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 and far between.
Certainly Newton considered some theoretical aspects of it in his writings, but he was reluctant to go to sea to further his work.
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 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 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 four years and brought home thousands of samples from the sea.
Their classification and analysis occupied scientists for years and led to a fivevolume report, the last volume being published in 1895.
The proposal to lay a telegraph cable from Europe to America made oceanographic studies take on ______.
A．an academic aspect
B．a military aspect
C．a business aspect
D．an international aspect
An army scientist has helped solve the decades-old murder mystery surrounding the last Russian czar.
The bones unearthed in a shallow grave definitely are those of Czar Nicholas II, said Lt. Col (Dr.) Victor Weedn at an Aug. 31 news conference. Weedn heads the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md., which is involved in identifying skeletal remains of U. S. service members who served in Vietnam, Korea and World War II.
The attempt to identify the czar presented a special challenge. The armed forces lab was the perfect place to perform. the type of genetic testing on old, deteriorating bones that was needed in this case, he said.
Until the announcement, scientists had not been able to say for sure whether the bones were those of the czar.
Russian DNA expert Pavel Ivanov, who with Weedn oversaw a team of U. S. military civilians tasked to identify the remains, reached the same conclusion.
Nicholas and his family were rounded up by the Bolsheviks and executed by firing squad in 1918. Their bodies were dumped into a pool of sulfuric acid 20 miles outside the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg.
The shallow grave was uncovered in 1979. Bone fragments believed to be those of the czar, the Czarina Alexandra and three of their five children were unearthed in 1991.
While investigators were able to positively identify the czarina and the daughters early on, a rare, benign genetic condition that first showed up in his generation did not allow them to make a positive identification of Nicholas II.
Rare mutation the key
In the end, it was that genetic mutation which provided the key to solving the mystery, Weedn said. Nicholas' brother, whose remains were exhumed in July 1994, turned out to have the same mutation in his genetic makeup. It is so rare that it makes the identification absolute, he said.
If Russian authorities accept that finding, it will clear the way for the ceremonial burial of the last emperor of Russia.
But the new evidence did not satisfy all skeptics. Emigre Eugene Magerovsky, a retired Russian military intelligence officer, interrupted the news conference to say he was suspicious of how the bones "suddenly" came to light during the Soviet era.
"The Soviets have always been masters of all kinds of shenanigans," he said. He suggested the investigators may have been given two bones from the same corpse, in which case the DNA would have had to match.
Weedn ruled that out, as the tibia and femur from the same side of each body were used in the testing.
Ivanov, a forensic science professor in charge of identifying the remains of the last czar and his family, brought the femur bones—as well as a blood sample from a living relative— to the Rockville laboratory in June.
Much evidence lost
Years of exposure to minerals in the soil destroyed much of the genetic evidence in the bone, Weedn said. Still, through a painstaking process of grinding up bone, reproducing the genetic material from the dust and comparing the results over and over again, the team was able to reach its conclusion.
One mystery Weedn and Ivanov did not address was that of the czar's daughter, Anastasia. Whether she somehow escaped the Bolsheviks' bullets has been the topic of intense debate for more than half a century. The grave yielded bones from only three of the five daughters. Still unresolved is whether Anastasia or Marie might have survived, along with the sickly heir, Alexis.
Weedn, whose laboratory has tested two women who claimed to be Anastasia, found they were not. A third who sought testing has not sent in blood samples for testing, he added. On-again, off-again pairing
Weedn was approached by Ivanov four years ago about becomi
One day two scientists were quarrelling about whose watch was better, the German one or the Japanese one. Since they were scientists, they decided to do an experiment to test the watches. They went into their lab and filled a basin with water, put the watches in, waited for 20 minutes and took them out.
They could see there was something wrong with both watches. They observed them for several hours before speaking to each other. They both silently found the German watch was losing 60 minutes and the Japanese are doubled that.
The scientists with the Japanese watch then slowly raised his head and said, “Both watch are out of work, but my watch is right more often than yours, so it’s better.” The scientist with the German watch went home without saying a word.
(1) The two scientists were quarrelling at the beginning of the story, because_______.
A.the Japanese watch was better
B.the German watch was better
C.each of them thought his own watch was better than the other’s
D.both the watches were wrong
(2) They did an experiment because they_______.
A.wanted to know whose watch was better
B.liked their lab
C.wanted to repair their watches
D.had a basin of water in their lab
(3) After they did the experiment, they found_______.
A.both their watches were good
B.neither of their watches could tell the correct time
C.there was something wrong with the German watch
D.there was something wrong with the Japanese watch
(4) After putting the Japanese watch in water for 20 minutes, two scientists found_______.
A.it was a good watch
B.it went forward
C.it went faster than the German one
D.it went backwards 120 minutes
(5) How about the German watch at last？
A.It went more correctly than before.
B.It stopped working.
C.It went as well as the Japanese one.
D.It was better that the Japanese one.
