctica and the South Pole do not belong to the same area on earth.

(B) By the 18th century geographers had already been to the ice world by sea.

(C) The Antarctic Convergence encircles the Antarctic continent.

(D) Nowadays tours will take travelers to places under the ice.

(  ) 3. Which of the following words is closest in meaning to “bivouac” in the first paragraph?

(A) Inflame  (B) Observe  (C) Research  (D) Shelter

(  ) 4. What does “history’s backwater” in the last paragraph refer to?

(A) Antarctica.                               (B) Alan Gurney’s book.

(C) Water around the South Pole.    (D) The history of Gurney’s journeys.

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英銘老師：閱讀測驗是很多考生畏懼的英文題型之一，其實閱題測驗的的解題並不難，因為外國人寫文章都愛用破題法，只要看第一段即可知道文章大概在講什麼內容。例如在此篇文章的第一段中，有提到“South Pole” (南極)，“expedition” (探險)，所以文章一定跟“南極探險”有關。

第1題：這篇文章可能取自何處？整篇文章都是在講Alan Gurney的書“Below the Convergence”，所以比較像書評，因此答案是(D)。

補充：

atlas  n.  地圖集、圖解集     (sometimes)

The world's first "atlas" was produced by Mercator in 1595.

世界上第一個“地圖集”是由Mercator在1595年製造的。

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